Written Answers Nos. 1-45
36. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform his plans to review existing legislation in relation to the responsibilities of senior public servants to ensure greater transparency and accountability. [30961/23]
View answerI understand that the Deputy is referring to the Public Service Management Act 1997 ("the PSMA"). This Act was introduced to provide a statutory underpinning for the Strategic Management Initiative. It provided for a new management structure for the Civil Service to enhance the management, effectiveness and transparency of the operations of Departments of State and certain other offices of the Civil Service.
One of the key transparency and accountability measures in the PSMA is the requirement that every Secretary General must prepare and submit a statement of strategy in respect of their Department to the Minister of said Department within 6 months of the appointment of a new Minister and at the expiration of the three year period since the last statement was prepared and submitted.
Strategy statements must set out the key objectives, outputs and related strategies of the Department concerned. All strategy statements are published and laid before the Oireachtas. Secretaries General are also required to provide and publish annual progress reports to their Ministers on the implementation of the strategy statement.
There has been no formal review of the PSMA since it came into force. It is clear, however, that the Act has, to a large extent, delivered on its intended purpose, which was to create greater openness and transparency as to the objectives of each Government Department and how they are performing in delivering on those objectives.
The PSMA must also be viewed in the context of the wider suite of accountability and transparency measures in the Civil and Public Service taken at the same time and in the years since its enactment. This includes all of the legislation in the areas of Freedom of Information, Ethics in Public Office and Regulation of Lobbying. It also includes the ongoing process of reform and renewal progressed under my Department's statutory function of managing the modernisation of the Public Service. In recent years this has included the establishment of the Civil Service Management Board and the Public Service Leadership Board; the setting of a common Corporate Governance Standard for the Civil Service; and the implementation of a new performance review process for Secretaries General. Last week I published the 2022 Public Service Performance Report, which links public spending to the outcomes public bodies deliver, and is another example of improvements we have made in this area. All of this illustrates the extent to which ensuring transparency and accountability is built in to how we have been designing and delivering policies and services in the years since the PSMA was enacted.
41. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the details of any analysis carried out by his Department into the expected impacts of the recent changes to the public spending code, and in particular the introduction of a-three stage approvals process on major projects that were already moving through the approvals process prior to the changes to the public spending code; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30905/23]
View answerThe most recent updates to the Public Spending Code which I outlined in March this year were informed by a review process involving key stakeholders. The expected impacts of these changes are to:
• Reduce the administrative burden in delivering major projects
• Allow for projects below the major project threshold of €200m to proceed more speedily through the appraisal and evaluation process compared to those of greater scale and complexity
• Allow departments responsible for delivering projects greater freedom to pursue the delivery of their priority projects.
The Public Spending Code for capital investment was reviewed and revised in 2019. The key strategic aim of the review was to ensure greater Value for Money for public investment.
While many long-standing arrangements for capital project management remained unchanged, the new arrangements sharpened the focus on risk and cost management, reduced the compliance burden on low-risk projects and brought Ireland into line with leading international approaches to major project delivery.
This review resulted in much better engagement on the application of the Code and a range of Departments and agencies have developed sector-specific arrangements within the parameters of the overall Code.
At the same time however, concerns have been expressed that the application of the Code may have been causing unnecessary delays in project implementation under the NDP, and may not have fully reflected the role of Accounting Officers in assessing risk and overseeing project implementation.
To address this, a high-level review among Secretaries Generals in key capital spending departments was commenced in April 2022 in order to review the requirements of the Code. Following a series of meetings, this group set out a series of six key principles to be referred to a practitioner group of experienced public servants across Government departments to consider. The practitioner group was tasked with considering the principles and returning to the Secretary General group with recommendations as to how the PSC could operate in a more streamlined manner and take account of the appropriate legal responsibilities of Accounting Officers.
This review led to some specific changes, announced in March and implemented through DPENDR circular 06/23, designed to streamline the project lifecycle and approval process, in particular for major projects.
• The general threshold for major projects increasing from €100m to €200m.
• The reduction of the number of approval stages prior to implementation from 5 to 3.
The expected impacts of these reforms apply to both new projects being developed and projects already progressing through the project lifecycle.
43. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if he is planning any new measures in budget 2024 to address the recruitment and retention difficulties across key areas of the public sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25163/23]
View answerAs a result of Ireland's robust economic growth, unemployment is low and labour market conditions are tight. Labour and skills shortages are presenting challenges for employers across the labour market, including the civil and public service.
Despite this, staff numbers in the public sector have continued to grow consistently. Between 2015 and 2022, the estimated numbers in full-time equivalent terms increased by almost one-fourth, from 302,000 to 377,311. According to the latest data available, by the end of 2022 the public service numbers had increased by 3.1% over the end of 2021 numbers.
The public service is a good employer and continues to offer competitive pay and other terms and conditions to attract and retain staff, including flexible working arrangements, pension provision and secure employment. In the case of recruitment policy for which I have policy responsibility, my Department works closely with the Public Appointments Service and other Government Departments to achieve the objectives set out by the Civil Service Renewal 2024 Action Plan to ensure that the State remains an employer of choice.
Staff recruitment and retention are influenced by a broad range of factors. Pay in the public service has been governed by a system of collective agreements since the negotiation of the Croke Park Agreement in 2010. The current agreement is ‘Building Momentum.’
As the Deputy will be aware, discussions took place last year between the parties to the Agreement that resulted in a set of proposals put forward by the WRC to extend Building Momentum for a period of 12 months to the end of 2023, making it a three-year pay agreement. The extension acknowledges the higher than anticipated rates of inflation that have emerged since 2021 and the impact of cost of living pressures.
Three additional pay adjustments totalling 6.5% were provided for under the extension. These were an increase in annualised basic salaries for public servants of:
• 3% (backdated to the 2nd February 2022)
• 2% on 1st March 2023, and
• 1.5% or €750, whichever is greater, on 1 October 2023.
The initial Building Momentum Agreement provided headline benefits of 3%. With the extension, headline benefits over the lifetime of the Agreement amount to 9.5%, or just over 3% per year. In respect of public servants at lower pay levels, the Agreement as extended provides for increases of 12.5% over its lifetime, which is an average of just over 4% per annum.
Given Building Momentum will conclude at the end of 2023, I expect that engagement will get underway in the coming months on the potential for a successor Agreement. As is always the case, such an agreement will need to strike an appropriate balance between providing for wage adjustments for public servants on the one hand with ensuring we continue to manage the public finances in a sustainable way on the other.
