Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection the progress made within her Department on phasing out the use of LoCall 1890 numbers that can be extremely expensive when dialled from mobile phones and introducing 076 number, which generally included in tariff bundles provided by most mobile network operators and are charged at the same rate as national calls, in view of the fact that the number of mobile phones exceed the number of landlines; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14490/13]

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she has considered the use of, or implemented, integrated voice response systems in her Department's phone systems or in the phone systems of agencies within her remit; if the staff and salary cost savings which might arise have been assessed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14506/13]

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Social Protection if her Department has given any consideration to the use of telephony switchboard services that are shared with another Govlernment Department or another public body in order to reduce costs and increase call handling capacity; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14518/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 137 to 139, inclusive, together.

My Department has been using Lo-call numbers very successfully for its main scheme areas for many years. The Department has, however, been conscious of rising costs and emerging alternatives for some time and is actively planning the migration of Lo-call numbers to the 0761 range provided to us by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Some infrastructure upgrades are required to ensure that new numbers can be accommodated on the telephone network in a seamless integration. The Deputy will be aware that the Department is also integrating former FAS and CWS offices into its voice and data network and the new design has to take account of these changed circumstances.

I am mindful, at all times, of the importance of the telephone to large numbers of the Department’s customers for whom the telephone is the preferred method of communication. Any changes to long-established and well publicised numbers have to be carefully managed and announced far in advance of implementation. I also need to ensure that stocks of published information are run down before being reprinted with new numbers.

The Department implemented Interactive Voice Response (IVR) solutions along with Lo-call numbers. No staff or salary savings accrued at that time as the Locall numbers were considered to have attracted additional traffic. There is a notional saving in that no additional telephonists were required to deal with the extra calls but an amount has never been calculated and may not be meaningful after this number of years where the higher levels of traffic are now the norm. IVRs still require a staff engagement to deal with callers who cannot navigate through the menus or take the option to go to the telephonist.

My department is fully committed to shared services and minimising costs where possible and all related proposals are welcomed. One such initiative currently underway is with the Revenue Commissioners in relation to sharing data networks in joint locations. My Department has not considered any proposal to share switchboard services with other bodies but is open to doing so in the future.