Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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138. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of medical assessors and medical officers available to the Social Welfare Appeals Office as appeals that may require medical assessment have the longest processing times especially for carer's allowance, 46 weeks, invalidity pension, 40 weeks, illness benefit, 40 weeks and disability allowance, 38 weeks; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30915/13]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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There are currently 23 Medical Assessors employed in my Department, including the Chief Medical Adviser and the Deputy Chief Medical Adviser and all of the staff in question serve on a full-time basis. All Medical Assessors undergo training to assess all the various illness related schemes including appeals cases.

Since 2009, the cadre of Medical Assessors has been generally between 23-25 but the volume of assessment work has increased substantially due to involvement in new schemes and the levels of training required for these. Backlogs have then arisen in cases due for assessment (including appeals cases) due to the combination of increased work volumes and a number of retirements/Medical Assessors on leave including sick leave/ maternity leave etc.

As an exception to the current moratorium on recruitment in the civil and public service, my Department received sanction from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to hold a competition to appoint Medical Assessors, with a view to filling critical vacancies that had arisen following the retirement of a number of serving Medical Assessors.

In addition, and in view of the critical control role that Medical Assessors play in assessing and reviewing illness related claims, sanction was also given to appoint additional Medical Assessors to fill vacancies which will be due to arise in the near future as a result of retirements.

A public competition, administered on behalf of my Department by the Public Appointments Service (PAS), was held in 2012. At the time of the interviews, four Medical Assessors had retired. Fourteen people were placed on the panel that was established following completion of the competitive process.

To date seven Medical Assessors have been appointed from this panel, three of whom took up duty in November 2012, with a further three commencing in March, 2013 and the most recent appointment was in early June, 2013. Five of those placed on the panel have subsequently withdrawn from the process.

My Department has continued to liaise with the PAS with a view to appointing the two remaining candidates at the earliest opportunity. In this regard, two offers of appointment have been issued and the new Medical Assessors are expected to take up their positions in Autumn, 2013.

I place great emphasis on ensuring that all claims including appeals cases are processed and reviewed in a timely manner and I’m very pleased that the Department has been able to fill these critical vacancies and to frontload the appointment of additional Medical Assessors in advance of retirement thereby enabling the Department to deliver a quality service to our customers.