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Wednesday, 9 Jul 2014

Written Answers Nos. 477-490

Ministerial Advisers Remuneration

Questions (477)

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

477. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the annual saving to the Exchequer if the pay of all ministerial special advisers was capped in his Department at the first point of the principal officer grade. [30914/14]

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Written answers

There are two Special Advisers in my Department.  If their pay was capped at the first point of the Principal Officer grade scale, there would be a gross saving of less than €25,500 per annum to the Exchequer, before pension levy and other deductions were made. I look forward to hearing from the Deputy what saving would accrue from a similar move to the salaries of Special Advisers in the Northern Assembly.

Departmental Expenditure

Questions (478, 479)

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

478. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide the annual saving to the Exchequer from a 20% reduction in all professional fees for his Department, including but not limited to legal, consultancy, IT-related, advisory, advertising and accountancy; and the company name and amount invoiced between 1 June 2013 and 31 May 2014. [30061/14]

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Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

479. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide in a tabular form a list of all professional fees for his Department, including but not limited to legal, consultancy, IT-related, advisory, advertising and accountancy; and the company name and amount invoiced between 1 June 2013 and 31 May 2014. [30076/14]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 478 and 479 together.

I would like to inform the Deputy at the outset that it is the policy of my Department to minimise to the greatest extent possible, professional fees.

For the purposes of this response I have taken professional fees to refer to accountable persons from whom Professional Services Withholding Tax has been deducted in respect of professional services provided. The list provided contains a wide range of services provided to the Department which includes but is not limited to legal, consultancy, advisory, capital, advertising and accountancy costs. The list, for example, includes payments related to research, consultation with children, interview board participation, industrial relations mediation, expert evidence, national and international expert participation in groups, investigations and publication. I would further note that in line with the aforementioned policy to minimise external professional costs, IT support for my Department is provided by the Department of Health.

The information which you requested is outlined below in tabular form excluding VAT.

DETAILS

Total Paid June 2013-May 2014

Alan Nolan

€5,500.00

Astrid Frederike Schrader

€1,520.20

BFK

€ 10,290.00

Burtenshaw Kenny Associates

€ 2,940.00

Capita Business Services Ltd.

€19,350.00

Cnag ar an Doras

€35,008.45

Deloitte & Touche

€6,088.00

Foroige

€663.20

Frontier Engineering Group Ltd

€6,234.75

Fusio

€7,150.00

Geoffrey Shannon

€19,930.00

Gerard Barry

€10,440.00

HV McELfatrick

€2,974.30

Jane Clarke

€4,800.00

Janet Hughes

€7,420.00

John C Malone

€4,000.00

John Fanning

€23,750.00

Liz Harper

€4,900.00

Mazars

€138,704.00

McGuinness Killen Partnership

€5,460.00

Niall Watters & Associates

€3,997.60

Penhouse Design Ltd

€42,895.00

Prof Ann Sanson

€3,806.60

Quality Matters Ltd

€5,000.00

Richard Sinnott

€8,000.00

Roger Jupp

€33,600.00

Sandra Roe

€12,000.00

Satya Brink

€15,471.15

Sven Retore

€1,515.50

Total

€ 443,408.75

20% saving estimate

€88,681.75

Should a 20% reduction be applied to all the above listed fees, the resultant saving would be €88,682.

Departmental Staff Training

Questions (480)

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

480. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide in tabular form a breakdown of all third level courses, training programmes and courses provided for employees of his Department, and the accompanying cost, for the 2013-2014 academic year, from 1 September 2013 to the end of June 2014. [30091/14]

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Written answers

The information requested by the Deputy is set out in tabular form below.

