Ensuring the right person gets paid the right amount of money is a priority for my Department. Control work is an essential element of the day-to-day work of the Department and control savings are an estimate of the value of the various control activities across the different schemes in payment. The savings represent an estimate of the value of prevented future expenditure that would have been incurred had this control work not been carried out. Control savings are used as a performance indicator for year-on-year activities. Such savings do not include any cases of departmental or clerical error and also do not include any cases where the customer voluntarily told the Department of their means or circumstances, which resulted in a change to their rate of payment.
In 2012, the control savings target was €645million. While the outturn of control savings for last year is currently being finalised, I expect that the target will be met. There is a commitment to increase savings from control activity by €40m in 2013.
The Department has, in the last number of years, been engaged in extensive data matching exercises with a number of other Government Departments and public bodies for control purposes. Data matching is an efficient and effective mechanism to target control related activity.
The Department has an extensive legal structure to support the sharing of data for the purpose of controlling the entitlement and payment of benefits. The legislative provisions which allow for the specific sharing of data are contained in section 261 of the Social Welfare Consolidated Act, 2005. Notwithstanding the provision of the 2005 Act, the Department must, however, operate in compliance with the basic principles and legislation underpinning data protection.
The Department liaises with the Data Protection Commissioner on a regular basis and will continue, where Social Welfare legislative proposals have data protection implications, to consult with the Commissioner on such matters.
