Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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Question 342: To ask the Minister for Social Protection the amount of funding committed to in her Department for capital projects; if she will provide details of the projects and funding committed; the funds that have been drawn down for the projects; when the balance will be drawn down [26637/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The total capital budget for the Department of Social Protection in 2012 is €10.5 million. This is provided for under three administration sub-heads, as follows:

Sub-head (v): Office Equipment and External IT Services

This capital expenditure provision is to cover the purchase of Information and Communications Technology equipment required for the delivery of the social welfare services. This includes the purchase of computer hardware and software, data storage, desktop equipment such as PCs, printers, faxes, laptops and a range of network infrastructure equipment such as telephone switchboards and routers. It also includes the purchase of photocopiers and other non-IT office machinery and related supplies such as inserters, guillotines and other mailroom equipment and the replacement of out of date equipment.

Sub-head (vi): Office Premises Expenses

This capital element of this Subhead provides for the costs of new buildings and the refurbishment of other buildings. The timing of the drawdown of this budget is determined by the progress made by the Office of Public Works in acquiring new local office accommodation and in placing contracts for refurbishment of existing offices.

Sub-head (ix): eGovernment Related Projects

This Subhead caters for eGovernment projects which have an impact beyond the Department itself. The Capital element is for expenditure arising on the Standard Authentication Framework Environment (SAFE) Project and the Public Service Card project. The purpose of the SAFE Project is to deliver the capability to issue and manage the new Public Services Card. The purpose of the Public Service Card project is to develop the capability to register the Department's customer to the various SAFE levels and to issue requests for Public Services Cards to the third party service provider selected under the SAFE Project. The related capital expenditure is on cameras, scanners and software including photo matching software. It is anticipated that all of the remainder of the Department's capital budget will be drawn down by the end of the year.