Vol. 533 No. 6
1 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach the progress which has been made in regard to the objectives for modernisation of the Civil Service as set out in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8725/01]
Steady progress has been made with regard to the objectives for modernisation of the Civil Service, as set out in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. The overall aim of the strategic management initiative, the modernisation programme which refers to the Civil Service, is to bring about continuous improvements in service delivery, resource management and organisational responsiveness.
I have arranged to have copies of the recent progress report of the implementation group of Secretaries General on the SMI laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas. In this, its third report to Government, the implementation group outlines the progress made to date, particularly in the context of the agreement in the PPF on a modernisation programme linked to pay increases for the civil and wider public service. The report also signposts the priority actions in the coming year.
The key Civil Service sectoral objectives for the next phase, as set out in the PPF, include deepening the implementation and further refinement of the performance management and development system; further development of the financial management programme; further improvements in customer service standards, including more extensive consultation with and feedback from the users of services; roll-out and implementation of a range of human resource management initiatives; implementation of a programme of regulatory reform; and continued development of information and communication technology systems to support more flexible service delivery and to give effect to electronic government in advanc ing and supporting information society developments. I am satisfied all these key areas are being progressed effectively and are on schedule to be brought forward over the period of the PPF.
The implementation group of Secretaries General has developed a template for sectoral performance indicators based on the objectives in respect of the Civil Service, as a sector in its own right. These have been circulated to Departments and offices, which are in the process of developing their own specific performance indicators.
Payment of the final 4% of the pay increase due under the PPF in October 2002 will depend on specific performance indicators having been developed by Departments and offices and agreed through the partnership process by April 2001 and achieved by April 2002. In accordance with a commitment in the PPF, a quality assurance group has recently been established for the Civil Service to approve the indicators proposed by Departments and offices and to assess the achievement of these performance indicators.
Does the Taoiseach accept there is what could be described as a crisis in the Civil Service in that unprecedented numbers of people are leaving the public service, those who are on panels for appointment are not interested when they are finally called to interview and there are many gaps in the Civil Service because posts remain unfilled as a result of the overall improvement in the economy and the failure to modernise many of the management structures on the ground? Does the Taoiseach intend, if he accepts there is a crisis, that the Civil Service Commission and Government Departments will have to change the way in which they recruit people and how they are managed once they enter the public service?
Under the strategic management initiative, an enormous number of issues have been covered in recent years. It could be argued that it would have been better if much of this activity had taken place over the past 20 years, but it did not. However, the SMI and the quality customer service, regulatory reform, training and modernisation programmes have been up and running since 1994.
There are clearly difficulties with staffing. The system and old practices used by the Civil Service Commission were slow but they were grand at the time because there were not many vacancies. The former secretary to the Government, Mr. Frank Murray, reformed the commission and enunciated enormous change in it. He was very familiar with the commission because he had been directly involved in it for two decades. Many of the changes are up and running and there is no doubt that the commission is advertising vacancies well in advance and forming panels on an annual basis. These were straightforward, simple changes but they had not been introduced. They are now in place and that is having an effect.
The Deputy is correct that people leaving senior grades in the Civil Service was unheard of for 50 years. Clerical staff left but now more higher ranked staff are leaving and that is creating more vacancies and a greater turn around of staff. The salaries these people can earn in the private sector or even in some sections of the public sector are quite different. One will find more vacancies in every Department. The Civil Service Commission is dealing with this and is ahead of the posse as far as its advertisements and recruitment campaigns are concerned. It does not wait. Instead, it establishes panels. Under the old system the panels were not available; there were only bi-annual runs at the panels. Much of that has been changed, however, so I believe the system will improve.
From the training perspective, as is clear from my reply and the third report which I have lodged in the Oireachtas Library, people who are recruited to the Civil Service are given more training and have more interest in their jobs. That will benefit the system.
The Taoiseach will be aware that the PPF not only promises to modernise the Civil Service but contains a commitment to modernise local government. Arising from that and the report published by Kerry County Council yesterday that there was widespread involvement by staff in the preparation of planning applications and in view of the fact that 30 other local authorities are conducting similar investigations, does the Taoiseach agree that modernisation of local government should involve codes of practice—
An Leas-Cheann Comhairle: Deputy Noonan, this is well outside the scope of the question.
The question is on the modernisation of the Civil Service and my question is on the modernisation of local authorities. They are in the same section of the PPF. Does the Taoiseach believe that the modernisation process should include issuing codes of practice to ensure all local authorities know where they and their officials stand on the issue of part-time work for private citizens where there might be conflicts of interest?
I am not briefed in this regard and am not familiar with the issue, aside from what I read in the newspapers this morning and heard previously. In general, I agree there should be codes of practice. There are clear guidelines in the Civil Service. There have been for many years and, if I recollect correctly, they were updated when I was Minister for Finance or around that time. They outline what staff can do outside the Civil Service and how they can use their positions. They should apply everywhere.
Will the Taoiseach ask the Mini ster for the Environment and Local Government to ensure that such guidelines are issued?
I will.
With regard to the co-ordination of Government policy across the Civil Service and in Departments, what mechanisms has the Taoiseach put in place to achieve that? The Government has asked all public authorities not to meet during the foot and mouth disease crisis, yet the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources refused to move the final date for the receipt of submissions for important foreshore licence applications in Wexford harbour. Is that type of co-ordination part of the remit of this section of the programme for Government and will the Taoiseach ensure there is a co-ordinated approach to the implementation of Government policy that is reflected in practical decisions such as this?
