Simon Harris
Question:
139. Deputy Simon Harris asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of quangos, State agencies or organisations under the remit of his Department that have been merged, reformed or abolished since 2011; the details of each of these measures in tabular form; the cost saving or service delivery improvement which has resulted; how many more he expects to be merged, reformed or abolished and the timeline for same; if he will provide a full list of all agencies and organisations under his remit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1980/14]
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The following are the State Bodies/Boards under the remit of my Department.
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No.
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State Boards
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1.
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Enterprise Ireland
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2.
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IDA Ireland
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3.
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Science Foundation Ireland
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4.
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Shannon Development
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5.
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County and City Enterprise Boards (35)
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6.
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National Standards Authority of Ireland
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7.
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Forfás
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8.
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National Consumer Agency
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9.
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The Competition Authority
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10.
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Irish Auditing and Accounting Standards Authority
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11.
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Personal Injuries Assessment Board
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12.
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The Health and Safety Authority
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There is a substantial programme of reform underway within my Department in relation to Agencies and Offices. The Agencies under the remit of my Department that are scheduled to be merged, reformed or abolished are set out under the Government’s Agency Rationalisation Programme. These reforms include:
- Merge the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority into one single entity.
- Dissolve the 35 County Enterprise Boards and transfer their functions to Enterprise Ireland to be delivered by Local Authorities in Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs). This will facilitate the delivery of an enhanced service and range of supports to the micro and small business sectors.
- Dissolve Forfás and provide for the transfer of the agency’s assets, liabilities and staff to my Department and other bodies, as appropriate.
- Transfer relevant enterprise functions from Shannon Development to IDA, EI and Bord Fáilte and merge Shannon Development with Shannon Airport Authority.
- Reform of the State's Workplace Relations Services to deliver a simplified two-tiered structure comprising a single body of first instance, the Workplace Relations Commission, and a single body of appeal, in effect an enhanced Labour Court.
Details of the above measures are set out in the table below as follows:
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Measure
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Progress to end December 2013
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Saving/service delivery improvement
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Merge the National Consumer Agency (NCA) and the Competition Authority into one single entity
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Legislation to give effect to the merger of the Competition Authority and the National Consumer Agency is currently on the A list of the Government’s legislative programme.
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The scope for savings is not significant. As the existing staff of both agencies will transfer to the merged body, the merger will not yield substantial savings by way of staff costs. The dissolution of the NCA will result in savings of approximately €160,000/€170,000 per year in Board and Board-related fees. However, the merger will give rise to unavoidable, start-up costs in areas such as IT, accommodation, branding etc. Also the introduction of provisions to regulate certain practices in the grocery goods sector will require additional resources to enforce this Programme for Government commitment.
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Dissolve the 35 County Enterprise Boards (CEBs) and transfer their functions to Enterprise Ireland (EI).
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The Government has approved the restructuring of the enterprise support model for the micro and small business sectors. This restructuring will include the dissolution of the County and City Enterprise Boards, the transfer of their functions, assets and liabilities to Enterprise Ireland (EI) and the development of a new Small Micro Business Division within Enterprise Ireland (EI) as a centre of excellence in the provision of supports to the small and micro enterprise sectors, and the establishment of Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) to provide a “first-stop-shop” for small business within Local Authorities.
The CEB Dissolution Bill 2013 has passed all stages in the Seanad and the Bill is scheduled to progress through the Dáil during early 2014. Formal dissolution of the CEBs and establishment of the LEOs will then take place on a commencement date to be decided by Ministerial Order.
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It is expected that over time there will be savings resulting from the removal of costs associated with the individual company status of each CEB, use of shared services, reduced rental costs associated with the relocation of some offices etc. However initial direct savings will be modest as it could take some years to realise these savings due to existing leasing arrangements etc.
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Dissolve Forfás and provide for the transfer of the agency’s assets, liabilities and staff to my Department and other bodies, as appropriate.
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Primary legislation is necessary to give effect to the decision to integrate Forfás into my Department by the transfer of the functions and staff of Forfás to my Department and a number of state agencies. The Industrial Development (Forfás Dissolution) Bill 2013 was published on 23 December 2013. It is expected that passage through the Dáil and Seanad will be completed in the first half of 2014.
An Implementation Group, comprising senior management from my Department, Forfás, and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, is overseeing the integration project and meets on a regular basis. An Executive style Board has also been put in place in Forfás to oversee the transfer of the agency’s functions and responsibilities.
