Gay Mitchell
Ceist:41 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Finance the further proposals he intends to make for the reform of the Public Service. [11490/01]
Written Answers. - Public Service Reform.
The current phase in the modernisation of the public service is set out in the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, framework 1.4, the thrust of which is to continue to embed the strategic management approach and to achieve a number of key objectives over the period of the programme. These objectives are, the design and implementation of performance management systems; putting in place integrated human resource management strategies; improved organisational flexibility; and strengthening organisational capability.
The successful achievement of these objectives is essential to ensuring quality improvements in service delivery and to enable the public service to be more responsive to changes in the needs of the users of its services.
An outline of the specific actions to be pursued in the Civil Service and in the education, health and local government sectors to realise these objectives are set out framework 1.4 of the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. These include, among other things, regulatory reform, improved financial management systems, further development of the systematic reviews of public expenditure, implementation of a range of human resource management initiatives including measures to support equality of opportunity and the development of e-government systems to support more flexible service delivery.
The Programme for Prosperity and Fairness has set a new context for the future development of the SMI modernisation programme by firmly linking pay to the achievement of the targets set for the modernisation programme, and by including an external dimension to the verification process. In this regard performance indicators are set for each sector of the public service, including the Civil Service. The appropriateness and subsequent achievement of these indicators, at the level of each organisation will be independently assessed by a quality assurance group in each sector; these groups include external business and customer representation. Payment of the final phase of 4% under the PPF will be conditional on the targets set having been achieved.