Dáil Éireann Debate, Monday - 11 September 2017
1849. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of helpdesk staff in her Department and the costs associated with calls from customers to request activation of the public services card; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37878/17]
View answer1852. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of public services cards produced; the number of cards that have been activated to date in 2017 as, at the end of June 2016, over two million public services cards had been produced; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37885/17]
View answer1930. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the outcome of completing the activation process on public services cards with respect to the use of the card; if the card can be used without being activated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38976/17]
View answer1931. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of non-activated public services cards that are in circulation; the steps she is taking to ensure they are in the possession of the correct person; the safeguards in place to ensure non-activated cards are not used by persons other than the correct cardholder; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38977/17]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1849, 1852, 1930 and 1931 together.
In all, approximately 2.8m Public Services Cards (PSC) have issued since SAFE registration commenced in 2011.
At the time of the commencement of the roll-out of the Public Services Card (PSC) in 2011, the then Data Protection Commissioner requested that controls be put place to ensure that PSCs were getting to the correct people. As a result, the Department requested that customers, on receipt of their PSC, make contact by telephone to confirm receipt of their card. This process was known as ‘activation’.
As part of the procurement of the production, personalisation, distribution and management of the PSC, the managed service provider was charged with the provision of a helpdesk facility to deal with customer enquiries including ‘activation’ calls. The number of staff on the helpdesk is dependent on the call volumes at any time.
Things have changed since the Data Protection Commissioner’s original request. Firstly, the PSC is sent to an address that has already been verified during the SAFE registration process within days of that process, i.e., there is no delay between registration and issuance of the card. Secondly, as more public bodies use the PSC and with the introduction of MyGovID, the opportunities for confirmation that cards have been received by the correct person have increased. Thirdly, the registration process now facilitates the capture and verification of mobile phone details. Accordingly, the Department considered that the ‘activation’ service was no longer required and decided to cease asking customers to ring to confirm receipt of their PSC with effect from August 2016.
There is no activation process for cards post issue. All issued cards are valid.
Calls to the customer support helpdesk (the majority of which were ‘activation’ calls) up to September 2016 cost €3.1 million including VAT.
I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputies.
