Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 10 Mar 1992

Vol. 417 No. 1

Written Answers. - Civil Service Staff Training.

Gay Mitchell

Ceist:

342 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will outline, in respect of his Department and of 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 Social Welfare (Mr. McCreevy)

Following is the information requested by the Deputy:

(1) A total of 14 staff in my Department are engaged in full-time training. The grades of the staff are as follows: one Assistant Principal; *4.5 Higher Executive Officers; *3.5 Executive Officers; three Staff Officers; one Clerical Officer; one Clerical Assistant Typist.

* 0.5 = Job Sharers.

(2) and (3). The details are set out in tabular form in the following appendix.

(4) The staff development unit will be strengthened in the course of this year to deal with an expansion in the workload of my Department which will require an enhanced training programme.

Government policy on decentralisation of the Civil Service and my Department's policy of regionalisation and localisation of social welfare services call for a devolved approach to the delivery of training. This is more efficient and cost-effective than central delivery. To this end, my Department is at present engaged in setting up regional training units under the control and with the support of the staff development unit, which will allow local management more flexibility to address their own immediate training needs.

(5) The numbers who attended courses at the Civil Service Training Centre are as follows:

1989	1990	1991
66	43	154

(6) The position with regard to the amount of fees which can be refunded is regularly reviewed. To date, it has been possible to make full refunds in respect of all approved courses. Since 1989, the refund of fees scheme has been availed of as follows:

Year	Numbers refunded educational fees	Total cost
		£
1989	170	105,000
1990	230	123,000
1991	199	126,000

APPENDIX.

Courses Attended January 1991 to December 1991.

Course	PO	AP	HEO/ SWO	EO/SO	CO	CA/T	Mgr.	Number of courses	Attended	Duration (days)
Induction	1	—	—	3	27	171	1	22	203	2
Customer Service	—	1	1	38	103	167	1	36	311	1.5
Interpersonal Skills	—	—	8	105	19	8	—	17	140	2.5
Employment Exchange Training	—	—	4	27	46	62	—	18	139	3
Office Automation	—	110	322	159	103	115	—	104	809	1
Writing Skills	—	—	2	13	6	2	—	3	23	1
Typing Skills	—	—	—	13	5	15	—	7	33	1
Interactive Video Courses	1	17	36	39	4	45	—	—	142	.5
Technical Training	—	7	31	73	83	—	—	30	194	1 to 60
Systems Analysis Training	—	1	14	13	—	—	—	5	28	2 to 20
Project Management Training	—	1	8	16	—	—	—	3	25	3

Abbreviations: PO = Principal Officer, AP = Assistant Principal, HEO = Higher Executive Officer, SWO = Social Welfare Officer, EO= Executive Officer, SO = Staff Officer, CO = Clerical Officer, CA = Clerical Assistant/Typist, Mrg = Messenger.