The implementation of the SMI and the document Delivering Better Government is under way across and within all Departments. Six working groups of business representatives from the private sector and public servants are producing action frameworks for: quality service; human resource management; open and transparent service delivery; information technology; regulatory reform; and financial management.
The working groups will produce their initial reports shortly to the co-ordinating group consisting of action frameworks for implementation of the recommendations of the document Delivering Better Government. These action frameworks will then be considered by the SMI co-ordinating group and the Government and released to Departments and Offices for implementation.
Within Departments and offices the focus to date has been on producing statements of strategy that develop and adapt the detailed focus on results contained in the document Delivering Better Government in the light of their own functions and resources.
The statement of strategy for the Department of the Taoiseach is being finalised and will be published before the end of this year. The Department has established a number of internal groups to deal with the implications of the SMI for the internal organisation of the Department and its level of services provision.
Emerging from the deliberations of these groups, the Department of the Taoiseach is formulating action plans in the following key areas: production of detailed programmes of work for each division in the Department; enhanced training and development programmes for staff at all levels; improvements in the operation and delivery of internal support services, including information technology; development of appropriate structures to facilitate communication, consultation and participation involving staff at all levels within the Department.
Consultancy costs incurred to date in respect of the engagement of an external facilitator to assist the Department in developing its response to the Strategic Management Initiative totalled £16,877; 50 per cent of this cost, £8,439, was recouped from the Department of Finance central fund in respect of the Strategic Management Initiative.
I cannot overemphasise the significance of the SMI process and the change programme set out in the document Delivering Better Government to updating our system of governance to reflect today's realities and to achieve high levels of effectiveness in the civil and public service. The business of Government has increased out of all proportion since the founding of the State and has been particularly marked since the early 1960s. Moreover, the business of Government has reached a level of complexity today that was unimaginable when our system of governance, as enshrined in the Ministers and Secretaries Act, 1924, was devised.
The need to update the system and its supporting structures to reflect the realities of carrying out the business of Government in today's complex and fast changing economic and social environment is paramount. The introduction of the SMI began this process of modernisation. The document Delivering Better Government which sets out a comprehensive and integrated programme of change for the civil and public service continues and reinforces it.