A number of decisions that do not necessitate legislation have already been implemented:
- the reduction of the Board of Forfás from 13 members to 6 to oversee the orderly hand-over of Forfás’ functions;
- the transfer of the facilities, property management and reception/ switchboard services from Forfás to IDA Ireland in July 2013;
- the Forfás ICT budget was brought into my Department’s ICT budget in January 2013 and the agency’s remaining non-pay budget has been incorporated into my Department’s budget from January 2014.
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The integration of Forfás into my Department will strengthen my Department’s capacity to develop and implement enterprise policy and will also facilitate improvements in the use and effectiveness of existing resources. Savings have been made in the reduction of the Forfás Board from 13 members to 6 members. It is also envisaged that further savings will arrive when the integration process is complete, especially in the Corporate Services area.
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Transfer relevant enterprise functions from Shannon Development to IDA, EI and Bord Fáilte and merge Shannon Development with Shannon Airport
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Shannon Development’s functions and the associated staff in relation to indigenous enterprises and foreign direct investment have been transferred to Enterprise Ireland and IDA respectively. Shannon Development’s functions in relation to tourism including the Regional Tourism Offices have been transferred to Fáilte Ireland. These changes have been accompanied by the redeployment of staff to other public bodies and the implementation of a voluntary redundancy scheme. The restructuring of Shannon Development is nearing completion. The Heads of a Bill to provide for the establishment of Shannon Group on a statutory basis were approved by Government in July 2013 and drafting is currently underway by the Office of the Parliamentary Council.
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This is a restructuring and merger of Shannon Development and Shannon Airport. As Shannon Development is self-financing there will be no cost saving in 2014. There will, however, be an elimination of duplication of roles between Shannon Development, Enterprise Agencies and Fáilte Ireland in the region.
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Reform of the State’s Workplace Relations Services to deliver a simplified two-tier structure comprising a single body of first instance, the Workplace Relations Commission, and a single body of appeal, in effect an enhanced Labour Court
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The process of establishing a new two-tier workplace relations structure is continuing. A considerable amount of work has been completed on the preparation of the Workplace Relations Bill, which will give statutory effect to the reform proposals.
Significant progress has been achieved to date in relation to the technological, structural, administrative and staffing changes required to underpin the Workplace Relations Reform Programme. Pending the enactment of legislation, my Department has put in place a Single Contact Portal, e-complaint facility, Staffing and Structures Plan, Workplace Relations website and early resolution service, together with enhanced technologies and processes in advance of the enabling legislation.
Legislation to give effect to the Workplace Relations Bill is currently on the A list of the Government’s legislative programme.
I propose to publish the Bill in early 2014, with a view to having the proposed new Workplace Relations structures in place during 2014.
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The annual cost of the Workplace Relations Services amounted to just over €20 million in 2010. It is expected that significant savings, in terms of both reductions in staff numbers and increased efficiency and productivity, will be generated by this Reform Programme.
Savings of €2 million to end December 2013 have been generated. Savings for the remainder of the Reform Programme are yet to be quantified. As part of the ongoing service delivery improvements within the Reform Programme the Equality Tribunal is now an intrinsic part of the Workplace Relations grouping within my Department having transferred from the Department of Justice and Equality with effect from 1st January 2013.
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Discover Science and Engineering (DSE) Programme
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In March 2012, responsibility for the DSE Programme transferred from Forfás to Science Foundation Ireland (SFI). The programme is now named SFI Discover.
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The transfer of DSE to SFI resulted from synergies between the DSE programme and SFI’s outreach programmes, and this transfer of responsibility was not by itself expected to generate cost savings. The integration of these programmes has achieved economies of scale, minimised duplication of effort, and contributed to operational efficiencies.
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Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA) to the Government
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The Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser was included in the bodies due for critical review under the Public Sector Reform initiative. Following a Government decision in October 2012 to abolish the separate Office of the CSA, the Director General of Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) took responsibility for the role of Chief Scientific Adviser to the Government in addition to his existing role and co-terminous with his tenure as Director General of SFI.
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Annual savings €120,000. The 2012 budget allocation for the Office of the CSA was €95k (this reflects 8/12 of the annual allocation as the CSA contract ceased in August 2012).
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In addition, I would draw the Deputy’s attention to the fact that, following enactment of the Microenterprise Loan Fund Act 2012, Microfinance Ireland was established as a private limited company in August 2012, as a subsidiary of the Social Finance Foundation and has charitable status.
Microfinance Ireland has been funded by the Government to provide loans to newly established and growing microenterprises across all industry sectors that do not meet the conventional risk criteria applied by banks.
