Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 June 2004
189 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance if his Department has achieved the target, set out in the initiation of the expenditure review initiative in 1997, that all Government expenditure be subject to a formal review under that initiative every three years; and if not, the areas of expenditure in respect of which the three yearly review has not taken place. [17574/04]
View answer190 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance the areas of expenditure of his Department in respect of which an expenditure review under the expenditure review initiative has not yet been completed and published. [17589/04]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 189 and 190 together.
The initial target of the expenditure review initiative was to review all expenditure programmes over a three-year period. However, a review of the process by the Department of Finance expenditure review central steering committee in 2000-01 found that this target had been over ambitious and that a more focused approach to the selection of review topics was required. This view was supported by a Comptroller and Auditor General value for money study of the initiative in 2001, which proposed that a more realistic target should be set that took into account the level of evaluative capacity in Departments generally.
In June 2001 the Government decided, inter alia, that the Department of Finance and individual Departments and offices should compile and agree a work plan of review topics based on specific selection criteria, namely, that programmes selected for review should reflect Government priorities or strategic result areas, involve significant levels of expenditure, etc. Subsequently, in May 2002, the Government approved a schedule of expenditure review topics proposed for the first year of the next three-year planning horizon 2002-04, and noted the topics proposed for 2003 and 2004. In April 2003, the steering committee asked Departments and offices to update their expenditure review plans, again in consultation with the Department of Finance. The committee emphasised the Government’s selection criteria and advised that Departments and offices should select a few programmes or areas involving major policy issues or significant levels of expenditure. On foot of this process, revised expenditure review plans were drawn up by Departments and offices.
My Department, as part of the first round of the initiative, reviewed the grant-in-aid to the Economic and Social Research Institute. In the current round of the initiative the areas of expenditure of my Department in respect of which an expenditure review has not yet been completed and published include ongoing expenditure reviews of the grant-in-aid to the Institute of Public Administration; payments to the promoters of certain charitable lotteries; the change management fund; and the Information Society. Planned expenditure reviews include consultancies; the grant-in-aid to the Economic and Social Research Institute which was reviewed in 1997 as part of the first round of the review; and the grant-in-aid to Ordnance Survey Ireland.
It should be noted that EU programmes are subject to their own reviews, including evaluation by independent consultants and a review process with the European Commission led by the Department of Finance. These programmes are not therefore included in the review process. Several programmes have not been included in the review process because of the low level of funding involved, for example, expenditure of €120,000 in respect of committees and commissions. Other programme areas such as the child care initiative and procurement management reform were not included in the current round of reviews because, when the Department's review plan was being formulated, they were at too early a stage to review. These programmes will, however, be considered for future review.
