Parliamentary Questions

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 December 2014

Thursday, 18 December 2014

Questions (48)

Catherine Murphy

Question:

48. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection if her Department performs analysis on the nature of parliamentary questions submitted to it in order to try to ascertain trends and developments which require urgent attention or policy change; if so, the way this feeds into policy formation within her Department; if the nature of withdrawn questions is recorded or analysed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49114/14]

Written answers

Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection

All Parliamentary Questions (PQs) are monitored and provide insight into both the operational and policy development functions of the Department and also highlight areas of concern. These are then further examined, as appropriate.

Some 70% of PQs tabled to the Department refer to the status of individual claims in relation to the schemes administered by the Department. The practice of withdrawing PQs has assisted the Department to cope with the large volume of PQs it receives annually. This practice has been used generally in relation to PQs relating to individual social welfare claims and does not apply to questions raised on policy matters. Under the system, the Department provides the Deputy with the relevant information in relation to the individual query and in a majority of cases, subsequently confirms this information in writing. In general, feedback to the Department is that Deputies find this service helpful.