Vol. 518 No. 4
2 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach if he will publish the report entitled Recommendations for Change in the Chief State Solicitor's Office prepared by the centre for management and organisation development in the Department of Finance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8770/00]
3 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Taoiseach if operational and organisational changes are likely to be implemented in the Chief State Solicitor's Office arising from the report entitled Recommendations for Change in the Chief State Solicitor's office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8771/00]
4 Mr. Quinn asked the Taoiseach the steps, if any, taken to implement the recommendations of the report Recommendations for Change in the Chief State Solicitor's Office, particularly having regard to the serious deficiencies in communications between the offices of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Chief State Solicitor highlighted in the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8835/00]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 2 to 4, inclusive, together.
The report referred to by Deputy Bruton arose from a study carried out by a project team comprising representatives from the centre for management and organisation development and the Chief State Solicitor's Office. The study was part of a project to design and install a work management system making the most of modern technology. A range of administrative procedures and practices within the office are dealt with in the report. Some of the recommendations of the report have already been implemented. Others have been the subject of more detailed study within the partnership structures in the office and are in the course of implementation. Finally, there are recommendations which must await the development of IT systems for full application.
I have arranged to make the report available to Members by placing copies of it in the Oireachtas Library.
Is it true that this report claimed that the books of evidence received by the Chief State Solicitor's Office from the Garda Síochána were rarely in a presentable format?
It is a long and detailed report. There are over 80 pages with recommendations to every single section of the report.
Did the Taoiseach read it?
I read the summary.
Will the Taoiseach accept that it contains a statement to the effect that the Books of Evidence received from the Garda Síochána were rarely received in a presentable format? Does the Taoiseach further accept that the report, the summary of which he has read, criticised the relationship between the Chief State Solicitor's Office, which is under his aegis, and Departments, in particular that presided over by the Minister for Defence? Has he addressed either of these two considerations?
The report tries to continue the work started a number of years ago to improve the Office and external communication. There are a number of criticisms and complaints about co-operation in many areas. The first stage was the Deloitte & Touche report and the second was the Nally report. This report looks at the best practices that can be put in place. It recommends a change management group to look at all aspects of the office and recommends proposals to improve communication with Departments. It highlights deficiencies and then puts together the areas which should be remedied. It goes into great detail, from filing systems to technology systems to training systems. We are seeking to implement the proposals but it will require staffing, training and so on to do so. All the complaints have been included and we will endeavour to implement what has been highlighted over time.
Does the Taoiseach accept that he has ministerial responsibility to the Dáil for both the DPP and the Chief State Solicitor's Office? Does he accept the CSSO has found that there was no consistency in the provision of directives from the DPP's office and in the case of files provided by the DPP's office case references and case law were not always quoted when they should have been? Does the Taoiseach agree that there is a requirement of accountability for such an administrative lapse and if this lapse had occurred when Deputy Owen was Minister for Justice he and his colleagues would have been screaming blue murder? We have a report that condemns failures in two offices for which the Taoiseach has ministerial responsibility and he is seeking to pass it away in a welter of managerial gobbledygook and evasion.
I will not accept that from Deputy Bruton. I will tell him the summary of the recommendations in the report. It will take some time but if that is the way we are to answer questions we will do so.
It recommends that a change management group that has the confidence and co-operation of management and staff be established. The group will oversee the implementation of all recommendations contained in the report. It will serve as a mechanism to drive change and encourage staff participation in the process. It will continue to manage further change after the current work management project has been completed. The functions of the change management group have been incorporated into the partnership committee. The recommendations in the report are constantly under discussion and are being implemented appropriately.
It is recommended that an efficient system be implemented for the opening of all incoming correspondence, including electronic mail and faxes. The system should ensure that all incoming items are examined, addressed to the correct officer, logged on a computer system and delivered to the sections as quickly as possible. As part of this implementation, the feasibility of subscribing to the Dublin Document Exchange service and of receiving faxes directly on computers should be investigated. Discussions should be held with the Attorney General's office in order to learn from its experience in this area. A facility is being put in place under direction of my office allowing all staff to send electronic mail and faxes from their desktop computer. It is expected that negotiations will commence very shortly on the instal lation of file and case tracking systems. Active discussions are taking place with the Dublin Document Exchange with a view to subscribing to its services in the near future.
It is recommended that secretarial support teams comprising current clerical staff and typists redeployed from the typing section be set up within the sections. All the staff on these teams would carry out a range of clerical duties. The arrangement would fit well with the work management system in that clerical and legal staff in the sections would be working together and sharing information in a more organised way. Each team will have a staff officer who will be responsible for staff supervision and for helping to manage the clerical workload in co-operation with the head of section and the rest of the team.
The secretarial support teams will have wide implications for the staff. A sub-group is to be set up reporting to the change management group to make proposals on their formation. The sub-group is to investigate current volumes of work, staff levels, accommodation and predicted future trends. It should also take into account any concerns raised by staff that have been mentioned in the report. The proposals are to include the make-up of the teams for each section and the procedures that should be followed to ensure smooth day to day running of the teams. Provision for the efficient preparation of the books of evidence are to be included in the arrangement.
Under the current structure of the office it is not feasible to make the changes recommended in the report. However, as soon as the recommendations of the Nally report are implemented and the staff currently dealing with crime is transferred to the DPP's office, the recommendations set out in that section dealing with secretarial staff will be fully implemented.
On the filing and archiving systems, it is recommended that a good manual filing system be set up with the procedural changes and computer systems to support it. Procedures on the correct method of handling files from the beginning of a case onwards should be drawn up. It will include protocols for the opening, moving, closing, archiving and destruction of files. Procedures for the storage of files, both live and archived, must be improved. The staff, particularly those in personnel and accounts, are to be acquainted with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act, 1997, and are to ensure that their filing systems are adequate to meet any requests for information under that Act.
