Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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88. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of appointments to State Boards under the remit of her Department in each year from 2011 to 2014; the number that were publicly advertised; the reason all appointments are not open to public competition; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26277/14]

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 Authority, the Pensions Ombudsman (which does not have a Board) and the Social Welfare Tribunal.

Details of appointments to the Boards over the last three years are set out in the table below:

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 Act, 2013. The Pensions Authority was launched on 7 March 2014.

It was recommended that the governance structure of the Pensions Board be restructured with two distinct arms as follows:

- Oversight of the Pensions Board will be undertaken by a three person body called the Pensions Authority. The Board of the Pensions Authority will consist of a Chairperson and two officials from the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Finance.

- A separate unpaid Pensions Council will be established to advise the Department on matters of pensions policy which will strengthen governance of occupational pensions and give consumers greater input into pensions policy.

On 6March 2014, I announced key appointments to the Pensions Authority and Pensions Council, the new bodies which will strengthen governance of occupational pensions and give consumers greater input into pensions policy.

- The Authority Chairperson,

- The Pensions Council Chairperson.

Under the strengthened arrangements, the Pensions Board is being renamed the Pensions Authority to better reflect its key role of safeguarding the pensions of occupational pension scheme members and also the provision of information on occupational pensions.

Oversight of the Pensions Authority will be provided by a separate three-person board, comprising of:

- The Authority Chairperson;

- A representative of the Department of Social Protection; and

- A representative of Department of Finance.

The separate unpaid Pensions Council is being created to operate as a pensions advisory panel and report to me on matters of pensions policy. Members to the Council will be recruited though the Public Appointments Service. People interested in serving as members of this council have been invited to make expressions of interest to the Public Appointments Service, and 57 such applications were received last month. It is hoped to process these and to make appointments to the Council before the end of the summer.

The Chairperson for the Council has been announced, but has not yet been formally appointed.