Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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Question 413: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the total number of allegations of social welfare fraud that were investigated in 2011; the number of these allegations that were unfounded; the total savings arising from allegations which were upheld; and the total cost in staff hours of pursuing these cases in view of staff shortages and long delays in social welfare claims being processed. [1110/12]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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Question 414: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the penalties that are in place for dealing with frivolous and malicious complaints against persons for alleged social welfare fraud. [1111/12]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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Question 415: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the guidelines for dealing with the burden of proof and protection of privacy in relation to dealing with allegations of social welfare fraud. [1112/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 413 to 415, inclusive, together.

The prevention of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system is an integral part of the day-to-day work of my Department which processes in excess of 2 million claims each year and makes payments to some 1.4 million people every week at a cost of some €21 billion per annum. However, it is important to recognise that the vast majority of people are receiving the entitlement due to them.

My Department accepts reports of possible fraud from members of the public in relation to the operation of its schemes and uses both a dedicated phone number and a facility on the Department's website for this purpose. Members of the public are asked to provide as much detail as possible about the case they are reporting and they can do so anonymously.

Reports can be made as follows:

· By email: www.welfare.ie

· By phone: (01) 704 3000, ask for Central Control Section or (071) 9672648 or Locall: 1890 927999.

· By Post: Central Control Division, DSP, Shannon Lodge, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim.

All anonymous or confidential reports are examined and, where relevant, are referred to the relevant sections and/or to the Department's Inspectors for follow-up action. While a payment is not suspended or stopped solely on the basis of an anonymous report, it may "trigger" the instigation of a review of a customer's entitlement. A Social Welfare Inspector may then deem it appropriate to carry out a full review of the circumstances and means of the customer in order to determine on-going entitlement to the relevant payment. The Inspector will then submit their report to a Deciding Officer for decision regarding on-going entitlement to the social welfare payment. The Deciding Officer's decision will be based on the full facts and circumstances of the case, including the report of the review by the Inspector.

The following are the number of anonymous reports received in the Department's Control Division in the period January – December 2011:

In approximately 12,881 of these cases, a report of suspected fraud was sent to the relevant area for examination. In over 4,036 of the cases received in 2011, it was not possible to issue a report to an investigator due to (i) a lack of information supplied, (ii) a claim not being in payment or (iii) the information reported would not impact on entitlement.

Detailed statistics on outcomes are unavailable because anonymous or confidential reports of abuse are used merely to "trigger" or instigate investigations, but are not taken into account when the review of the customer's payment is being decided.

Overall, there are some 620 staff whose work includes control activities. Approximately 200 of these work full-time on control work, while the other staff are responsible for routine investigations under the various schemes and for following up suspected cases of fraud where these are discovered. The overall number includes over 80 Special Investigation Unit inspectors.

My Department is very conscious of its obligations regarding data protection and privacy of its customers and persons who report allegations of abuse. As the reports are received anonymously and simply trigger an investigation, penalties are not in place for dealing with frivolous or malicious complaints against persons for alleged social welfare fraud. However, where a claim is reviewed and it transpires that a complaint was not genuine, there will be no change in rate if the circumstances of the customer are unchanged.

Social welfare legislation is reviewed on an on-going basis and updated, where appropriate, to strengthen controls and penalties. A Departmental legislative working group has been established specifically to examine issues and make proposals on measures that could improve the prevention, detection and prosecution of social welfare fraud. This group explores a range of possible legislative changes from a control perspective and brings forward appropriate proposals for consideration in the annual Social Welfare Bills.

The Deputy may also be aware that I launched a new Fraud Initiative (2011 – 2013) in September last, which is aimed at putting in place a range of actions to combat fraud and abuse of the social welfare system and to ensure there is public confidence and trust in the system.

The Deputy should also note that for 2011, my Department had a target of reviewing 780,000 individual welfare claims and achieving €540 million in control savings. At the end of November, some €604 million in estimated control savings were reported and over 802,000 reviews have been carried out. For 2012, the target for control savings is provisionally set at €625 million, an increase of €85 million on the 2011 target.

As Minister, I am very conscious of the need to protect public money and I am determined to ensure that abuse of the system is prevented and is dealt with effectively when detected.