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Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 25 Feb 2003

Vol. 562 No. 1

Written Answers - Departmental Expenditure.

John Bruton

Question:

155 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance if he has satisfied himself with public spending evaluation techniques applied by his Department. [5442/03]

Gerard Murphy

Question:

158 Mr. Murphy asked the Minister for Finance the evaluations of public spending programmes which his Department has undertaken during the past 12 months. [5432/03]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 155 and 158 together.

All Government Departments have a responsibility as regards the evaluation of the efficiency and effectiveness of public spending. There are a variety of evaluation measures in place. These include reviews conducted by individual Departments under the expenditure review initiative, value-for-money audits undertaken by the Comptroller and Auditor General, and national development plan – NDP – evaluations.

The current expenditure review plan of my Department under the expenditure review initiative includes the review of three programmes in the Department's Vote. These programmes are the Institute of Public Administration, the change management fund and the payments to the promoters of certain charitable lotteries. Work is under way on these reviews, and they are scheduled to be completed by the end of April 2003, in accordance with the timeframe for the expenditure review initiative – 2002-2004.

A review of the PEACE programme is also under consideration in the context of the mid-term evaluation to be carried out by the special EU programmes body under the requirements of the EU Structural Fund regulations.

In the past 12 months, the NDP-CSF evaluation unit, an independent unit under the aegis of my Department, completed a number of evaluation of programmes under the NDP. It has a number of further evaluations under way.

My Department has issued guidelines to Departments on the general principles underpinning evaluation under the expenditure review initiative. It has also organised and delivered training on the various stages in evaluation, and staff from my Department have participated in this training. I am satisfied, therefore, that the appropriate evaluation techniques will be applied in the conduct of the expenditure reviews in my Department. For its part, specialised expertise in evaluation is available to the independent NDP-CSF evaluation unit in the conduct of its evaluations under the NDP.
Question No. 156 answered with Question No. 143.
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