§ Mr. MallonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland (1) what assessment she made of the advantages of centralising Social Fund activity in the Southern Region in the Newry Social Security office,(a) exclusively and (b) in conjunction with one or more other offices; [29030]
574W(2) what are the projected costs for the administration of the Social Fund in the Southern Region, under the plans to centralise on two sites; [29031]
(3) what were the administration costs of the Social Fund in each Social Security Agency office in the Southern Region in the last available year; [29032]
(4) which social security offices in the Southern Region were subjected to a PAFT analysis, as part of the current assessment of delivery of Social Fund services in the region; [29033]
(5) how many applications to the Social Fund were dealt with by each office of the Social Security Agency in the Southern Region in each financial year since the Fund was established; [29035]
(6) how many people are employed by the Social Security Agency on the Social Fund, in each office in the Southern Region. [29036]
§ Mr. Worthington[holding answer 16 February 1998]: Responsibility for the subjects has been delegated to the Social Security Agency under it's Chief Executive, Mr. Chris Thompson, and I have asked him to arrange for a response to be given.
Letter from Chris Thompson to Mr. Seamus Mallon, dated 13 February 1998:
575WI have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about the administration of the Social Fund in the Social Security Agency's South District.Ref: 29030The main advantages of centralising Social Fund include reducing managerial overheads while maximising staffing, training and support, leading to improved efficiency, accuracy and quality of service. This would have applied equally to Newry exclusively and/or in conjunction with one or more other office. Newry Social Security Office was considered as one of the potential central processing sites prior to its destruction in July 1997. The temporary site at Canal Street has insufficient space to accommodate a Social Fund processing unit.Ref: 29031The main costs associated with the administration of Social Fund relate to salaries which are projected to be £763,704 a year when Social Fund is centralised on the two sites.Ref: 29032Information on the administration costs (salaries) for each office within the District is set out on the attached table.Ref: 29033While PAFT considerations were given to all seven Social Security Offices in South District, a full PAFT analysis was carried out in the Armagh and Portadown offices only, as these were the only offices with sufficient accommodation to house centralised units.Ref: 29035Statistical returns are destroyed 18 months after the period to which they relate which means that the information you have requested is only available for the 1996/97 and 1997/98 financial years. This is also set out on the attached table.Ref: 29036The number of people employed in each office in South District for Social Fund is listed on the attached table.I hope this information is helpful.
Number of social fund applications Social Security office Projected full year salary costs 1997–98 (£) 1996–97 11997–98 Number of social fund staff Armagh 100,840 4,851 3,983 6 (includes 2 part-time) Banbridge 56,006 2,502 2,004 3 (includes 1 part-time) Dungannon 138,497 6,833 5,840 8 (includes 2 part-time) Kilkeel 0 Processed in Newry SSO Processed in Newry SSO 0 Lurgan 186,989 9,387 8,000 12 (includes 3 part-time) Newry 248,222 13,757 12,049 14 (includes 4 part-time plus 1 existing vacancy) Portadown 106,757 5,890 4,944 6 (includes 2 part-time) Total 837,311 — — — 1 1997–98 figures represent the period from April 1997 to January 1998.