Vol. 472 No. 2
30 Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn asked the Minister for Social Welfare the action, if any, he intends to take in response to the survey carried out in May and June 1996, the results of which were published recently, which indicated that 54 per cent of persons surveyed agreed that people do not know their entitlements and that 69 per cent of respondents felt that the social welfare system is complicated. [22177/96]
48 Mr. E. Ryan asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will agree to publish the full MRBI survey on public attitudes to welfare, rather than selective results from the survey. [22174/96]
83 Mrs. Geoghegan-Quinn asked the Minister for Social Welfare his views on the findings of the MRBI survey on public attitudes to his Department and its services which was carried out in May/June of 1996, which found that 75 per cent of those surveyed believed that there was some element of fraud attached to social welfare payments. [22270/96]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 30, 48 and 83 together.
The findings of the second part of the independent MRBI survey, which reflect the attitudes and perceptions of the general public towards the Department of Social Welfare and the services it provides, were published in full by the Minister of State at my Department on 11 November 1996. The first part, which covered the attitudes and perceptions of people receiving social welfare payments, was published at the end of May 1996. In addition, I am arranging to have the findings of both the customer and the general public stages of this survey produced in booklet format which I will make available.
The feedback from these surveys is of particular relevance in the development of the strategic management initiative within my Department, in particular in relation to three key strategic action areas, namely, customer service, control of abuse and value for money.
The findings indicate there is a significant degree of difficulty for those trying to find their way around the various schemes which are administered both by this Department and other statutory bodies.
As 81 per cent of the general public prefer to make a personal visit or phone the Department when seeking information, we must now review, through our systems and procedures, how we can respond to the need for a more personalised approach to information dissemination. In this regard I am establishing an internal Information Dissemination Working Group which will address how best we can deliver the right information to the right person in a timely and suitable fashion.
The security and protection of the social welfare system is an integral part of our business and through our control of abuse programme, we aim to achieve greater strategic and operational control of the system. In this regard a comprehensive additional programme of measures to tackle abuses of the unemployment payment schemes has recently been introduced.
It is my intention, however, to continue to raise the level of public awareness and to seek to engage other Government agencies, but also the private sector and the wider community in tackling abuse of the system, whatever form it may take.
In line with the ethos of my Department of delivering an open, fair and caring service I am committed to continually seeking to improve the quality of our services whilst also ensuring that our systems and procedures minimise the risk of fraud and abuse.
