Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 February 2018
129. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the composition of the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service; the persons that form part of the service; the professions of those working in the service; the annual budget of the service; the purpose of the service; the number of persons working for the service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6653/18]
View answerThe Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) is an integrated, cross-Government service that aims to support better policy formulation and implementation in the civil service through economic analysis and evaluation. It was established in 2012. As set out in its Medium Term Strategy out to 2019, the aim of the IGEES is to contribute to the better design and targeting of Government policy and better outcomes for citizens. It does this by building on existing analytical work and playing a lead role in policy analysis.
IGEES is not a stand-alone service. IGEES staff are part of each Department adding their skill set to the varied expertise working on policy analysis and formulation as directed by Departmental business plans. By operating as a cross Government service, IGEES supports and builds economic and evaluation capacity and consistency across the civil service.
The IGEES model involves units and roles embedded in each Government Department, and each Department meets the costs of those from within its existing resources. IGEES numbers across Government Departments have grown since 2012 combining new recruitment with the assignment of existing staff. IGEES numbers have increased from just over 30 in 2012, to over 50 in 2013, around 70 in 2014, around 80 in 2015, around 90 in 2016, and 120 in 2017. At present, there are over 120 persons active in IGEES roles (half recruited through IGEES recruitment stream and half from existing Departmental resources). In terms of the IGEES recruitment, the average annual intake for the period 2012-2017 was just below 20. IGEES is currently concluding a round of graduate recruitment and in the middle of a round of middle management recruitment so numbers are expected to increase in 2018.
The majority of those currently active in IGEES roles are economists by profession. However there are those in active IGEES roles from a wide variety of professional backgrounds with a strong quantitative analysis component such as statistics, data analysis, social science, evaluation, and policy analysis.
From 2012 to 2016, costs were almost entirely related to pay – for existing qualified economic and evaluation staff and for newly recruited economic and evaluation staff – and formed part of each Department’s overall pay allocation as presented in the Revised Estimates Volume. In 2017, a budget for the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service of €200,000 was included in Vote 11 Office of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. This budget has increased to €250,000 in 2018. The Secretary General of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform has overall responsibility for IGEES. This budget is supporting the roll out of the IGEES Medium Term Strategy in building capacity through recruitment and learning and development, generating an increased level of high quality output, and providing greater input into and impact on the policy analysis process in the civil service.
