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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 15 May 1996

Vol. 465 No. 4

Supplementary Estimates, 1996. - Delivering Better Government Programme: Statements.

I welcome the opportunity to open today's debate on Delivering Better Government — the Government's programme of change for the Civil Service. As Members are aware, this Government is fully committed to modernising the Civil Service, thus enabling it to meet better the many challenges it faces in today's more turbulent and demanding environment.

The Civil Service is one we can be proud of; it has served this House well and made a very significant contribution to the development of the country in the past 75 years of nationhood. We have grown accustomed to, and taken for granted, its integrity, impartiality and equity of treatment for all. These core values have been major assets on which successive Governments have been able to confidently rely.

However, society evolves and changes; economies grow and become more diverse and complex and both become more demanding on Government and the services it offers. Government must respond to these changes if it is to govern effectively and meet the reasonable expectations of those it represents. Ireland is no exception in this regard. At present, Governments everywhere face similar problems and unprecedented challenges. The result is that Governments throughout the world are reconsidering how they relate to citizens and businesses, how best to ensure provision of public services, and how to maintain the capacity to govern in the face of great uncertainty and calls for change.

Given the central, pivotal role of the Civil Service in advising and supporting Government and in delivering services, we must, in the first instance, consider the changes it must make if it is to maintain its proud tradition and record, and if it is to continue to serve the country and future Governments to the best of its ability.

There is also the very significant influence the civil and public service exert on the economy. This involves the array of organisations which interact in a variety of ways with one another, with businesses, and with the public at large. The public service employs some 190,000 people, with a current pay and pensions bill of some £4.8 billion per annum. Within the public service, the Civil Service, at which Delivering Better Government is targeted, consists of some 29,500 people costing £713 million in pay and pensions per annum. By any standards, these are large industries making up a very sizeable chunk of the economy and accounting for just over 50 per cent of current public expenditure. We owe it to the taxpayers to see to it that the civil and public services are well managed, operate to their full potential, deliver quality services that meet the needs of their customers and are value for the money spent on them. The Government, as the employer of the civil and public services, has a major responsibility in this regard. In turn, all Members of this House have to share in that responsibility and ensure — on behalf of taxpayers, the customers of public services and civil and public servants themselves — that there is an efficient and effective system of public administration.

In considering the changes necessary to meet more effectively the challenges ahead, the Government has taken this triangle of shareholders — the taxpayer, the customer and State employees — and comprehensively examined how the Civil Service currently operates and how it might work better in the interests of all three.

The odyssey on which we have embarked commenced with the launch of the strategic management initiative in 1994 by the then Taoiseach, Deputy Albert Reynolds. That initiative, or SMI as it is commonly called, set each Government Department and Office the task of more clearly defining its role through identifying its objectives and devising strategies to achieve those objectives. In short, the SMI requires management in each Department and Office to ask itself constantly a number of key questions: What business are we in? Are we doing what we should be doing? Who are our customers? Are we meeting their needs? What changes should we be making?

The result is a better understanding and a more explicit articulation of what each Department and Office should do rather than what it does. A great deal was learned through this process resulting in a sharper focus on objectives and results. The exercise also highlighted a number of constraints commonly perceived as hindering the better use of resources. Accordingly, in 1995, the Government asked the group of departmental secretaries, the co-ordinating group established to oversee the development of the SMI across the Civil Service, to come up with proposals to address these and other constraints. Drawing on the departmental SMI exercises, a number of specifically prepared reports on a variety of aspects of Civil Service management, and on their own experiences, the group prepared a comprehensive set of proposals for Government to consider. The Government, having given detailed consideration to these proposals, endorsed them. The result is Delivering Better Government, a programme of change for the Civil Service.

I stress that this is a framework and is not a fully articulated programme of change. It will take time to develop. The framework sets out a clear basis on which consistent and ongoing change can be achieved. It also establishes a clear overall direction for change, a set of principles and parameters which will inform and direct the overall process.

The bottom line is excellence. Delivering Better Government thus constitutes a blueprint for change across the machinery of State, a means of steadily enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of the civil and public service over time. How much time? Change of this magnitude could not be achieved within the lifetime of a single Government. All-party co-operation will be essential. I am glad such commitment is assured. A broad consensus exists in this House on the need for change and the general areas where change is required. Some improvements will become apparent almost immediately, while others will take time to develop. Many of the expected benefits will be cumulative and dependent on changes in other areas for their successful implementation. It is for this reason the Government is taking a holistic approach, placing the required changes within an integrated programme, rather than a series of loosely related initiatives.

Widening the SMI to include the public service is also high on the agenda. The SMI reinforces and complements work already under way on the better provision of public services and, in particular, the devolution of functions from central to local government. The Government has already stated its commitment to the renewal of local government on the basis of the principles of subsidiarity, accountability, integration, effectiveness and participation. It has established the Devolution Commission to make recommendations which include: that significant additional functions are devolved to the local government system, on the basis of a phased programme, and local authorities are meaningfully involved in policy and administration regarding functions not directly devolved to them.

The critical assessment of Departments' activities and the principles of inter-disciplinary partnership and subsidiarity inherent in the commission's task are a key aspect of the approach underpinning the SMI. The Minister for the Environment has recently extended the strategic management initiative to local authorities. Responsibility for the devolution programme has been placed under the aegis of the Taoiseach to highlight the priority being given to the task. The commission has been asked to report in phases and, I understand, is finalising its first statement at present. The extension of the SMI to the wider public service will take place during the course of this year.

I have already alluded to the external pressures for change. To these may be added the pressures coming from within the Civil Service, where there is a recognition that some radical changes are needed if it is to perform to its full potential. Such pressures, both external and internal, are not in themselves sufficient to produce the needed changes. We must be able to articulate a better and viable alternative and a meaningful series of steps that will lead logically to that chosen alternative. It is essential that any such alternative meets the needs of customers, including Government. It must also be sufficiently inspiring to enthuse and energise those most affected by the envisaged changes. In short, when people believe in what they are doing, they will put time and energy into making it work.

Delivering Better Government set out such an alternative or vision of the Civil Service of the future. Based on the Government's vision for Ireland contained in A Government of Renewal, the Civil Service of the future will be open and flexible, operating to the highest standards of integrity, equality, impartiality and accountability, with a mission and culture of quality service to the Government and the public at every level. It will be a Civil Service that will make the maximum contribution to national, social and economic development, while making the best use of the talents and skills of its staff. In short, the aim is a Civil Service that retains its core values, while becoming a high performance, efficient, effective and value-for-money organisation delivering quality services to all its customers. As I stated earlier, the bottom line is excellence in everything it does.

I will now address in detail the main elements of Delivering Better Government. Excellence in performance is the central tenet of the Government's programme. However, for excellence in performance, we must have clear lines of responsibility and accountability. Thus the issue of accountability must be addressed as a priority. When the State was founded, the core Civil Service was already in existence. In order to give statutory validity to its activities, it became necessary to introduce the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924. This crucial statute was primarily designed to underpin already existing structures and bring order to bear on what was then a somewhat chaotic system of public administration. To that extent, the 1924 Act was very successful and it has many strengths that have served the governance of this country extremely well. However, a somewhat conservative interpretation of its provisions in the succeeding decades since the 1920s has tended to reinforce a rather static model of Government. As a result we have today a system of governance which, while strong and robust, needs to be updated to meet the demands of governing in the late 20th century.

This is not surprising. Those who framed the 1924 Act based their model on an administration shaped in, and suited to, the 19th century, not one gearing up for the complexities facing us as we approach the 21st century.

Debate adjourned.
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