The recommendations in this section are to be addressed when the file case management system is in place. The new larger store room provided in Osmond House will allow them to retain files for longer than they were previously held and allow the requirements of the National Archives Act to be fully implemented. The staff in personnel and accounts are to be familiar with the Freedom of Information Act and all the personnel files have been centralised to comply with the Act.
On management and human resource issues, the management should consult more with staff when drawing up management plans. The management should meet regularly with all the section heads who should give feedback to staff from these meetings at their individual section meetings. Management at all levels, following this report, are encouraged to make the best use of the technology at their disposal and make sure they are kept up to date with new developments and be aware of the potential benefits of—
Is this in order?
The Deputy asked about the detail of this office and if I was interested—
The Taoiseach was not interested in my question.
The Deputy tried to imply we were not responsible for the detail of the office. I was explaining the important aspects that led to these—
As was said about the charge of the Light Brigade, it was brilliant but it was not war.
If the Deputy does not want to hear the detail of how the office is to be run that is all right. He knows what happens when you do not mind the faxes in these offices. Does he remember?
Precisely. That the Taoiseach is under pressure from a number of fronts explains his defensive reaction.
None whatsoever.
That awaits to be seen.
It was nice of the Deputy to turn up for Question Time today.
I have noticed the sniggering from the Taoiseach's colleagues on the Front Bench.
I have listened to the Deputy's comments.
He was in Northern Ireland, as he explained at the time, doing good work.
I heard some things that are never said on the floor of the House. In his reply the Taoiseach said some of the recommendations of the report have already been implemented. Will he indicate specifically what recommendations have been implemented? I would be happy to receive this in writing, rather than take up the time of the House. I presume the report is in the Oireachtas Library.
He did not address the issue of staffing and staff vacancies in the Chief State Solicitor's office which is a matter of concern that has been raised publicly on previous occasions. In his extensive briefing is there any reference to the problem of staff vacancies and the possibility of emulating the National Treasury Management Agency in terms of contracting in solicitors to do the work because market forces and prevailing salary rates effectively prevent the recruitment of solicitors and if they are recruited, they are quickly attracted out of there?
The negotiations on staff are proceeding. The strike action has ceased. They involve IMPACT, the Department of Finance, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Attorney General's office and the Chief State Solicitor's office and, hopefully, they will be completed. The staffing issue continues to be a difficulty. Some staff have been contracted in. In all there are 223 staff. Most of the vacancies have been filled. It is inevitable from the discussions that more staff will be required and they would prefer to have full-time staff. I hope that will be the outcome of the negotiations if it is possible to recruit them. There could also be some contract staff.
In regard to implementation, the matters mentioned and many others, which are by and large administrative issues and of which there are many, it is difficult to understand why many of these things have not been done in the past. In fairness to the staff its workload has grown enormously complex.
And will continue to grow.
I accept that. The volume of work is creating enormous difficulties for them. The reason there is such attention to detail is to get best practice. While much of this report has been implemented much remains to be implemented. A major part of the difficulty is the deficiencies in communication between the Chief State Solicitor's office and the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, even though they are all complex.
The following steps have been taken, to mention but four or five – solicitors in the office have been instructed to become familiar with and draw attention to the directions issued by the DPP's office on every occasion when counsel is briefed or asked to advise on proofs—
A pretty revolutionary change.
It was not happening. Counsel have been issued with written instructions to the effect that any directions given by the DPP's office which counsel consider wrong or inappropriate should be raised by the professional officer dealing with the case
Rather than read into the record, would it facilitate the Taoiseach if we were to table more concise and precise questions in regard to what has changed, when it changed and what remains to be changed? That would enable his office to respond accordingly.
Those are some of the main ones. Very briefly—
The office is in a mess and needs to be changed radically.
It is not a mess, rather the volume of work is growing at an extraordinary pace. The office has prepared three huge reports. In 1996 there was the Deloitte and Touche report, every recommendation of which, bar very small issues, have been implemented. The Nally report which is being implemented includes a recommendation to move the prosecution section to the DPP's office. The report, which this question is about, is not about those matters. Rather it deals with the clerical, administrative and management issues of the office, all of which are being implemented. The Deputy asked, which is a different question, about the volume of work in the office.
We all know the volume will increase.
I accept that and hope the staffing element responds to that. The Deputy is aware of the cases with which sections of the office are involved. This work will increase. This is its third report in four years. It has received an enormous amount of extra staff and resources. I am sure that in the ongoing discussions there will be more issues concerning staff.
Will the Taoiseach, as a former Minister for Finance, accept that the biggest financial hit the economy has repeatedly received in the past ten years has been litigation based on civil negligence of arms or Departments of Government and that the unique funnel through which all of those actions are initiated and processed is through the Chief State Solicitor's office, As a result of that succession of financial hits we are bleeding billions in taxpayers' money. Will he accept there is a critical need to resolve the problems and to resource the Chief State Solicitor's office?
There is no doubt about that given the Army deafness claims and many others.
Through various Administrations.
Yes, but this is the third major study in four years.
But we have not got it right.
The volume of work in the past year has increased because the civil cases are going on much longer, three years, and staff are tied up in those cases. The office would prefer if the same person could deal with the case right through but that is not possible. Enormous resources would be required to do that. While it has increased its staff from 150 to 223 or 233 and will move further, the volume of work has increased the pressure. The office is making efforts in the talks with the trade union representatives, in trying to use technology in administration and in trying to hold on to good staff. The office is doing its utmost in that regard and will have to continue to do so. It is not right, and staff have made it clear, but we have to continue to try to implement the public prosecutions system and study the Nally report and this report on administration.
