Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 299: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the changes she has made to her Department's staffing arrangements to tackle waiting lists and processing time delays for social welfare applications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14234/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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My Department is committed to delivering the best possible service to its customers and continuously strives to achieve the highest standard of customer service possible. The Department relies on the knowledge and expertise of its staff to deliver these services and, in view of their crucial role, the numbers of staff required to deliver a quality customer service is kept under constant review.

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 Department also makes judicious use of overtime and employs temporary staff as appropriate to address particular service issues as they arise.

Processing times vary across schemes, depending on the differing qualification criteria for the scheme involved. In order to meet the dual challenges of increased claim volumes and the demand for shorter processing times, the Department has embarked on a major programme of process redesign and modernisation involving the development and roll-out of new computer systems and streamlined work practices.

I should also point out that in order to offer a more streamlined, efficient and integrated service to customers, the Department is undergoing a process of intensive planning and organisational change in establishing the new National Employment and Entitlements Service (NEES). This service 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 former Department of Community, Equality and the Gaeltacht and the Redundancy and Insolvency schemes from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation.

The new NEES model will integrate all employment and benefit support services in a single delivery unit and will provide a coherent integrated and more personalised service to customers. It will also serve to eliminate the duplication of work that characterised services which were provided separately in the past.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Question 301: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the total number of staff dealing with application appeals in 2007 to 2011, inclusive, and to date in 2012; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14236/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The table details the number of permanent posts allocated to the Social Welfare Appeals Office since 2007. The significant increase in staff between 2011 and 2012 is due to additional posts assigned to the office during 2011, and the transfer of the Community Welfare Service to the Department in October 2011.

In addition to the permanent posts detailed in the table, there were eight retired former public servants recruited on short term contracts in the Department of Social Protection from June 2010. These officers were employed on a part time basis as Appeals Officers, and their contracts terminated at the end of December 2011.