The Public Service Management Act 1997 requires each Government Department-Office to produce a statement of strategy which outlines the organisation's key objectives and performance indicators relating to the achievement of those objectives. In this regard, my Department has recently published its fourth statement of strategy, Promoting a Caring Society, which covers the period 2003-05.
A copy of this strategy statement is available in the Oireachtas Library and I have arranged for a copy to be sent to the Deputy.
The Department has also published a customer action plan and an internal customer service plan, both of which set out specific targets in relation to the provision of service to customers of the Department, both external and internal, over the three year period 2001-04.
The key indicators of performance in the Department relate to the processing of social welfare payments, control savings and levels of customer satisfaction with the services provided. Between 1997 and 2002 the number of claims in payment by the Department rose by 18% with particularly high levels of increases in certain scheme areas. Despite these increases, overall service levels measured by processing times for new claims, were broadly maintained.