Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 November 2015
342. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the allocation for his Department in 2016 which covers the Lansdowne Road agreement; and the demographic or other inflationary pressures. [37283/15]
View answerAs the Deputy will be aware, the Government's voted expenditure allocations and measures for 2016 were presented to Dáil Éireann in the Expenditure Report for Budget 2016. This document also provided the expenditure ceilings for 2017 and 2018.
The Department of Public Expenditure & Reform (DPER), like the Civil Service and public service as a whole, has benefited from the productivity and reform measures provided for under the Haddington Road Agreement and previous agreements. These measures will continue to apply under the Lansdowne Road Agreement (LRA).
Cost reductions and the substantial productivity increases, including additional working hours, have allowed scope to invest by recruiting additional expert staff where necessary and to commence the process of the restoration of pay for serving staff. The cost implications of these measures for DPER are reflected in the Gross Pay Bill Estimates for 2016 which total €62.686 million across three Votes as shown in the table following.
|
Vote |
2016 Budget (Gross Pay) (million) |
|
11 DPER |
24.121 |
|
18 National Shared Service Office |
25.595 |
|
39 Office of Government Procurement |
12.970 |
The impact of the LRA on DPER's pay bill in 2016 is modest, estimated at approximately €147,000 across all three Votes. A further cost of approximately €828,000 is estimated to arise as a result of lower appropriations-in-aid associated with the reduction in Pension Related Deductions. This increases net voted expenditure but does not impact at a gross level.
The allocations for DPER take account of all expenditure pressures facing the Department in 2016 and will ensure that appropriate resources are in place to enable the Department to continue to deliver on the priorities identified in the Statement of Strategy 2015-2017.
Full details on the allocation of the Department's 2016 resources across spending areas will be set out, as usual, in the Revised Estimates Volume (REV).
