Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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783. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the average waiting time for a decision to be made by the social protection appeals office in respect of each social protection payment. [33063/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The average appeal processing times to date in 2017 for all scheme types where the appeal was decided by an appeals officer, broken down by oral hearing and summary decision, are set out in the following table.

The time taken to process an appeal reflects all aspects of the appeal process including the time spent in the Department preparing the appeal submission. The quasi-judicial nature of the system impacts on appeal processing times which are proportionate to the complexity of many of the issues under appeal which often require a high level of judgement, in addition to the need to ensure due process and natural justice.

Overall appeal processing times peaked in 2011/2012 and have improved year on year since then. For example, the average time taken to determine an appeal requiring an oral hearing reduced from 52.5 weeks in 2011 to 28.6 weeks in 2014, 25.5 weeks in 2015, 24.1 weeks in 2016 and 25 weeks to date in 2017. The average time taken to finalise an appeal decided by way of a summary decision reduced from 25.1 weeks in 2011 to 21.1 weeks in 2014, 18.1 weeks in 2015, 17.6 weeks in 2016 and 18.5 weeks to date in 2017.

Notwithstanding these improvements, the Chief Appeals Officer has advised me that appeal processing times will continue to be a priority for her office and will continue to be monitored on an ongoing basis.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Appeal processing times by Scheme 01 January 2017- 30 June 2017