Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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91. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the control savings and reviews recorded on child benefit in each of the past three years; the overpayments sought each year, and the repayments to date; the multiplier used in calculating control savings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19704/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The vast majority of social welfare claimants are receiving their correct entitlements. In line with the commitments in the Compliance and Anti-Fraud Strategy 2014–2018, the Department aims to minimise risks of fraud and eliminate incorrect payments. This involves appropriate checks at the point of claiming, strengthened by systematic reviews of claims in payment and verification that the conditions for entitlement continue to be met.

Control activity is focused on prevention of fraud and error at claim application stage. Savings made from the prevention of fraud and error at application stage cannot be estimated as the claim will not go into payment. Reviews of claims in payment are also an essential element of the control programme of the Department. Control savings are used as a performance indicator for year-on-year control review activity and represent an estimate of the value of prevented future expenditure that would have been incurred had this control work not been carried out.

Control savings are calculated by applying validated multipliers to the difference in the rate of payment before and after the control activity. The multipliers for Child Benefit (CB) are as follows:

Multipliers used in assessing control savings estimate the total future savings to the Department of a revocation or reduction resulting from a control action. The multiplier used is based on the average amount of time the person who ceases to claim will remain off the books before returning.

Overpayments, on the other hand, arise in relation to past events where a Deciding Officer has sufficient evidence that a person has been paid an amount in excess of their entitlement for a given period, either through payment at a rate above that which they should receive or where they are paid beyond the relevant date.

The following table provides details regarding CB control activity and overpayments:

Note: Overpayment recoveries recorded in any given year can be proper to overpayments relevant to other years. Overpayments recorded in 2014 form part of the statutory accounts of the Department and are currently the subject of an audit by the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General.

The Department is committed to ensuring that social welfare payments are available to those who are entitled to them. In this regard, the control programme of the Department is carefully monitored and the various measures are refined to ensure that they remain effective.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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92. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the number of quarterly child benefit review forms issued in each of the past three years and in 2015 to date; if these form part of the control review process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19705/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Child benefit is a universal payment made to parents/guardians for the support of theirchildren. It is paid to some 615,000 families in respect of 1.18 million children, with an expenditure of approximately €1.9 billion in 2014.

Safeguarding the child benefit budget is a priority and the Department takes a proactive approach to ensuring that it is only paid to eligible families. A policy of issuing continuing eligibility certificates to parents commenced in 2008 and is still in operation; forming part of the overall review process.

Details of certificates issued since January 2012 are shown in the table below: