Dan Wallace
Question:95 Mr. D. Wallace asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of people who have been continuously receiving unemployment assistance or benefit for ten years or more; and the number by county. [3927/96]
Written Answers. - Social Welfare Benefits.
Statistics on the numbers of unemployed people are compiled by the Central Statistics Office. A separate count is not kept of people who have been continuously receiving unemployment assistance or benefit for ten years or more.
The categories of duration available are: under three months, three to six months, six to 12 months, one to two years, two to three years and three years and over. These categories are broken down by regional authority but not by county.
The following tables give a breakdown of people who have been continuously on the live register for three years or more by regional authority, type of claim and sex.
Table 1
Number of persons continuously on the live register for 3 years and over classified by type of claim and sex
|
Sex |
Type of Claim |
||
|
Unemployment Assistance |
Other |
Total |
|
|
Males |
50,790 |
707 |
51,497 |
|
Females |
13,536 |
3,228 |
16,764 |
|
Total |
64,326 |
3,935 |
68,261 |
Table 2
Number of persons continuously on the live register for 3 years and over classified by regional authority and sex
|
Regional Authority |
Males |
Females |
Total |
|
Border |
7,100 |
2,083 |
9,183 |
|
Dublin |
18,145 |
5,414 |
23,559 |
|
Mid-East |
3,422 |
1,133 |
4,555 |
|
Midland |
2,269 |
800 |
3,069 |
|
Mid-West |
3,390 |
1,081 |
4,471 |
|
South-East |
5,758 |
1,728 |
7,486 |
|
South-West |
5,819 |
2,436 |
8,255 |
|
West |
5,594 |
2,089 |
7,683 |
|
Total |
51,497 |
16,764 |
68,261 |
Source: CSO Statistical Release
Half Yearly Age by Duration Analysis of Live Register on 20th October 1995.
Joe Walsh
Question:96 Mr. J. Walsh asked the Minister for Social Welfare the number of persons overpaid by his Department on claims found to be fraudulent; the amount owing; and the amount recouped. [1297/96]
The latest year for which complete overpayment statistics are available is 1994. In that year, 11,040 overpayments, amounting to £11.5 million, were attributed to fraud or suspected fraud. A further 15,797 overpayments, amounting to £4.5 million, arose due to a variety of reasons including errors by claimants and departmental error.
While every effort is made to recover overpayments due regard is had to the capacity of the individuals concerned to make repayments. In some cases it may be possible to recover the overpayment immediately while in others it may take a number of years. In 1994 £5.4 million was recovered in respect of both fraud and non-fraud overpayments which occurred in 1994 and in earlier years. Separate figures are not maintained for amounts recovered in respect of fraud overpayments.
Overpayments should be viewed in the context of the scale of operation of my Department. In 1994 the value of overpayments represented less than half of one per cent of total scheme expenditure. There were some 823,000 claimants of a weekly social welfare payment at the end of 1994 covering nearly 1.5 million people and nearly half a million families were in receipt of child benefit.