Training Courses

Total

Generic T&D for Civil Service Work

€7,222

Customer Service Workshop

€345

Excel

€1,644

Freedom of Information training

€2,060

Minute Taking for Meetings

€390

Powerpoint

€249

Speech Writing

€1,470

Team & People Management

€345

Time Management

€225

Word

€249

Writing for the Web

€245

Leadership & Management Skills

€5,300

Leadership Challenge

€5,300

Post Second Level

€47,178

Advanced Diploma in Juvenile Justice

€8,250

BA in Management

€2,820

Certificate in Data Protection Practice

€1,200

Certificate in Public Management

€2,160

Certificate in Child Law

€1,200

Diploma in Child Law

€4,600

MSc in Policy Analysis

€7,900

MSc Innovation Management

€3,320

PHD - Governance

€10,246

PhD Philosophy in Social Work (TCD)

€2,582

Statistics for Policy Evaluation

€2,900

Professional and technical training

€8,941

Certificate in Public Sector Corp Governance

€970

Internal Audit Seminar

€150

Interviewee & Interviewer Training

€4,995

Introduction to Internal Audit

€1,620

Judicial Review

€136

Legal Professional Privilege

€490

Public Procurement

€580

Specialist Training for Corporate Activities

€3,330

Certificate in Human Management

€1,210

Expenditure Reform for Civil Service

€195

Flexi Training

€300

PC Maintenance

€1,380

Understanding Financial Statements

€245

Grand Total

€71,971

In addition, there are a number of refund of fees for third level courses still subject to successful completion of the programme. If all staff successfully complete their programmes and claim refunds, a further cost of approximately €24,000 will be incurred for the period in question.

Departmental Staff Training

Questions (481)

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

481. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide in tabular form the annual saving to the Exchequer from a reduction of 5%, 7%, 10%, 12%, 15%, 17% and 20%, respectively, in the staff training and development provision for his Department. [30106/14]

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Written answers

Costs associated with staff learning & development across my Department during 2013 were €100,000. This represents just over 1% of total costs associated with the administration and running of my Department in that year.

As a relatively small Department with a significant body of work to carry out in the coming years, I am very much aware of the key role that learning and development of staff plays in order to help achieve better policy making, better administration and better drafting of legislation with associated better outcomes. As such, I would like to see similar levels of investment continue and indeed if possible, increase in the coming years as more effective opportunities for learning and development are identified.

That said, the information requested by the Deputy is set out below and relates to reductions using 2013 expenditure levels as a baseline.

% Spend

2013 expenditure

% reduction Saving

100% spend

€100,000

-

5% reduction

-

€5,000

7% reduction

-

€7,000

10% reduction

-

€10,000

12% reduction

-

€12,000

15% reduction

-

€15,000

17% reduction

-

€17,000

20% reduction

-

€20,000

Departmental Expenditure

Questions (482)

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

482. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide in tabular form the annual saving to the Exchequer from a reduction of 5%, 7%, 10%, 12%, 15%, 17% and 20%, respectively, in the cost of travel and expenses for his Department. [30121/14]

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Written answers

With a funding allocation of €138,000 in the Administrative Budget of my Department to meet travelling and subsistence costs in 2014, the annual savings accruing to the Exchequer from the reductions set out by the Deputy are as follows:

Reduction

Saving

1.5%

€2,070

7%

€9,660

10%

€13,800

12%

€16,560

15%

€20,700

17%

€23,460

20%

€27,600

Departmental Expenditure

Questions (483, 485)

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

483. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide in tabular form the expected carryover of current expenditure savings from 2014 into next year. [30155/14]

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Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

485. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide in tabular form the expected unspent current expenditure from 2014 into next year. [30202/14]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 483 and 485 together.

In accordance with Public Financial Procedures it is normal practice that any unspent balance in relation to current funding provisions be surrendered to the Exchequer at the end of the year. It is not envisaged at this time that savings will arise in the Vote of my Department for 2014 but the situation will continue to be closely monitored over the remainder of the year.

Departmental Expenditure

Questions (484)

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

484. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide in tabular form the expected carryover of capital expenditure savings from 2014 into next year. [30170/14]

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Written answers

It is not envisaged at this time that a carryover of capital resources provisions in the Vote for my Department for 2014 will be required. However, expenditure on capital programmes will continue to be closely monitored over the remainder of the year.

