Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Independent)
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141. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her plans to set up an actuarial unit within her Department, staffed by qualified actuaries to ensure that reliable independent information is available to her Department in making informed decisions on the setting of both contributions and rates of benefit in the future. [34389/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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I do not have any proposals to set up an Actuarial Unit within my Department staffed by qualified actuaries.

Staff in the various areas in my Department who are engaged in the formulation of the various Budget proposals and ongoing review of schemes have access to a very wide range of information. Staff work closely with the Statistics Unit in my Department and also with the relevant areas in the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform to ensure that all proposals are based on the most up to date information available.

Section 10 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Act 2005 requires that the Minister for Social Protection undertakes an actuarial review of the Social Insurance Fund at five year intervals. The Actuarial Review of the Social Insurance Fund at 31 December 2010, carried out by KPMG Actuarial Services and which was completed during 2012, examined the position of the Fund at the end of 2010.

The 2010 review was undertaken to update the results of the 2005 review taking into account policy and demographic changes in the period since the previous review was undertaken. In particular, it provided updated projections in relation to income and expenditure and also break-even contributions rates. The period of the review was 56 years from 2011 to 2066 inclusive. The evidence from the review was used to inform the decision making process in relation to various Budgets and other policy proposals. One of the deliverables from the 2010 Review was the provision of a model to the Department which would enable the long-term costing and assessment of possible policy changes. I am satisfied that this model together with all the other sources of relevant information available to my officials enables us to make informed decisions on the setting of both contributions and rates of benefit on an ongoing basis.