Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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523. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will advise on a review of services provided by INTREO and Social Welfare Offices in 2021; if this review is publicly available and where it can be assessed; if it is not publicly available, when it will be published; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51540/22]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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524. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection if she will advise on a review of services provided by INTREO and Social Welfare Offices in 2021; if she will provide an overview of the review recommendations; if she will outline the measures which have been put in place to date regarding changes to services provided by INTREO and social welfare offices and related processes; if she will outline those measures which are intended to be implemented moving froward; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51541/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 523 and 524 together.

As is the case with any large customer service organisation my Department is constantly reviewing and refining its operational procedures and management structures. As part of this ongoing process in 2021 my Department made some changes to management reporting lines as well as how it organised the processing of Intreo centre claims so as to take account of remote working/blended working developments and to ensure that staff workloads could be balanced.  

The review did not involve any changes to Intreo centre locations or services available to the public at Intreo centres. As is normal practice these changes were discussed with staff unions and have been in place since January 2022.

These changes also reflect and facilitate the changed working environment post Covid-19 – in particular the move to remote/blended working.

Ongoing regular reviews of internal structure and processes are normal in any operational environment. These routine operational reviews do not involve any change to customer benefits or entitlement but represent normal business process change and refinement. Therefore it is not the practice to publish, nor is it intended to publish, any report on the changes.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.