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Public Sector Reform Implementation

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 April 2014

Tuesday, 15 April 2014

Questions (288)

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

288. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide a full breakdown of all costs relating to the transfer to PeoplePoint of administrative responsibility for personnel functions in the Civil Service; the numbers employed in PeoplePoint and the comparative numbers employed in each Department prior to the move to PeoplePoint; the residual numbers remaining in each Department's personnel section following the transfer of administrative responsibility for staff functions to PeoplePoint; the quantifiable efficiencies gained by the introduction of the PeoplePoint system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18073/14]

View answer

Written answers

The information requested by the Deputy on all costs for the establishment of PeoplePoint, the Human Resources and Pensions Shared Service Centre (HRSSC), are set out in the following table.  It outlines both the Project Implementation costs and PeoplePoint Operational costs incurred in 2012 and 2013 and the estimated costs for 2014:-

Year

Project Implementation Costs

€m

PeoplePoint Operational Costs

€m

2012 actual

5.34

N/A

2013 actual

6.575

5.96

2014 estimate

4.025

11.725

The Project Implementation costs consist of technology, project team resources (both internal to the Civil Service and the cost of implementation partners) and facilities costs.  The Operational costs for PeoplePoint include staffing costs and overheads such as heating, lighting, licensing, etc.  My Department is collating a detailed and up-to-date breakdown of the costs incurred to date and will provide these to the Deputy separately.

The 2012 Financial Appraisal that underpinned the decision to proceed with PeoplePoint estimated the implementation costs associated with this project at €26m inclusive of VAT and contingency.  The table reflects an overall project implementation cost of €15.94m.  The difference arises as there has been no recourse to the use of the 20% contingency which was included in the Financial Appraisal.  Also, a 40% increase was applied to all staff costs in the Financial Appraisal to reflect the overheads associated with staff.  This is not included in the actual spend as the Project Team costs reflect the actual cost to the Exchequer of staff who are on loan to the project from within the system. 

The 2012 Financial Appraisal estimated that there were 865 full time equivalents (FTEs) providing HR and Pensions services to the organisations participating in the project.  Of these, it was estimated that 529 FTE were carrying out transactional (or purely administrative) HR and Pensions activities to be delivered in PeoplePoint.  There are currently 224 staff working in PeoplePoint operations. 

The 2012 Financial Appraisal also estimated that, when PeoplePoint is fully operational and stable in due course, 309 FTEs would remain in HR Units in the participating public service bodies to continue to carry out the balance of HR and Pensions activities that were being carried out when the baseline was set for the Financial Appraisal and were remaining the responsibility of each public service body after the transactional activities within the scope of the project had fully moved to PeoplePoint. 

My Department has been engaged in tracking and reviewing the progress achieved to date in securing reductions in the number of staff providing transactional HR and Pensions services from HR Units to the Civil Service on a tranche by tranche basis with a view to reporting to Government on progress made by Tranche 1 of public service bodies shortly.  The estimated reduction in FTEs would only be expected to be achieved once PeoplePoint is stable and fully operational. 

It should also be noted that Civil Service staff numbers were not expected to be directly reduced as a result of establishing PeoplePoint.  It is expected that the staff resources previously engaged in providing the transactional HR and Pension services transferred into PeoplePoint would be available for redeployment into other areas to meet staffing needs arising from other priorities (i.e. there would  be lower replacement rates than would otherwise be the case for vacancies arising, for example, from natural attrition such as retirements).  In addition, while some HR staff are being redeployed out of HR Units to other areas of their organisations, others are being re-assigned within HR Units to work that is strategic and potentially of higher value to the business of their organisation.  This reinvestment in HR is designed to work in tandem with the introduction of shared services to change how HR is delivered in the Civil Service.

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