Vol. 494 No. 5
46 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs the total number of investigations carried out by his Department on persons suspected of making fraudulent claims; the total number of officers employed within his Department to investigate such claims; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
59 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Social, Community and Family Affairs if he has satisfied himself that there is sufficient staff employed in the control unit in his Department and that the resources available to the investigation units are adequate having regard to the fact that they achieved savings of £76 million to his Department in 1997 as outlined in the 1997 audit of the Comptroller and Auditor General; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 46 and 59 together.
The detection of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system is an integral part of the day to day work of my Department. The work of all staff who are engaged in any aspect of claims processing is to some degree concerned with preventing and detecting fraud and abuse where it occurs.
There are some 600 staff at local, regional and national level whose work is entirely or significantly related to the control of fraud and abuse of the social welfare system. Some 300 of these are responsible for routine investigations under the various schemes and for reporting on and following up suspected cases of fraud where these are discovered.
Some 57 of these staff are inspectors belonging to a special investigation unit whose specific purpose is to investigate fraud and abuse. This unit forms part of a nationwide joint inspection unit with inspectors from the Revenue Commissioners and investigates employers and employees where abuses of the schemes are suspected. In addition, all the main scheme areas have staff dedicated to the control of fraud.
