I already referred to the large number of people catered for by the Department of Social Welfare on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis. Some 1.5 million people receive regular payments. In the vast majority of those cases payments are made, appeals dealt with, decisions are made and nobody hears about them any more. The number of cases where difficulties arise to which the Senator refers are very much in the minority. There will always be exceptions to rules in every situation. In an effort to deal with those exceptional cases we have an appeals system and a facility where Members can put down parliamentary questions, raise matters on the Adjournment in both Houses etc. However, a message should not be sent from this House that the system is in any way defective, because people resorted to those measures. While it is important that these measures should be there and used in special circumstances, the whole thrust of my Department is to eliminate people waiting for long periods of time.
The number of appeals has dropped dramatically. The reason for this is that a greater degree of information is available. People will know automatically when they make their application whether or not they will qualify. The number of appeals has also dropped in the last year. I originally thought the Senator was about to compliment me unnecessarily for this; I would have been embarrassed. Thankfully, he did not; neither did he compliment the Minister for Social Welfare. However, a great deal of work has been done in that area. I am responsible for the dissemination of information generally within the Department and that is made available as widely as possible to the vast bulk of the population, both to those in receipt of and those who might need to have recourse to payments. That information has been put to good use under this and previous administrations and the consequent number of appeals has been reduced considerably.
As regards claimant services advisory groups, the Senator must not be as well clued into the social welfare system in Cork as some other Senators because we already have those groups. Customer advisory panels have been set up for some considerable time to advise on exactly what the Senator mentioned — how the system affects the individual. No one can advise someone as well as the person who is directly affected. As the doctor said, the best person to diagnose the patient's problem is the patient him or herself because nobody else feels the pain.
In social welfare the object of the exercise is to draw a response from the people who are our customers. It has been decided to do that through customer panels which is a positive and effective method of bringing within the system the constructive advice of those who are directly affected. People were initially reluctant to get involved but they are now recognising that it is for their benefit as well as making the system more consumer friendly.
The presumption is that people are honest, and we have to assume that. The Senator said it appeared that the Department of Social Welfare thought otherwise but that is not the case. The application forms do not presume that the applicant is dishonest. Where a means tested payment is pending, however, one must ask questions to determine whether the applicant qualifies.
We have been considerably successful in that area. I do not accept that we encourage people to be dishonest or that we presume they are dishonest. It is presumed that everyone is entitled to a payment provided they fall within the relevant income or health category.
The social welfare budget is the biggest in the country and there is a huge responsibility on the Minister for Social Welfare to ensure that a good quality of service is provided efficiently. The strategic management initiative which is in vogue at the moment is the area that links the provision of a speedy and efficient service to the customer while at the same time being cost effective in administrative terms.
The points referred to by the Senator are important in that they come within the ambit of what he refers to in his amendment. We regard it as being unnecessary because we are already using the strategic management initiative for the Department and the customer. At the same time we are providing the information service and advice as well as the structures for customers to gain access to the information. As well as identifying new and improved methods for systematically measuring and responding to customers' needs, we provide published guidelines on an ongoing basis for customers who require advice from time to time.
We are also moving towards the one-stop-shop for which everybody in this House has called over the years. We have improved the quality of service in our social welfare offices around the country in terms of privacy and the type and extent of information available. A person going into one of our offices has ready access to a broad range of information which will enable them to determine what their entitlements are. A great deal of effort has been put into this and it is paying off.
The Senator referred to rates of budget information and how they apply. I have been in public life for 20 years and from an early age I took a keen interest in social welfare because it was an issue that arose on a regular basis. Public representatives deal with countless social welfare queries. Up to 1979 the number of queries was huge because the system had not been streamlined. The system changed over from stamp assisted to PRSI at that time and there were hiccups before it recovered. The social welfare system now employs 4,500 people and it is responsive, even though it is difficult to provide equal access to information for everyone.
No one can claim to have every aspect of social welfare information at their fingertips. The system represents a succession of legislation which has been built up block by block over a long number of years. In some years the introduction of legislation changes the qualification for payments in a positive way, and in other years other aspects change. No one can claim to be an expert in the social welfare area and even lawyers can spend hours pouring over the various aspects of welfare law on behalf of their clients.
The reasons for decisions are given in every case and that is as it should be. If a situation arises where that is not the case, it is the exception to the rule because provision is there for information to be given. It is also provided for in another section of the present Bill whereby it will be further improved. That is an indication of the thrust of the development of social welfare law. It is a recognition that we are moving towards providing the maximum information more readily to ensure that customers know their rights.
The question was raised whether the Department of Social Welfare is consumer friendly. With responsibility for a budget of £4.4 billion and the necessity to respond to a very large group of 1.5 million people who depend on the delivery of a weekly payment, I think the Department of Social Welfare is doing very well. Previous administrations in the Department have done equally well and we are improving all the time.
I pay tribute to the many people working at the coal face in the Department all over the country, meeting payments and making provision for the coming weeks. Nothing, not even holidays, can stand in the way of that work because the provision of these payments must be made on an ongoing basis. It is the biggest single area of responsibility within the budgetary system and the Department is accomplishing its task very well.