Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 201: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the reason a person (details supplied) was refused domiciliary care allowance; and when they may expect a date for their appeal. [32170/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 3rd September 2011. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Social Welfare Services on the grounds of appeal be sought. When received, the appeal in question will be referred to an Appeals Officer for consideration.

The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions on social welfare entitlements.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 202: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the average and longest waiting times for appeals against refusals of domiciliary care allowance; and if she will arrange for the recruitment of additional staff in order to address the backlog of appeals. [32171/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I am informed by the Social Welfare Appeals Office that, based on 2010 figures, the average processing time for Domiciliary Allowance dealt with by way of summary decision is 26.8 weeks , while a case which requires an oral hearing takes , on average, 49.1 weeks. These processing times are calculated from the registration date of the appeal to the date of its finalisation and include all activities during this period including time spent in the Department for comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal put forward by the appellant and any further investigation, examination or assessment by the Department's Inspectors and Medical Assessors that is deemed necessary. A considerable period of time is added to the process when an oral hearing is required because of the logistics involved in this process.

No report is available which shows the longest individual waiting times for decided cases and to design such a report would require an enhancement to the suite of reports currently available from this system. I am also advised that such information may in any event, be of little value as the longest awaiting appeals are generally held up by extraordinary circumstances such as court proceedings.

In an effort to reduce the processing times, the Department appointed 9 additional Appeals Officers in April of this year who augmented the 3 appointments made to the Office in 2010 and brought the total number of appeals officers serving in the Office to 29. In addition, since July 2010, 8 retired appeals officers, equating to a further 3 full-time officers, have been assisting on a strictly part-time basis with the backlogs of appeals and it is intended that they will be employed until the end of the year.

I am assured by the Chief Appeals Officer that she is keeping the methods of operation by which the Social Welfare Appeals Office conducts its business under constant review, and that the processes are continuously being enhanced to reduce the backlogs in the Office and, overall, to reduce the processing times for dealing with appeals.

In that regard some 3,000 cases, registered prior to 31/12/10, have been ring-fenced and a team of 10 of the Office's most experienced appeals officers have been freed from all other work in the Office and will concentrate on clearing this backlog. This project commenced on July 1st. Also, some 70% of appeals cases are now decided by way of summary decision which, because of the logistics involved in organizing oral hearings, greatly reduces the overall processing times.

As a result of the various initiatives taken, 18,236 decisions were made by appeals officers in the first nine months of 2011, in comparison to 12,692 for the same period in 2010 and the backlog of cases awaiting determination has reduced from 20,274 at the beginning of the year to 17,651 at 30th September 2011.

James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 203: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the position regarding an appeal in relation to domiciliary care allowance, which was applied for in 2009 in respect of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32189/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Social Welfare Appeals Office has advised me that an appeal by the person concerned was registered in that office on 21st September 2011. It is a statutory requirement of the appeals process that the relevant Departmental papers and comments by the Social Welfare Services on the grounds of appeal be sought. When received, the appeal in question will be referred to an Appeals Officer for consideration.

The Social Welfare Appeals Office functions independently of the Minister for Social Protection and of the Department and is responsible for determining appeals against decisions on social welfare entitlements.