Mary Lou McDonald
Question:1. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach when the Civil Service management board, chaired by the Secretary General of his Department, will next meet. [9274/22]
View answerTuesday, 8 March 2022
Questions (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Peadar Tóibín
Question:2. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach when the Civil Service management board, chaired by the Secretary General of his Department, will next meet. [11390/22]
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Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:3. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Civil Service management board, chaired by the Secretary General of his Department, will next meet. [11770/22]
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Paul Murphy
Question:4. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Civil Service management board, chaired by the Secretary General of his Department, will next meet. [11773/22]
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Michael Moynihan
Question:5. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Taoiseach when the Civil Service management board, chaired by the Secretary General of his Department, will next meet. [12883/22]
View answerOral answers (12 contributions)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 5, inclusive, together.
The Civil Service management board provides collective leadership to the Civil Service renewal programme. The board is chaired by the Secretary General to the Government and its membership consists of all Secretaries General of Departments and heads of major offices. The board meets, in general, once a month and the minutes of these meetings are available on the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform web page on gov.ie. The Civil Service renewal programme management office, based in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, co-ordinates and drives the Civil Service renewal plan.
Civil Service Renewal 2030 is a ten-year strategy that looks to build on the achievements of the 2014 Civil Service renewal plan. The strategy is centred on three core themes, namely, delivering evidence-informed policy and services; harnessing digital technology and innovation; and building the Civil Service workforce, workplace and organisation of the future. The ten-year strategic framework, throughout its lifetime, will deliver the following: a continuous improvement approach to our policy development capacity, including investment in strategic policy infrastructure and improved policy co-ordination across the whole of Government; and enhanced transparency as to how and why public data are being used to inform policy development and benefit society. In terms of digital first and innovation, the framework will ensure 90% of applicable public services will be available and consumed online and designed with the customer at the centre, while the work of staff will augmented through appropriate analytical, automation and other digital tools. In terms of workforce, workplace and organisation of the future, there will be strategically planned workforce requirements based on capacity, capability and skills needs and the use of flexible working models for greater impact and agility. There will also be an equal, diverse, inclusive, engaged and empowered workforce.
The strategy will be implemented through a series of three-year action plans. The plans detail the precise goals and initiatives that will progress each of the strategic priorities. Our progress on the commitments within these action plans will be continually measured, evaluated, and reported on. The first such action plan, Civil Service Renewal 2024, has been published and will deliver on specific actions over the next three years.
The independent panel on strengthening Civil Service accountability and performance made a number of recommendations in 2014, one of which was the establishment of the Civil Service accountability board, chaired by the Taoiseach. My colleague, Deputy Mairéad Farrell, raised the issue of the board's work with the Taoiseach last month. The Taoiseach confirmed then that the board had not met in some time. In fact, it has not met since 2016. That is six years ago. Has the board been stood down?
If so, is that because it had concluded its work? If so, was the decision to stand down the Civil Service accountability board formally announced at any stage?
The Civil Service management board, by distinction, does meet regularly and is tasked with strengthening the performance of the Civil Service, strategic oversight and delivery of stringent governance, as the Taoiseach described, but it does not seem to have any accountability function. The Civil Service Renewal 2030 strategy published last year briefly notes the strategy will build a Civil Service that encourages - that is the word it uses - accountability and this work will be supported by accountability mechanisms, but those are the only references to accountability in the entire strategy. What body or board is currently responsible for ensuring effective accountability of Civil Service and public service management? Specifically, I ask the Taoiseach to answer my questions in respect of the Civil Service accountability board which, as I stated, has not met since 2016.
I have a practical question for the Taoiseach. How many employees of Departments are currently working remotely, in percentage terms or in real terms? Every time I, one of my staff or even a constituent picks up a phone to seek to talk to somebody within a Department, we are met with an answering machine. Strangely, many of these answering machines actually declare the messages will not be checked. We are living in 2022. This is a tech island and it is really difficult for people to understand that phones cannot be diverted to people who are working remotely. I am very much in favour of people working remotely. It is a good thing. I represent Meath West. Half the people of County Meath are forced to leave the county every day to go to work. It is a good thing that people are able to work from home. Can we not have a system, however, whereby phone calls are diverted to key staff so we can talk to them and gain an understanding of questions on which we are working?
I raised a question with the Department of Transport in respect of salaries within the Department. I was told the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, has a PR adviser on a salary of more than €93,000 per year. We have been talking about largesse in Civil Service wages for a long time. That salary is incredible because this particular role does not provide anything whatsoever of benefit to citizens. Does the Taoiseach have any PR consultants? What wages are they on?
Even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there were spiralling inflation and cost-of-living increases. When I was briefed by the Department of Finance, it said the war in Ukraine and the impact on energy prices was going to add another 4% on top of that in terms of further inflation. I ask the Taoiseach to confirm that and update the House on it. In that regard, when public servants, of whom the Government is the employer, are limited to 1% increases, that means the people the Government employs are going to be suffering significant wage cuts in the coming period. In that context, does the Taoiseach think we need to revise that and give pay increases to public and civil servants, and indeed all workers, but particularly the ones this Government employs, to compensate for the spiralling cost of living?
