Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 1 Jul 2003

Vol. 570 No. 2

Written Answers. - Strategic Management Initiative.

Richard Bruton

Ceist:

244 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the key indicators of input, output, outcome and performance which his Department monitors as part of the strategic management initiative; and the trend in these indicators in each year since 1997. [18689/03]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Cowen):

Under the provisions of the Public Service Management Act 1997, PSMA, the Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs is required, every three years, to submit for ministerial approval a strategy statement outlining a programme of implementation for Ireland's foreign policy objectives for the following three years. The current strategy statement – for 2003 to 2005 – sets out the Department's high-level policy goals and the detailed strategies and objectives to be pursued in order to achieve them. The strategy statement also contains detailed performance indicators which will facilitate the preparation and assessment of progress reports which will, from now on, be submitted to the Minister at six-monthly intervals. The content of the statement, which is in the process of being printed, was agreed by me with the Taoiseach and copies of the text have been placed in the Oireachtas Library and on the Department's website – www.irlgov.ie/iveagh

The Secretary General is also required, under the PSMA, to submit annual reports to the Minister setting out progress towards achieving the policy goals and objectives contained in strategy statements. Annual reports, which review each area of departmental business, have been produced for each year since 1998. These are also published and copies are forwarded to the Library of the Houses of the Oireachtas. The annual report relating to 2002 is being finalised and will be submitted to me before the end of July.

Under the terms of the social partnership agreement for 2003-05, Sustaining Progress, payment in the Department of Foreign Affairs of the final two phases of the benchmarking increases and of the general round increases provided for in the agreement are dependent on the Department making satisfactory progress towards achieving the objectives and targets set out in a departmental action plan being prepared for submission to an independent performance verification group. Similarly, payment last October to the staff of the Department of the final 4% pay increase provided for under the previous agreement, the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness, was sanctioned only following independent verification by the Civil Service quality assurance group that the Department had made satisfactory progress towards achieving certain modernisation objectives, in respect of which specific performance indicators had been established.