Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 12 June 2013
191. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will set out the value for money reports and the focused policy assessments carried out within his Department since March 2011; the actions that have been taken to implement such reports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28167/13]
View answerThe Value for Money and Policy Review Initiative was introduced in 2006 as the successor to the 1997 Expenditure Review Initiative. The objectives of this programme of reviews are to analyse Exchequer spending in a systematic manner and to provide a basis on which more informed decisions can be made within and between programmes. Value for Money Reviews are organised in three year cycles. As part of the 2009 – 2011 round of reviews, my Department published two reviews in January, 2012. The publication of these reviews meant that the Department had met in full its obligations under the 2009-2011 round.
The first of these reviews was the Review of the Fisheries Decommissioning Scheme. In terms of implementation, the key recommendations in the report were presented in the form of observations based on lessons learned from the decommissioning schemes in the 2005-2008 period. It is intended that the findings of the review would feed into the design of any future fleet restructuring initiative.
The second review completed under the 2009-2011 round was the Review of the Animal Welfare, Recording and Breeding Scheme for Suckler Herds (the Suckler Cow Scheme). This review examined a scheme intended to have a five year life-span with its final year in 2012. In summary the review concluded that the Scheme has largely met its original objectives and brought about improvements in animal welfare, collection of breeding data and ultimately achieving improved competitiveness in the beef sector. The review also noted that the position at the end of 2012 was different to that which prevailed at the time the Scheme was designed and recommended that neither continuation of the Scheme in its current format nor its full cessation were the preferred policy options.
Bearing these findings in mind, I introduced a new Beef Data Programme in Budget 2013 to build on the progress achieved in the Suckler Cow Scheme over the previous 5 years. The new Beef Data Programme will assist farmers in further improving the genetic quality of Irish cattle and will maintain the data flow into ICBF in order to build further knowledge and more rapid progress in breeding and ultimately in profitability for farmers.
Under the 2012-2014 round of reviews, my Department is due to undertake three further Value for Money Reviews. In 2012 work was undertaken on the Review of the Disadvantaged Areas Scheme. This review will be published shortly. Work is currently under way on the Review of the Organic Farming Scheme. Work on the third review in this round is scheduled to take place in 2014. There are currently no plans for Focussed Policy Assessments.