Has the Civil Service management board considered introducing a four-day week without loss of pay for public sector workers? There is a growing movement demanding a four-day week, understanding it would cut carbon emissions by up to 20% and, obviously, provide significantly more work-life balance for workers. Workers understand that productivity has gone through the roof yet the hours people work and much of the wages they get have remained the same, with the benefits going to the bosses, by and large. According to the OECD, workers in Ireland add $110 to GDP for every hour they work, twice the level that pertained in 2008. GDP per hour worked has doubled in Ireland in the past 15 years but where is the reduction in working hours and the increase in wages? Is this something the Civil Service management board has considered?
In the first instance, Deputy McDonald raised the issue of the accountability board. It has not met since 2016. In fact, two Governments have now passed and we need to reflect on what are the best accountability mechanisms in terms of civil servants more generally and otherwise. There are internal accountability mechanisms, of course, within the various pieces of legislation, such as the ministerial Act, that govern the role of the Minister and the role of Secretaries General in terms of accountability, benchmarking, standards and so forth. The Civil Service management board was established under the 2014 Civil Service renewal plan. It comprises Secretaries General and heads of offices and is chaired by the Secretary General to the Government. It provides a forum, mainly for sharing issues and challenging and strengthening the performance of the Civil Service as a collective. The immediate focus of the board is on overseeing the implementation of the priorities in the Civil Service renewal plan and implementing the ambitious programme of reform in the Civil Service Renewal 2030 strategy and the Civil Service Renewal 2024 action plan. As I stated, the minutes of that meeting are available on the website of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
In terms of wider issues of accountability, there are accountability mechanisms within each Department according to the layers of staff and so on and at different levels-----
Has the accountability board been stood down?
Again, it does not exist and has not met since 2016, so the de facto answer is "Yes". I will come back to-----
Was that announced?
No, I do not think it was. It just happened around 2016. I will have to check that out again and come back to the Deputy on it.
In relation to the point raised by Deputy Tóibín, I do not have a figure here in terms of how many people within the public service are working remotely. There was during the pandemic a general view that if we could facilitate off-site working, obviously for public health objectives at the time, we should do so. That was achieved but workers are now returning to work. I will endeavour to get some assessment for the Deputy in respect of the numbers and the situation in terms of how many staff members are availing of remote working, how many are coming back to the office and what type of pattern will emerge into the future in terms of how many days are worked in office and how many days are worked out of office.
I will follow up on the Deputy's point regarding phone calls being directed to key staff. It is a reasonable point that there is a need to get access to public servants who are in decision-making mode or who can answer or respond to a query, as opposed to getting an answering machine. There are other mechanisms, as all present are aware, in terms of seeking responses on issues or in terms of information that Deputies may seek from given Departments. That should be readily available. Departments generally take a proactive approach in that regard. For example, the Department of Social Protection, Revenue and others provide information up front on websites and so on. That will continue to be the case. It is also the approach in terms of publishing strategy documents and so on.
As regards the final point raised by the Deputy, I am not aware of the specific position. I do not employ a PR consultant in my Department.
What about PR staff?
Well, the Government press secretary is there and always has been, and there is the Government Information Service, GIS, because communications are important. I can recall right throughout the pandemic the clarion call was for more communications on issues of vital importance to employers, employees, the general public and various sectors of the economy. Communications are important in that respect and information is given and presented to people.
In respect of the points made by Deputy Boyd Barrett around spiralling inflation, I agree with regard to the situation prior to the war in Ukraine but, again, security-related issues and issues in relation to the management of oil stocks and in terms of the release of oil and gas from Russia all had an impact, along with the pandemic. As economies are coming out of the pandemic, an imbalance between supply and demand has arisen. Demand rose dramatically as societies emerged from the pandemic. There was an inability to meet that with supply, and inflation occurred. It was 5.7% in February. I cannot confirm right now what the Deputy is saying in respect of it rising to 8% or 9% but that could be the case. Given what has happened in Ukraine, it is likely to increase. The Deputy is familiar with the fact that the price of a barrel of oil on the international markets has gone from $96 on 25 February to approximately $130 today.
That shows how international and global this problem is. Likewise, the UK natural gas and wholesale markets are now trading at approximately £5.70 a therm, which is a near-record high after prices more than doubled last week. This day last year, gas cost 45p a therm.
The latest Central Statistics Office data on wages show that average hourly earnings in the fourth quarter of 2021 were up 2.6% from a year earlier and were up 8.2% from the fourth quarter of 2019. The average annual consumer price index inflation rate was 2.4% in 2021 and -0.3% in 2020.
We are actively considering the situation right now because of the war in Ukraine. We took measures a couple of weeks ago to the value of €500 million. We introduced an electricity rebate and lowered the drugs payment scheme threshold. Transport charges are being reduced from the end of April, which will benefit 800,000 users. A fuel allowance lump sum payment of €125 will be paid to 390,000 recipients. Those measures will have an impact but the Government is giving active consideration to the current situation arising out of the war on Ukraine and its impact on oil prices.
Deputy Paul Murphy raised the issue of a four-day week within the public service, which we have not given consideration to. There have been various discussions and debates but in real terms I consider that this proposal is some time off yet in terms of where we are now. Full research needs to be undertaken in respect of such an initiative, which would have a very significant impact all around. We have announced an extra bank holiday the day after St. Patrick’s Day, which will be on St. Brigid’s Day every year after that. I believe I have covered all of the questions raised.
Question No. 6 withdrawn.