Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the estimated cost of each quango in her Department; the amount expected to be saved from the mergers of quangos in her Department; the basis for this figure; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37267/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The three statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the Department are the Social Welfare Tribunal, the Citizens Information Board (CIB) and the Pensions Board. In addition, the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman comes under the remit of the Department but it does not have a Board.

The Social Welfare Tribunal deals with cases where entitlement to jobseeker’s benefit or assistance is refused due to an involvement in a trade dispute. The Tribunal consists of a Chairman and four ordinary members and does not have a day to day operating function. Members do not receive an annual salary, instead they are paid fees for attending hearings or meetings, they also qualify for Travel and Subsistence expenses if appropriate. Additional expenditure may arise in respect of room hire for Hearings/Meetings. Referrals to the tribunal are very infrequent and no such referrals have occurred for almost two years. For that reason, there was no expenditure in relation to the Social Welfare Tribunal in 2011 and there has been no expenditure in 2012 to date. There are no plans to merge the Social Welfare Tribunal with any other state body.

The total Budget allocation to the CIB for 2012 is €46.843m. The CIB was assigned responsibility for the Money Advice and Budgeting Service (MABS) with effect from July 2009. There are no plans to merge that combined service with any other.

My Department provides an annual grant to the Pensions Board specifically to fund a public awareness campaign, the National Pensions Awareness Campaign. The grant for 2012 was €400,000. The Department provides no other funding to the Board, as it meets its administration costs from fees collected from occupational pension schemes and personal retirement savings accounts (PRSAs). There is no Exchequer funding involved for the day to day running of the Pensions Board.

The Office of the Pensions Ombudsman is independent in its function and comes under the remit of my Department. The 2012 Estimate for Pensions Ombudsman is €1.025m.

In terms of rationalisation, the integration of the regulatory functions of the Pensions Board with the Financial Regulator and the merging of the Pensions Ombudsman with the Financial Services Ombudsman are the subject of a critical review under the Public Service Reform Programme. A Steering Group has been established to carry out the reviews with a report expected by year end.