Thursday, 25 Oct 2012

Departmental Staff Promotions

Ceisteanna (98)

Mary Lou McDonald

Ceist:

98. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of staff members of his Department that have been awarded internal promotions and or additional acting up or temporary allowances to perform more senior roles since 27 March 2009; the details of the grades involved; the pre-promotion temporary acting and post promotion temporaryacting pay scales; the total increase in salary payments to each staff member involved; the duration of assignments; the area to which each person was assigned; the business reasons supporting any such decision; the details of sanction received from the Department of Finance and or Public Expenditure and Reform; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47167/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

I understand the Deputy has clarified that the question relates to promotions and acting up/temporary allowances at Assistant Principal grade and above. Information relating to my Department for the period since 29 March 2009, is set out in the following tabular format, together with the relevant salary scales:

Number of promotions	Grade from and to	-	Salary from and to
4	Assistant Principal (AP) to Principal Officer (PO)	AP salary scale €65,185 - €80,678	PO salary scale €84,132 - €103,472
1	Assistant Principal (AP) to Deputy Director of Conciliation Services/Labour Relations Commission (PO)	AP salary scale €65,185 - €80,678	PO salary scale €84,132 - €103,472

Departmental Staff Redeployment

Ceisteanna (99, 100)

Mary Lou McDonald

Ceist:

99. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of staff members from his Department that have been temporarily and or permanently redeployed to other Government Departments or agencies since 27 March 2009; the details of the grades and pay scales of same; the total amount of savings achieved in salary payments in respect of the persons concerned; the duration of assignments; the business reasons supporting the redeployment of staff; the details of sanction received from the Department of Finance and or Public Expenditure and Reform; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47183/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Mary Lou McDonald

Ceist:

100. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of staff members that have been temporarily and or permanently redeployed to his Department from other Government Departments or agencies since 27 March 2009; the details of the grades and pay scales involved; the total increase in salary payments for his Department in respect of the persons concerned; the duration of assignments; the area to which each person was assigned; the business reasons supporting the redeployment of staff; the details of sanction received from the Department of Finance and or Public Expenditure and Reform; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47198/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

I propose to take Questions Nos. 99 and 100 together.

The Public Service Agreement 2010-2014 (the Croke Park Agreement) provides for agreed redeployment arrangements to apply in the Civil Service and in other parts of the public service. Under the Croke Park Agreement, redeployment generally takes precedence over all other methods of filling a vacancy and supersedes any existing agreements on the deployment of staff. Redeployment allows staff to be moved from activities which are of lesser priority, or which have been rationalised, reconfigured, or restructured, to areas of greater need. In practical terms these arrangements represent a means of facilitating the targeted reduction in public service numbers in the period 2010 to 2014 while sustaining the on-going delivery of services.

The full terms of the redeployment scheme and a description of the arrangement are contained in a Department of Public Expenditure and Reform circular (Circular 8/2010 Redeployment Scheme), issued in July 2010. Since 27 March 2009 there have been 18 staff redeployed from my Department to other Government Departments and Agencies, and 24 staff redeployed to my Department, on either a temporary or permanent basis, set out as follows in tabular form together with the relevant salary scales.

DJEI Redeployments since 27 March 2009	Grade and Number of Staff	Salary Scales for General Service Grades
Redeployed from DJEI	Accountant – 1	€65,247 - €80,814
-	Principal Officer – 1	€84,132 - €103,472
-	Assistant Principal – 2	€65,185 - €80,678
-	Higher Executive Officer – 2	€46,081 - €58,294
-	Executive Officer – 3	€30,516 - €47,975
-	Staff Officer – 1	€34,771 - €46,171
-	Clerical Officer – 8	€23,177 - €37,341
Redeployed to DJEI	Solicitor – 1	€33,576 - €80,678
-	Principal Officer – 1	€84,132 - €103,472
-	Assistant Principal – 3	€65,185 - €80,678
-	Higher Executive Officer – 6	€46,081 - €58,294
-	Administrative Officer – 1	€33,247 - €58,294
-	Executive Officer – 2	€30,516 - €47,975
-	Clerical Officer – 10	€23,177 - €37,341

