Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 February 2013
18. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of his Department's non-core public service activities that have been selected for priority outsourcing to companies based here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9098/13]
View answerI take it that the Deputy is referring to the Public Service Reform programme agreed by Government in November 2011. In July 2012, the Government agreed a range of actions aimed at achieving a focused and integrated approach to external service delivery of non-core processes with the objective of reducing costs and focusing staff on priority areas.
As part of this approach, the Government has decided that all proposed new services across the Public Service will be tested for external service delivery before any approval to provide the service internally will be granted. External service delivery leads have been appointed in every Department and Sector. The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, has responsibility for overseeing the development and implementation of external service delivery policy for the Public Service.
In respect of my Department’s ICT requirements, a significant amount of services such as systems development support for financial systems, network management support, Lotus Notes system development and support and my Department’s ICT Helpdesk, are already outsourced, because of the significant complexity of systems, technology support specialisation, and limited technical resources within the Department.
In line with government policy, my Department continually appraises the delivery of ICT services, to determine the optimal way of delivering such services, whether that be by outsourcing or delivery using internal resources. In addition to proposals for outsourcing, there are also various initiatives in place for the delivery of shared services.
In May 2012, the Government approved the establishment of a HR Shared Service Centre for the Civil Service to be known as PeoplePoint. The financial appraisal conducted by the Department of Public Expenditure and reform suggests implementing the HR Shared Service will reduce headcount across the Civil Service by 17% and costs by 26% with annual net savings of €12.5 million. My Department is engaging fully with the project which is still at an early stage.
My Department is also participating in the Shared Services projects being managed by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in respect of Payroll, Financial Management and Banking.
