Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 151: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the extent to which staff have been transferred to her Department to deal with extra work arising from the economic situation; if staff increases have increased in precise ratio to the extra number of applications for various payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36655/11]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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In the period since May 2009, in excess of 900 staff have been assigned to my Department to fill critical vacancies and additional posts that were approved to deal with the significant increase in claims for the various schemes operated by the Department. The staffing needs of the Department are continuously reviewed, having regard to workloads and the competing demands arising. While assignments were not made in the precise ratio of the increase in applications for individual payment type, I can assure the Deputy that senior managers ensure that the best use is made of all available resources.

The Department continues to source available staff to fill critical vacancies by way of redeployment, or transfer from within the Department and other Government Departments, taking account of the employment control framework target, as determined by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. In addition to sourcing all available staff, the Department is involved in a major service delivery modernisation project to improve the efficiency with which applications for the various schemes are processed.