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Departmental Staff Data

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 March 2018

Thursday, 8 March 2018

Ceisteanna (615)

Brendan Howlin

Ceist:

615. Deputy Brendan Howlin asked the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of staff assigned in her Department to the press office, public relations or communications roles in each year since 2015; the positions by staffing grade and designated role; when each new position came into existence; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11702/18]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

Staff in the Communications and Customer Service Unit of my Department perform a number of different roles which may change depending on the business needs of the Department. Staff are divided between the following teams within the Unit:

- Communications Team: The communications team are responsible for all planned external communications and public information campaigns as well as supporting internal communications, developing and designing reports/documents/posters/ and other visual material for use by the Department in its engagements with customers and stakeholders. The team is also responsible for developing useful customer content including explainer videos and information in a range of accessible formats including Irish Sign Language and braille, where required. The team also manages the Department’s official Twitter account in respect of press and campaign related information.

- The Press Office Team: The press office team communicates the messages of the Minister and the Department to the media, manages key media events for the Department and provides timely responses to media enquiries.

- The Information Team: The team operates a general information contact centre and email account on behalf of the Department, which provide general information to customers on the schemes and services of the Department. They represent the Department at various customer and stakeholder events and provide general information talks on aspects of the Department’s work to various organisations on request. They also assist other areas with the logistics associated with representing the Department at events, including the provision of corporate materials for such events. They also manage the provision of a leaflet despatch service on behalf of the Department. At the end of January 2018, there were 9.3 (FTE) officers serving in the Information Team, the largest component of the Communications Unit.

- Customer Service Team: The team is responsible for developing Customer Services Policy on behalf of the Department. The team also coordinates the Department's Comments Complaints and Compliments system which is the formal feedback system from customers on their experiences of interacting with the Department. It manages and coordinates the Customer Charter and Action Plan. The team has recently commenced a Plain English project on behalf of the Department to improve written customer communications.

- Website, Forms Design and Social Customer Service Team: The team manage and update the Department’s website on a daily basis to ensure timely and relevant customer and stakeholder information is available and presented in an accessible and user-friendly way. This includes scheme updates, important changes in the Department, crisis communications and service/office related updates. The Department’s website had 7.36m visits in 2017, with 3.98m of these being unique visits. The team also manages the Department’s official Twitter account for the purpose of customer information/customer service. The forms design team develop and update primary customer application forms for all schemes administered by the Department.

The following table provides a breakdown of the staff numbers serving in my Department in the press office, information section or communications roles at the end of each year since 2015.

Grade

Dec 2015

Dec 2016

Dec 2017

Jan 2018

Principal

0.30

1.30

1.00

1.00

Assistant Principal

2.00

2.00

1.00

1.00

Higher Executive Officer

6.00

6.00

6.00

6.00

Executive Officer

9.80

12.00

10.00

12.00

Clerical Officer

14.40

13.80

9.30

9.30

Total

32.5

35.1

27.3

29.3

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