Decentralisation Programme Staff Transfers

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 December 2013

Tuesday, 17 December 2013

Questions (217)

Kevin Humphreys

Question:

217. Deputy Kevin Humphreys asked the Minister for Education and Skills if he will outline what offices relevant to his Department are located or have been decentralised outside of Dublin; if he will provide the total number of staff in his Department and the number of staff based outside County Dublin as of 2013; the annual cost incurred in 2012 and 2013, respectively, for decentralised staff travelling to meetings in Dublin; the number of times staff travelled to individual meetings in Dublin in each of those years; the costs those staff will be reimbursed; if his Department has procedures or mechanisms in place such as video conferencing to reduce the cost of travelling for each unit based outside Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53992/13]

Written answers

Minister for Education and Skills

My Department and a number of its Agencies were part of the original Decentralisation Programme announced in Budget 2004 as follows:

Department/Agencies	Location	Number
Department HQ	Mullingar	300
Department Staff	Athlone	100
Higher Education Authority	Athlone	45
NEWB & NCCA	Portarlington	70
NQAI/HETAC/FETAC	Edenderry	75
FÁS	BIRR	250
TOTAL		840

The Athlone phase of the Decentralisation Programme for Department Staff was completed in Summer 2008 when 88 posts transferred from Dublin to new accommodation on the existing Department's campus in Cornamaddy (The Department already had approximately 350 staff working in it's Athlone office). As part of this phase of the Department's decentralisation, a number of posts transferred from the Tullamore office to Athlone which freed up space in Tullamore to transfer parts of the Higher Education Division from Dublin to Tullamore.

In April 2010 it was announced that decentralisation of the Department's HQ to Mullingar would not proceed on affordability grounds. The same is the case for the Agencies listed above. This Department comprises 3 main locations: Dublin, Athlone and Tullamore. In addition there is a small presence of staff in 40 regional locations outside of Dublin. As of end of September 2013, the Department has a staff of 1,296 people, 920 of whom work outside Dublin.

The information requested by the Deputy in relation to each staff member travelling to individual meetings in Dublin is not readily available and would involve an inordinate amount of administrative time to compile. However I can inform the Deputy that domestic travel costs for the Department have reduced significantly in recent years. Since 2007 the costs have been reduced by approximately 40% as set out as follows.

Year 2007: €3.13m

Year 2008: €3.06m

Year 2012: €1.96m

Year to date 2013: €1.71m

My Department's policy specifies that all travel should be by the shortest practicable routes and by the cheapest practicable mode of transport. Officers are encouraged to use public transport whenever practicable, with private transport to be used only in limited circumstances.

In terms of measures to reduce the necessity of travel, videoconferencing facilities have been in place in my Department's offices for a number of years, enabling staff in two or more locations communicate by simultaneous video and audio transmissions. In addition during 2013, my Department rolled out unified communications software across the three main offices in Dublin, Athlone and Tullamore and a number of regional/local offices, with plans to extend to other such offices in 2014. This software facilitates desktop video conferencing and desktop sharing, enabling colleagues in different locations work on the same document. These technologies reduce the time and cost associated with business travel and enable a more efficient way of working. It is however inevitable that senior officials in particular would be required to attend meetings away from their base such as Interdepartmental meetings, Ministerial meetings etc.