Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the current waiting time for an application for jobseeker's benefit; the number of applicants currently waiting for their jobseeker's benefit application to be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40331/12]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the current waiting time for an application for jobseeker's allowance; the number of applicants currently waiting for their jobseeker's allowance application to be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40332/12]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the current waiting time for an application for one parent family payment; the number of applicants currently waiting for their one parent family payment application to be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40336/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 215, 216 and 220 together.

Processing times vary across schemes because of both the volume of applications and the differing qualification criteria. For example, means assessments are required for all of the social assistance schemes and customers must also satisfy the habitual residence condition. In the case of the insurance based schemes, it may be necessary to ascertain details of foreign insurance records. It should also be noted that many factors outside the Department's control can impact upon claim processing times, for example, the supply of relevant information by the customer, employers or other third parties.

The average processing time for claims decided in August 2012 was 2.3 weeks for jobseekers benefit, 4.5 weeks for jobseekers allowance and 12.2 weeks for one parent family payment. This is the average time nationally and there are fluctuations between offices.

The number of claims pending decision at week ending 16 September was 6,523 jobseekers benefit, 22,753 jobseekers allowance and 3,625 one-parent family payment.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the current waiting time for an application for mortgage interest supplement; the number of applicants currently waiting for their mortgage interest supplement application to be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40333/12]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the current waiting time for an application for rent supplement; the number of applicants currently waiting for their rent supplement application to be processed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40339/12]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 217 and 223 together.

There are currently approximately 90,000 persons in receipt of rent supplement and 17,000 in receipt of mortgage interest supplement, for which the Government has provided a total of €487 million in 2012.

A key objective of the transfer of the Community Welfare Service from the Health Service Executive to my Department on 1st October 2011 was to provide a streamlined, consistent and enhanced service to the customer. The process of integration is on-going and significant progress has already been made with a unified service, the National Employment and Entitlements Service, now in the process of being delivered in four offices. The service provided in relation to processing mortgage interest and rent supplement applications is also subject to ongoing review.

The timescale for determining applications for rent and mortgage interest supplements is dependent, among other things, on the availability of the required information, such as details of the applicant's income, bank statements etc. In addition, some aspects of the application are inevitably time consuming and delays can occur where investigations such as home visits or third party evidence are required. Delays can also arise if the applicant is slow to respond to requests for additional information.

Statistics are not available on the length of time taken to assess rent and mortgage interest supplement applications or the number of applications awaiting a decision. The provision of a prompt service is a major objective for the Department’s staff dealing with rent and mortgage interest supplement applications. This is tempered by the necessity to ensure that every case is fully investigated and that all cases are dealt with in a consistent and fair manner.

I am satisfied that the Department’s staff dealing with these applications make every effort to ensure rent and mortgage interest supplement claims are processed in an efficient manner.