Question No. 485 answered with Question No. 483.

Garda Investigations

Questions (486)

Joan Collins

Question:

486. Deputy Joan Collins asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will confirm that after the Health Information Quality Authority exposed foster care abuses in the Dublin north-west foster services in 2013, all the cases were forwarded to the Garda for investigation. [30321/14]

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Written answers

I have requested the information from the Child and Family Agency and I will revert to the Deputy when this information is to hand.

Child Care Services Provision

Questions (487)

Finian McGrath

Question:

487. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs not to allow the closure of a centre (details supplied) in Dublin 17; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30388/14]

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Written answers

It is a matter of record that this Centre has been experiencing cash flow difficulties. The Centre incurred expenditure of €2.022m in 2013 and received funding amounting to €1.96m, resulting in a deficit of €62,000. Projections by the Centre show that income of approximately €1.8m is anticipated during 2014. With such a level of financial support available it should be possible to work constructively to continue services and avoid the closure scenario that has previously been outlined by the Centre.

Senior representatives from the Child and Family Agency, Pobal, Dublin City Childcare Committee and representatives from the board and management of the Centre have met on a number of occasions to explore options available to allow the service operate on a sustainable basis within the allocated funding. A number of options were considered and to assist in this process, Dublin City Childcare Committee engaged the services of an external mentor to undertake an independent detailed analysis of the matter.

I have kept this matter under regular review and I understand that the external mentor will complete their report by 14th July, 2014. The draft findings have been communicated to the Centre Chairperson and Manager and the objective is to ensure the development of a sustainable model of service delivery into the future.

In parallel, a wider examination will be undertaken of the level and range of early years services supported by the State in the Darndale/Belcamp/Moatview area generally.

The Child and Family Agency, as one of a number of State funders of the Centre, agreed and has made additional pre-payments to the end of August. This is in addition to previous pre-payments advanced for May and June and the Agency have stressed that this is as much as they are prepared to commit to, while the process outlined above, is ongoing.

I very much welcome the process of engagement which is in place and I hope that a satisfactory outcome will be arrived at which will ensure the continued operation of the Centre within the significant funding levels available.

Departmental Staff Recruitment

Questions (488)

Joe Higgins

Question:

488. Deputy Joe Higgins asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of public sector workers that are on temporary contracts or other non-permanent contracts of employment in his Department. [30396/14]

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Written answers

There are seventeen staff on temporary or other non-permanent contracts in my Department. Five of these relate to personal appointments I am making and each contract is coterminous with my appointment as Minister. In addition to these, my Department has engaged twelve temporary clerical officers for project work over the summer months. The average duration of each of these temporary clerical contracts is 12 weeks.

State Bodies Data

Questions (489)

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

489. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide in tabular form the annual salary of the chief executive officers of all commercial State companies under his remit. [30859/14]

View answer

Written answers

There are no commercial State companies under the remit of my Department.

State Bodies Data

Questions (490)

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

490. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide in tabular form a list of the annual salaries of the chief executive officers of all non-commercial State-sponsored bodies under his remit. [30887/14]

View answer

Written answers

There are two non-commercial State sponsored bodies under the remit of my Department which have Chief Executive Officer positions. These are the Child and Family Agency and the Adoption Authority of Ireland. While there are no CEO positions in the Children Detention Schools, there are two Director positions which I have included in the table below. Furthermore the Ombudsman for Children, as the head of the Office, is also included for information purposes.

NCSSB

Salary of CEO

Child and Family Agency

€170,734

Adoption Authority of Ireland

Recruitment process complete and new CEO expected to take up appointment in coming weeks. Salary scale for position is €96,726 to €115,576

Children Detention Schools

€83,459 & €89,476

Ombudsman for Children

€119,572

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