We welcome this opportunity to talk to the committee about the report prepared by the Comptroller and Auditor General. It is a very useful and constructive report and, as he rightly said, it focuses on the early stages of this initiative. We hope the publication of this report would of itself help to improve the climate and the level of support for this kind of work throughout the Civil Service. In 2000 we were also beginning to look at how this was working and the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General dovetailed very well with this. Mr. Purcell has made reference to the changes that have been agreed by Government as a result of the review that took place. Many of these changes are very close to the recommendations that he made. I would like to think that when all these are in place we will have a system, which is a very significant support to the whole area of developing policy on public expenditure.
The main initiatives approved by Government were, specific criteria for selection of topics for review; improved central supports for the process; the inclusion of crosscutting issues in the next phase of the process; and the encouragement for publication of future reviews. The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General recommended that the Department of Finance should put in place a strategy for developing and embedding the expenditure review process over the next three years. The central steering committee has asked Departments and offices to adopt a three-year planning horizon in relation to their expenditure review activities and to formulate three-year plans for expenditure review activities in their organisations. The central steering committee is currently reviewing these plans and will be submitting proposals to the Minister for Finance shortly. The Minister's decision on these will then be submitted to Government.
Another recommendation of the Comptroller and Auditor General is for the Department of Finance to provide central supports and build up stronger support mechanisms. We have now put in place arrangements to design and deliver a structured training programme in expenditure review. We have also established a network which will allow those involved in reviews to share knowledge and experiences about best practice. We have allocated a full-time dedicated Department of Finance staff member with extensive experience in this area to provide advice and guidance.
Turning for a moment to the wider issue of analytical and evaluation training for the Civil Service as a whole, the Department of Finance has since 2000 designed and delivered a five day course in policy analysis. This course, which also benefits from the active co-operation of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, covers analytical methods and tools to help staff appraise and evaluate Government programmes, capital projects and activities. Since 1999, Departments have also participated in the two year TCD course in economic policy studies, which provides participants with a deeper knowledge of many of these skills and analytical tools. For the longer term, the Department of Finance is engaged in a comprehensive review of options for improving further analytical and evaluation skills in the Civil Service and I will shortly be finalising proposals in this regard.
The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General also recommended that selection criteria should be specific. The criteria agreed upon by Government in June 2001 highlight the need to focus on strategic areas of expenditure. The central steering committee has asked Departments to prepare their three-year work strategy based on these criteria.
The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General also recommended that the central steering committee should, in consultation with Departments, identify and prioritise crosscutting issues for review. Government also agreed in June last to include crosscutting issues in the next phase of reviews. As part of our consultation process with Departments we have asked for proposals in this regard and these will be incorporated in the next phase.
With regard to publication, the central steering committee is of the view that completed expenditure reviews should generally be presented to the Oireachtas and be available to the public. Such an approach would be helpful in generating informed debate within select committees on the issues arising from the review process. While the decision as to publication of completed expenditure reviews is primarily a matter for the Minister concerned, they have been encouraged to do so by Government in its June 2001 decision. A number of reports have already been published and a number of others have been released in response to requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
I would like to comment on one particular aspect of the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, the assessment of quality of the earliest reviews undertaken by the London School of Economics as part of the examination. The expenditure review initiative was targeted at fostering evaluation in a climate of variable capacities. Some Departments were very skilled in this area because of national development plan and community support framework related evaluation experience, but others were not. The expenditure review initiative strove to apply and mainstream an evaluation culture and to encourage the conduct of such reviews. Indeed the report acknowledges that we made progress in that regard. However, for some Departments it was an activity they had to conduct from a standing start.
The central steering committee wishes me to emphasise that the expenditure review initiative is, like many other strands of SMI, an evolving process. Since 1997, Departments have been developing their approaches and skills while undertaking actual evaluations of programmes. In practical terms, this has meant "learning by doing". The very useful input from the London School of Economics did not evaluate this aspect. The Comptroller and Auditor General's report, of necessity, selected reviews which had been completed during the first part of the period in order to examine the impact of the reviews. However, the central steering committee is of the view that this learning dimension is reflected by a quite perceptible and understandable trend over the period of improvement from the initial baseline set of studies. The completion of over 70 reviews to date represents a very significant achievement.
We are, as I have mentioned, establishing a new network for those engaged in reviews to facilitate learning and sharing of experience. We hope to build on what has been achieved by the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, which has led a previous such network, by disseminating best practice in terms of structures, skills and approaches to expenditure review.
The need for all concerned to strive for higher quality standards attracted much attention in the Comptroller and Auditor General's report. Both the Department of Finance and the central steering committee believe that the new initiatives and structures described above will help Departments and offices to improve the quality of expenditure reviews. In addition, the committee will consider how best to secure the most efficient, effective and timely quality assessment of expenditure review reports completed by Departments and offices under their 2002 work plans.
On finalisation of the overall work plan for 2002, the central steering committee will shortly address a number of other issues: monitoring systems for completed expenditure reviews; progressing the conduct of cross departmental reviews; and the question of providing additional supports, such as links with academic institutions and research bodies, a central help desk and a reference database on methods and approaches.
In summary, I wish to express my gratitude to the Comptroller and Auditor General and his staff for their contribution to the development of the process. The Department's aim is to put in place an effective and sustainable expenditure review process with high quality reviews being produced on a systematic basis. Much solid work has already been done to implement the recommendations of the report and to underpin the new phase of the process.
My colleague from the Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, Mr. Edmond Sullivan, is also a member of the central steering committee.