Carer's Allowance Applications

Ceisteanna (101)

Micheál Martin

Ceist:

101. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will confirm that currently her Department are processing carer's allowance applications for November 2011, 11 months after the applications have been submitted; the action being taken to clear this backlog; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46912/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Social Protection

I acknowledge that the time taken to process carer’s allowance claims at present is not satisfactory but I am satisfied that the Department is taking appropriate action to resolve the situation. Carer’s allowance section has recently completed a major service delivery modernisation project to improve the efficiency with which it processes applications from clients for carer’s allowance. The project involved the development of IT functionality and associated business process re-organisation. Full deployment of the new system for Carer’s Allowance was completed in June 2012.

Following the completion of the modernisation project, an in-depth business process improvement (BPI) project was completed for the carer’s allowance scheme. This project focused on optimising output and customer service and the reduction of backlogs. The outcome of the review is the division of work into two streams. One concentrates on dealing with new claim intake and processes these without delay and the other is focused on the backlog which is ring-fenced with a clear and targeted plan for its elimination. Over the next number of months new carer’s allowance claims being received in the Department are being processed upon receipt. Claims which form part of the ring-fenced backlog will be dealt with as quickly as possible in order of date of receipt.

Implementation of the plan commenced on Monday 3 September and will be closely monitored and managed to ensure it achieves its objectives. A noted increase in the number of new claims processed was achieved in September, where claims processed substantially exceeded claim intake, and this increase continues into October. However, it will take a number of months before the backlog is reduced to an acceptable level. The allocation of available resources to this task continues to be monitored.

Question No. 102 withdrawn.

Invalidity Pension Waiting Times

Ceisteanna (103)

Micheál Martin

Ceist:

103. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will confirm the dates currently being processed by her Department in respect of invalidity pension applications; the action being taken to clear this backlog; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46914/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Social Protection

The Department is continually reviewing it processes in an effort to improve processing times and customer service. Many improvements have been introduced in Invalidity Pension Section. Since June 2011 all Invalidity Pension claims are processed on a new IT platform under the department's service delivery model project. A comprehensive business process improvement exercise has recently been completed within Invalidity Pension Section, the focus of which is to optimise performance and reduce waiting times. New processes and structures have been introduced in the area since June 2012. There is a dedicated team which deals with new invalidity pension claims. Currently, new claims are processed on receipt. A separate team is focused on the elimination of the backlog, which has been ring-fenced. That team is currently processing the final batch of these claims, all of which were received since January 2012 and are currently in receipt of illness benefit. However, there are some claims still awaiting decision which were received earlier than January 2012. These claims are awaiting a medical assessment or further information from the claimant.

The processing time for individual invalidity pension claims may vary in accordance with their relative complexity in terms of the qualifying criteria. In addition, factors outside the Department's control can have an impact, for example, insufficient information received from claimants at time of application and delays in claimants furnishing the information requested. Since the introduction of these new processes and structures, the number of pending claims has reduced from 7007 to 5372 from end May 2012 – end of September 2012 – and continues to reduce. Processes and procedures are continuously reviewed with the explicit objective of reducing delays and the situation is being closely monitored by my Department.

Social Welfare Appeals Waiting Times

Ceisteanna (104)

Robert Dowds

Ceist:

104. Deputy Robert Dowds asked the Minister for Social Protection the average time a social welfare appeal has taken to reach a decision in the past six months for which data are available, and the comparable figure for the previous six months and for the same period year-on-year. [46974/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Social Protection

Tables detailing the processing times for appeals, by month, to date in 2012 and for all of 2011 are provided in the following table. Annual processing times for the years 2007 to 2010 are also included. Statistics of the monthly average processing times prior to 2011 are not held.

These processing times are calculated from the registration date of the appeal to the date of its finalisation. They include all activities during this period including time spent in the Department for comments by the Deciding Officer on the grounds of appeal put forward by the appellant, and any further investigation, examination or assessment by the Department’s Inspectors and Medical Assessors that is deemed necessary. A considerable period of time is added to the process when an oral hearing is required because of the logistics involved in this process.

