Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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321. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the extent to which backlogs have been addressed in respect of various headings and payments operated by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8793/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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My Department is committed to providing a quality service to all its customers. This includes ensuring that applications are processed and that decisions on entitlement are made as quickly as possible.

Over €19 billion was spent by my Department on its various income supports and other programmes in 2016. The number of applications awaiting decision and the average time to award for each main social welfare scheme is set out in the table appended.

The time taken by my Department to process applications depends on a number of factors, primarily the conditionality and relative complexity that applies to the relevant scheme. The quality and completeness of the application form and other supporting material is also an important factor. When the number of people applying to any particular scheme increases significantly, it can put pressure on my Department’s capacity to process those claims in a timely manner. Finally, long term schemes with medical or caring conditionality are relatively complex to decide upon and, consequently, can take longer to process.

Reducing waiting times is a priority for my Department and we are working hard to make this happen. As part of its programme of service delivery modernisation, a range of initiatives aimed at streamlining the processing of claims, supported by modern technology, have been implemented by my Department in recent years. In addition, staffing needs are regularly reviewed, having regard to workloads and the competing demands arising, to ensure that the best use is made of all available resources.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Table of Main DSP Schemes (arranged alphabetically) with Number of Applications awaiting decision and Average Weeks to Award