As much as in any organisation, it is important to seek to ensure that the demographic profile of staff working in the public sector is appropriately balanced. Unfortunately, the severe restrictions it has been necessary to apply to recruitment into the civil and public service on account of the impact of the economic and budgetary crisis, have contributed to an aging public sector workforce.
As this situation reflects developments over a number of years, it is clearly not susceptible to immediate solutions. Moreover, as the Deputy will be aware there are important legal and regulatory requirements that preclude discrimination on the basis of age in civil and public service recruitment.
For example, recruitment to the civil service takes place under the Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004. The Act sets out that recruitment competitions be run under the Codes of Practice published by the Commission for Public Service Appointments (CPSA). The Codes set out that recruitment processes be conducted in manner which is fair, open and merit based. Consequently, it is not possible under the CPSA Codes to restrict a candidate's access to a competition on the basis of age.
The key to addressing this issue lies in the further development of the workforce planning process included in the Government's Public Service Reform Plan 2014-2016 by providing robust evidence on future staffing requirements. The key principle of workforce planning is having the right number of people with the right skills in the right jobs at the right time. It requires organisations to focus on the range of skills they need to deliver on their objectives and to identify emerging skills gaps, whether arising from staff turnover or from changes in the external environment which may require new skillsets. Workforce planning, therefore, assists public bodies to identify the number of staff and the skills and experience required and provides the basis on which planned and structured recruitment campaigns can be initiated which are likely to help re-balance over time the age profile across the public sector.
The age profile of applicants from recent open competitions run by the Public Appointments Service for the grades of Clerical Officer, Executive Officer, Administrative Officer and Principal Officer and the recently announced graduate recruitment campaign will help to improve the demographic profile of the civil and public service.
