Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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392. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will list any new organisations/agencies established in her Department since 9 March 2011; the role and functions and the annual operating budget for these organisations/agencies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7950/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The statutory bodies operating under the aegis of the Department of Social Protection are the Citizens Information Board, the Pensions Board, the Pensions Ombudsman and the Social Welfare Tribunal.

No new organisation/agency has been established in my Department since March 2011. However, in relation to the existing Pensions Board, the Public Service Reform Programme provided for a critical review of 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. The recommendations arising out of the Critical Review on the Pensions Board were approved by Government in April 2013 and were provided for in the Social Welfare and Pensions (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 2013.

It was recommended that the governance structure of the Pensions Board be restructured. Oversight of the Pensions Board will be undertaken by a three person body called the Pensions Authority. This will consist of a Chairperson and two officials from the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Finance.

A separate unpaid Pensions Council, with increased consumer interest representation, will be established to advise me on pensions policy. I expect to appoint the Chairperson of the Pensions Authority shortly. I intend to call for expressions of interest for the appointment to the Pensions Council through the Public Appointments Service.