Vol. 497 No. 6
10 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach if any members of the Government have made joint orders under section 12 of the Public Service Management Act, 1997, assigning responsibility to specified civil servants for the performance of functions in respect of cross departmental matters; if so, the matters, functions and Departments affected; the proposals, if any, being considered for the making of these orders in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25555/98]
As the Deputy will be aware from my reply to a previous similar question, the purpose of section 12 of the Act is to provide, as necesssary, for the assignment by Ministers or Ministers of State of responsibility to civil servants for cross departmental issues and the associated accountability arrangements. The Act also requires, under section 4, that the heads of Departments and offices ensure that appropriate arrangements are put in place to facilitate an effective response to these issues. Ministers are, of course, well aware of these provisions to which I have previously drawn their attention. However, no orders have so far been made under section 12 of the Act.
Issues of policy do, of course, cross departmental boundaries and there is a need to identify new ways of managing such issues more effectively. The strategy statements approved by Ministers earlier this year have identified a number of cross-departmental issues arising. I have asked the SMI implementation group to consider appropriate action on these issues. I expect that such consideration will address the use of section 12 of the 1997 Act as a means of progressing the matters.
I will continue to keep this matter under review in the light of progress by Departments in achieving the goals set out in their strategy statements.
