John Bruton
Ceist:50 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of his Department in deepening and strengthening the SMI process through the civil and public service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17452/99]
Written Answers. - Strategic Management Initiative.
Ruairí Quinn
Ceist:51 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach to make a statement on his address at the launch of the latest phase of the strategic management initiative in Dublin Castle on 22 July last; if, arising from his comments, he will say what specific proposals the Government intends to make to deal with the problem of inequality within the Civil Service; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17743/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 50 and 51 together.
At the SMI launch on 22 July, I made a number of announcements on the achievements of the SMI to date and the future work programme. The key theme of the launch was Delivering Quality Public Service – responding to the needs of a changing environment. The launch focused on a number of initiatives designed to improve the functioning of the Civil Service and to enhance its capacity to deliver high-quality services effectively. Most of these initiatives build on the reports of working groups which were set up under the SMI in recent years.
Briefly these are: deepening the quality customer service initiative; introducing an action programme for regulatory reform; extending the scope of freedom of information legislation; new financial management systems; developing human resource management issues, including performance management and recruitment; and promoting gender equality.
Details of these can be seen in the documents contained in the packs which were circulated at the launch. I have arranged for these to be made available in the Oireachtas Library.
In my speech that day, I referred to the progress that has been made in recent years in the reform of the public service. I also highlighted the need to continue widening and strengthening the programme of reform throughout the civil and public service. To this end, a number of measures have been taken to ensure that this process is managed effectively. Briefly these are: the SMI implementation group has been broadened to include Departments with large numbers of employees and Departments with responsibility for the wider public sector. This new implementation group is meeting tomorrow to consider its new work programme and how best to progress the deepening of the SMI, based on this sectoral approach.
The liaison group on widening the SMI to the public service last met in July and is due to meet again early in October. This group comprises representatives from those Departments with responsibility for the various sectors and exists to monitor and progress the SMI modernisation process in the wider public service. It reports directly to the implementation group.
Central to all these reforms is the effective management of performance. The Government has decided that Ministers and Secretaries General should proceed immediately to develop systems of performance management suited to the business needs of the different sectors. This process will be overseen by the implementation group.
With regard to the specific issue of equality in the Civil Service, I highlighted the need for more to be done to address this issue. The main problem is the dearth of women in senior management grades and, despite the best of intentions, the lack of progress made in redressing this imbalance. To this end the Government, in July of this year, approved a package of measures which include: the development and adoption of a new equality policy to be drafted by a high-level equality group; a programme of affirmative action in the areas of recruitment, placement-mobility, training and development, promotion, work and family responsibilities, language and sexual harassment and policy delivery; the adoption of strategic objective setting at departmental level, including the setting of increasingly specific equality goals, to be achieved over a stated period of time and the putting in place of new equality structures, locally and centrally, to support implementation of the new policy.
The Minister for Finance in his address at the launch stated that additional resources will be deployed in the equality area and the full report on gender imbalance in the Civil Service, produced by the Institute of Public Administration will be published shortly. It is expected that the high level equality group will have its first meeting in the near future to begin work on these issues.