Annual Processing Times

Year	Summary Decision	Oral Hearing
2007	14.2	30.4
2008	13.9	32.9
2009	18.2	34.8
2010	27.4	45.6

Monthly Processing Times

-	2011	-	2012	-
-	Summary Decision	Oral Hearing	Summary Decision	Oral Hearing
January	24.2	53.6	20.9	48.5
February	21.6	55.8	22.4	38.1
March	23.7	51.2	23.9	38.7
April	23.6	54.2	27.7	39.4
May	28.1	50.3	30.2	40.6
June	30.8	59.7	28.6	39.7
July	33.3	52.2	30.3	40.3
August	26.2	50.2	27.8	38.1
September	24.7	50.3	28.9	39.1
October	27.5	50.4	-	-
November	18.7	50.4	-	-
December	19.4	52.1	-	-

Unemployment Levels

Ceisteanna (105)

Michael McGrath

Ceist:

105. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for Social Protection the number of persons formerly employed in construction trade categories particularly electrical/ mechanical who are in receipt of unemployment benefit; the number currently looking for work; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46997/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Social Protection

The total number of persons on the Live Register at the end of September 2012 was 429,335. That total includes people in receipt of Jobseeker’s Allowance or Jobseeker’s Benefit and also includes people who were not in receipt of a payment at that time. The total number of people recorded as having had occupations in construction trade categories at that time was 111,769. The following table details the breakdown of this number by category for the Deputy’s information.

Tabular statement

Category	Number	Percentage of Live Register
Architects, Town Planners and Surveyors	1,222	0.3%
Construction Trades	55,048	12.8%
Draughtspersons, Quantity and Other Surveyors	474	0.1%
Electrical/Electronic Trades	5,433	1.3%
Engineers and Technologists	4,494	1.1%
Metal Forming, Welding and Related Trades	3,488	0.8%
Metal Machining, Fitting and Instrument Making Trades	3,377	0.8%
Metal Making and Treating Workers	143	0.03%
Metal Working Process Workers	349	0.08%
Other Craft and Related Occupations not elsewhere classified	5,242	1.2%
Other Occupations in Construction	16,434	3.8%
Other Occupations in Mining and Manufacturing	231	0.05%
Road Transport Workers	7,781	1.8%
Woodworking Trades	8,053	1.9%
Total	111,769	26.0%

Question No. 106 withdrawn.

Consultancy Contracts

Ceisteanna (107)

Barry Cowen

Ceist:

107. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide the name, costs, date of commission, date or expected date of publication and name of the external consultant of all external reports commissioned by her Department since March 2011. [47082/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Minister for Social Protection

The Department will compile the information sought and will revert to the Deputy at the earliest possible opportunity.

Jobseeker's Allowance Applications

- have entered insurable employment before attaining the age of age 56 years

- have at least 520 paid contribution week since entry into insurance, from employment or self-employment

- have a yearly average of 48 paid and/or credited contributions from 1979 to the end of the last complete tax year preceding their 66th birthday, or

- have a yearly average of at least 10 paid and/or credited contributions recorded from 1953 or from their date of entry into insurable employment (whichever is the later) to the end of the tax year preceding their 66th birthday (to qualify for a maximum rate pension, a yearly average of 48 is required).

The person concerned reached pension age in September 2012. A claim form has been sent to him. On receipt of the completed claim form, his entitlement to a State pension (contributory) will be fully examined and he will be notified of the outcome without delay. If an applicant has been insurably employed in Ireland, and also in another EU country or a country with which Ireland has a bilateral social security agreement, legislation provides for an additional comparative examination of their State pension entitlements based on the aggregation of their Irish and foreign social insurance records, and the awarding of the most favourable pension/rate determined. In this case however, it is not possible to take social insurance contributions the person concerned has paid in South Africa into account in assessing his State pension entitlement, as Ireland does not have a bilateral social security agreement with that country.