I propose to take Questions Nos. 602 and 603 together.
The objective of the expenditure review initiative, ERI, launched in 1997, is to provide a systematic analysis of what is being achieved by expenditure in each programme, a basis on which more informed decisions can be made on priorities within and between expenditure programmes and a systematic and evidence based approach to policy making.
My Department has undertaken a range of expenditure reviews under the initiative. These reviews have been carried out by working groups involving staff from the relevant scheme areas, with representation from the Department of Finance and other Departments and agencies, as appropriate. A steering committee is in place in the Department to provide support and direction to the process, while the process overall is overseen by a central steering committee, chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of Finance.
Since the launch of the initiative in 1997, there have been two phases. At the end of the current phase my Department will have completed 22 expenditure reviews, reflecting engagement at some level with approximately 70% of our programme expenditure. The principal programme areas which have not yet been specifically examined under the ERI process are child benefit and payments to widows and widowers.
The aim at the outset of the process was to review all expenditure programmes every three years. However, a review of the process by the 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 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 that context my Department has operated on the basis of agreeing schedules of reviews with the Department of Finance and presenting these to the central steering committee. The Department has delivered on reviews, with those specified either completed or commenced and currently ongoing.
The following are the reviews which have been completed in the Department to date and those which are currently under way: In Phase 1 (1997-2001), a total of 13 reviews were completed:
1.Miscellaneous Grants to Men's and Women's Groups (1997)
2.Family and Community Services Resource Centre Programme (1998)
3.National Fuel and Smokeless Fuel Schemes (1998)
4.Carer's Allowance (1998)
5.Actuarial Review of Social Welfare Pensions (1997)
6.Credited Contributions (1999)
7.Disincentive Effects of Secondary Benefits (1998)
8.Back to Work Allowance Scheme (1999)
9.Report of the Working Group Examining the Treatment of Married, Cohabiting and One-Parent Families under the Tax and Social Welfare Codes (1999).
10.An Evaluation of the Back to Work Allowance and Area Allowance Enterprise Scheme (2000)
11.Qualifying conditions for the Old Age (Contributory) and Retirement Pensions — Phase 1 (2000)
12.Free Schemes operated by the Department of Social and Family Affairs (2000)
13.One-Parent Family Payment (2000)
In Phase 2 (2002-2004) the following is the position of the selected reviews:
|
Title of Review
|
Status
|
1.
|
Urban and Gaeltacht School Meals
|
Completed (2002)
|
2.
|
Social Welfare Payments to Orphans
|
Completed (2003)
|
3.
|
Illness and Disability Payments
|
Completed (2003)
|
4.
|
Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance
|
Currently being finalised
|
5.
|
Qualifying conditions for contributory pension
|
Underway
|
|
Phase II
|
|
6.
|
Supplementary Welfare Allowance
|
Interim Report nearing completion
|
7.
|
Back to Education Allowance
|
Due for completion in 2004
|
8.
|
Unemployment Payment Schemes (as applied to atypical employment)
|
Due for completion in 2004/5
|
The process has made a positive contribution to evidence based policy making, it has identified areas where the effectiveness of our programmes could be improved and has also contributed in some cases to improvement in the administrative efficiencies of the schemes reviewed.