The areas being dealt with include the publication of statements of strategy by every Department and agency and ensuring that people are involved in drafting these statements. The statements have been produced over the past six or seven years. The other areas are the development of business plans within Departments, publication of quality customer service plans, including standards of service delivery, the technology aspect, freedom of information and publishing Departments' annual reports.
Staff are involved in a more meaningful way than was previously the case in drawing up the objectives of their employment and how they achieve them. It is part of the modernisation of the Civil Service and the strategic management initiative that staff should have more interest in their work. The steps that have been developed over the past seven years have made enormous changes. There are always problems but there have been enormous changes in the value of the job for civil servants.
With regard to the other issue raised by the Deputy, further statements are expected either today or tomorrow from the expert group. Some Departments and agencies are still rigidly following the statement of 1 March even though it has been updated since then by several other statements from the expert group. I know the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development has emphasised this and is in the process of writing to everyone to ask them to go along the lines of what the expert group has said and not just fall back to the statement of 1 March.
Is anybody co-ordinating this?
Yes. All secretaries general are to be written to today. The letters will emphasise that they should be working on the expert group report, not the 1 March guidelines.
Does the Taoiseach agree that any modernisation of the Civil Service should provide for family-friendly working conditions? To ensure adequate staffing levels are maintained across the Civil Service, does he agree that more attention should be paid by the Government to issues such as flexitime, job sharing and, in particular, adequate crèche facilities for the many couples working in the Civil Service who find it difficult to secure affordable child care?
Flexitime and other time-sharing schemes are in place and working well. I thank the Civil Service unions for working with management to develop them. There are child care facilities in some Government agencies, but, clearly, not enough. The budget proposals will be of assistance, in particular the £1 billion increase in investment in these services in the next few years. These provisions which have only been introduced in the Finance Bill are designed to assist those who are working to share family duties and working time in order that they can remain in employment. That is what most of them want. The recent changes in maternity leave will also help significantly.
The measures to which the Taoiseach referred are not Civil Service-specific. Does he have any specific proposals to ensure civil servants have access to adequate child care facilities in or near their places of work? The Taoiseach, probably, appreciates that this is the one significant issue causing difficulties in Departments maintaining a full complement of professional and competent civil servants.
The schemes and enormous resources allocated to this area in the budget are not specific to the Civil Service because that would be unfair. It is far better to allocate resources all over. The improvements in child care facilities in the private sector mean that that sector is now targeting the Civil Service directly; the grant aid and facilities can be used to establish pilot projects with funding from different schemes. It is not perfect, but grants from the equality section of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform have helped, as have changes in recent Finance Bills which have made it far more attractive to the private sector to allocate capital expenditure to this area as well as other changes which make it easier to avail of accommodation in the sector. It would be nice if, like Revenue, the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs and other sectors, we could have more in-house facilities, but that is only possible in some Departments. Unfortunately, it is not possible in all Departments.
The Taoiseach mentioned the strategic management initiative in modernising the Civil Service. Does he agree that it is extraordinary that the committee of the House charged with overseeing the initiative has not been able to meet for the last three to four years because it does not have civil servants available to it? Does he agree that the process of Civil Service reform should commence in Leinster House?
It is now three or four months since that body moved from being an ad hoc committee on 31 January to being a committee of the House. It also received resources for staff, but it is not for me to discuss the reasons it has not used them.
Deputy Mitchell raises a valid question about why staff have not been hired despite the allocation of resources but it is not for me to answer.
(Mayo): Some 16,000 public servants work in different Government offices all within a mile of the House. They must commute to work, many of them by car and take up office space. Given that electronic commerce can be transacted across the globe, does the Taoiseach consider there may be merit in allowing some public servants to work from home by feeding into central computer systems in their office headquarters? Such a system would be efficient and family compatible. Does the Taoiseach also accept that within the Civil Service and the semi-State sector people tend to be paid for hours worked rather than work done and does he agree that an evaluation of the practicality of my suggestion is warranted?
Some elements of the private sector have implemented systems similar to that suggested by the Deputy. Some very successful private sector companies only require their employees to attend head offices for meetings. I am not sure how it would work in the public sector. It has not yet been raised as an issue. At present public servants, especially younger ones, would prefer to work nearer home through decentralisation. That is on the agenda.
Other than the marginal changes happening in the Civil Service Commission under the chairmanship of Mr. Frank Murray, will the Taoiseach indicate if it is the case that the Government does not intend to take any initiatives to fill the widespread and unprecedented staff vacancies, not only in the Oireachtas but across Departments?
My concern is with the SMI process in the Civil Service. In the local authorities and health areas, which are the responsibility of other Ministers, all kinds of schemes are in place, including the FÁS programme for staff recruitment from many countries. I understand FÁS is currently in Russia for that purpose.
Are we to have Russian civil servants?
Not in the Civil Service but in different parts of the public service. All Civil Service staff are recruited and employed by the Civil Service Commission. It is the only vehicle through which the system can be changed. The modernisation of the Civil Service, the SMI and all other activities are designed to change the old regulations to ensure that panels are created at greater speed and that staff are better trained. This will help to ensure a better allocation of staff to posts. Most of the ideas taken from the private sector are being applied. In this regard Mr. Michael Quinn, managing director of ICC Bank, is chairing the quality assurance group, which includes many individuals from outside the Civil Service. It is considering any other improvements and where identified they have been implemented. It will continue to make a significant difference.
The perception is that the programme of decentralisation has been shelved. Will the Taoiseach indicate what is meant by it being on the agenda?
The Minister for Finance has recently made comments about that matter. He is working on a decentralisation scheme.
Is it on the agenda?
Yes.
