asked the Minister for Social Welfare if she is satisfied at the controls within her Department over the printing, delivery, storage, issue, return, encashment and accounting for children's allowance books; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Oral Answers. - Children's Allowance Books.
4.
Order books for the payment of child benefit are printed under very secure conditions by the stamping branch of the Revenue Commissioners. The printed books are delivered to the Department of Social Welfare in secure containers and are stored in strong-rooms until issue. All books printed are recorded and fully accounted for.
The procedures relating to the printing, delivery, storage, issue, return, encashment and accounting for these books are constantly under review and improvements have been made over the years both in the light of perceived deficiencies and in response to suggestions by the Comptroller and Auditor General. The procedures have, therefore, been made as secure as possible having regard to the resources available up to now.
For the future, however, a greater degree of security can be obtained by the use of up-to-date technology. Some time ago, therefore, I instructed my Department to arrange for the introduction of the most modern secure systems available.
The computerisation of the claim details in respect of child benefit and pensions which has been completed in recent times affords the opportunity for introducing the additional security and controls which I have been seeking. The Department have now virtually completed their examination of the problem and I expect that a contract will shortly be placed for the production of higher security orders. I expect the first of the new type orders will be issued to claimants around mid-1987.
The new orders will have a feature — optical character recognition — suitable for automatic reading by computer after encashment and will thereby allow for full reconciliation of all orders cashed.
I welcome the Minister's reply. However, between July and December 1984, 391 children's allowance books were returned to the Department because an allowance book had been issued to a post office and a bank. A further 500 books were returned in cases where entitlement had terminated prior to the issue of the books. Will the Minister explain how this could happen in view of the computerised checking within the Department?
That is a very detailed question and if the Deputy had tabled it I could have given a comprehensive answer. We are aware that there are loopholes in the system and that difficulties arose because of forged books. That is why there has been a constant review of the system and the fact that we hope to place a contract very shortly for a completely new system of very high security orders will render many of these problems a thing of the past.
Is the Minister aware that in some cases her Department issued payments to recipients who ceased to be eligible? Sometimes a parent cashes these cheques, not knowing that eligibility has ceased, but attempts are then made by the Department to recoup the money. Does the Minister consider that this is a fair practice in view of the fact that the errors emanated from her Department?
The Deputy has asked a completely separate question from that which Deputy Foley put down and I could not go into details at present. There are difficulties in those circumstances and it is not the only area where problems arise. However, it is difficult to see how one could justify not attempting to reclaim money which was overpaid and which, by the very nature of its overpayment, was not needed. Unfortunately, a detailed answer is not available at present.