Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 125: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the degree to which extra staff were made available to her since 2008 with the objective of catering for increased demand arising from the downturn in the economy; the extent if any to which staff redeployment or transfer is commensurate with the extra workload generated by economic factors; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12032/12]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 126: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the extent to which she can put in place procedures to eliminate the backlog in respect of applications and appeals in respect of various social welfare entitlements; when she expects to have the backlog cleared; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12033/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 125 and 126 together.

In the period since May 2008 some 952 staff have been redeployed to the Department to fill critical vacancies in local offices, Central Support Units and the Department's Inspectorate to deal with the increased volume of claims due to the downturn in the economy. Taking into account the numbers of staff who have left the Department and the vacancies that exist currently, a net total of 486 additional staff have been assigned to the Department.

The staffing needs for all areas within the Department are continuously reviewed, having regard to workloads, management priorities and the competing demands arising, to ensure that the best use is made of all available resources with a view to providing an efficient service to those who rely on the schemes operated by the Department.

In order to offer a more streamlined, efficient and integrated service to customers, the Department is also undergoing a process of intensive planning and organisational change in establishing the new National Employment and Entitlements Service (NEES). The establishment of the NEES under the management of the Department brings together the Community Welfare Service (CWS), the Employment Services and Community Employment Programmes of FÁS, the Rural Social Scheme and Community Services Programme from the Department of Community, Equality and the Gaeltacht and the Redundancy and Insolvency Schemes from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation.

It is my intention that the NEES will integrate all employment and benefit support services in a single delivery unit. This new service will provide a coherent, integrated and more personalised service to customers and will help minimise the duplication that characterised services which were provided separately in the past.

Regarding the backlog of appeals, I am assured by the Chief Appeals Officer that in addition to the allocation of extra appeals officers 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.

I can assure the Deputy that my Department will continue to source 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 (ECF) target, as determined by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.