Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 31 May 2017
52. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will report on the cost of the welfare fraud campaign his Department is engaged in; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25950/17]
View answer59. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Social Protection the full cost of his high profile advertising campaign against fraud in social protection; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25953/17]
View answer60. Deputy Gino Kenny asked the Minister for Social Protection if he will justify the expenditure on the advertising campaign against social welfare fraud in view of the resources available to his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26039/17]
View answer78. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Social Protection the overall estimated savings from his social welfare fraud campaign for 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25897/17]
View answer93. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Social Protection the cost of the ongoing campaign to tackle welfare fraud; if the 12 staff members he referred to in his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 254 of 16 May 2017 work solely on the social welfare fraud campaign; if he has satisfied himself that the resources dedicated to this campaign represent an effective use of public funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25936/17]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 52, 59, 60, 78 and 93 together.
The Department administers over 70 separate schemes and services, which affect the lives of almost every person in the State. In 2016, some 1.7 million applications for benefit, assistance and access to schemes were received and processed and over 82 million individual payments were made to people across all age groups and to employers. Measures to prevent and detect fraud and enhance controls across the Department’s various schemes are set out in the Compliance and Anti-Fraud Strategy which covers the period 2014 – 2018.
The recent fraud campaign was designed to:
- Promote discussion on the topic of social welfare fraud;
- Encourage reporting of suspected/known social welfare fraud;
- Demonstrate that the Government and Department takes the issue of social welfare fraud very seriously; and
- Inform the wider community of the obligations on my Department to protect the integrity of the social welfare system.
The national and regional radio, print and outdoor advertising ran for a period of two weeks, with a longer timeframe of 4 to 6 weeks for digital/online advertising. The cost of the advertising campaign is €165,988 excluding VAT.
My Department did not incur any additional staffing costs arising from the campaign as staff were already in place and dedicated to control and anti-fraud work. I am very satisfied that the campaign has been effective in raising the discussion around this topic and was cost effective, as evidenced by the public support for it. In that context, it should be noted that since the launch of the campaign on 18 April last, 3,377 reports had been received from members of the public. This compares with 2,034 reports received for the same period in 2016, an increase of over 66%. These reports will be examined over the coming weeks and referred to the relevant scheme areas for appropriate follow-up action where this is warranted.
The Department has set no specific savings targets for this campaign. An overall savings target of €510 million has been set for 2017 and additional reporting from members of the public will support the Department in achieving this target.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputies.
