Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 10 Mar 1992

Vol. 417 No. 1

Written Answers. - Civil Service Staff Training.

Gay Mitchell

Ceist:

138 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Energy if he will outline, in respect of his Department and any Civil Service office under his aegis, (1) the number and grades of the full-time staff engaged in the staff training unit, (2) the nature, number and duration of the training courses given during 1991, (3) the grades catered for on these courses and the numbers in each grade who attended, (4) if he has any plans in relation to the development of the training unit, (5) the number of those who attended courses at the Civil Service Training Centre in each of the years 1989 to 1991 and (6) the number of staff who are paid a refund of, (a) full fees and (b) part fees in respect of attendance at educational courses leading to the award of degrees, certificates and other qualification; and if, in the case of, (b) above he will further outline the percentage of the fee which is refunded and the way in which that percentage was determined.

Minister for Energy (Mr. Molloy)

None of the staff of my Department is engaged full time on staff training. However, my Department has an Information Technology Unit which, among other things, caters for the computer training needs of the Department. This unit is staffed by one assistant principal officer, one higher executive officer (systems analyst) and one clerical assistant.

At present the other training requirements of my Department are met by attendance of staff at suitable courses arranged by the Civil Service Training Centre, the Institute of Public Administration and other organisations. While the size of my Department would not justify a full-time staff training unit, the Personnel Division is planning to carry out certain in-house training on a part time basis.

During 1991, the Information Technology Unit arranged 17 training courses which covered various computer software applications used within my Department. These courses varied in duration from one to three days. The grades and numbers in each grade catered for on these courses were:

Principal Officer	1
Professional Accountant	1
Assistant Principal Officer	3
Higher Executive Officer	13
Executive Officer	25
Staff Officer	2
Clerical Officer	13
Clerical Assistant	36

The number of staff in my Department who attended courses at the Civil Service Training Centre in each of the years 1989 to 1991 is as follows: 1989, 15; 1990, 21, 1991, 24.

Fifteen members of staff will be paid a refund of fees on the completion of courses leading to the award of degrees, certificates and other qualifications. In all cases the refund is in respect of the full fees.