Enda Kenny
Ceist:4 Mr. Kenny asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the implementation of the recommendation of the OECD report on regulatory reform; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19551/03]
Ceisteanna – Questions. - Regulatory Reform Recommendations.
Enda Kenny
Ceist:5 Mr. Kenny asked the Taoiseach the progress to date made by the quality customer service working group within his Department established under the strategic management initiative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19552/03]
Enda Kenny
Ceist:6 Mr. Kenny asked the Taoiseach when the high level group responsible for the implementation of the OECD report on regulatory reform will next meet; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19562/03]
Pat Rabbitte
Ceist:7 Mr. Rabbitte asked the Taoiseach the progress made to date with regard to the implementation of the recommendations of the OECD report on regulatory reform; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22162/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 4 to 7, inclusive, together.
As I informed the House in my reply of 20 May 2003, the high level group on regulation has made considerable progress since its establishment in May 2001, following publication of the OECD review on regulatory reform in Ireland. The group has met 16 times to date and reported to Government on its progress in November 2002. The report is available on my Department's Better Regulation website.
The group has focused on two areas in particular. First, it began the process of framing a White Paper on better regulation through the publication of the public consultation document, Towards Better Regulation. The consultation document was designed to highlight the key issues that are likely to feature in the national policy statement and to promote public debate and awareness on better regulation.
The consultation document sets out the key questions that we need to address in considering why we regulate, what we need to regulate and new approaches to governance in a global economy. It is important to emphasise that this process is not about resolving micro-level regulatory issues or specific market problems. Rather, it is about giving us a set of core principles to guide future regulation and policy making.
The consultation process was widely publicised in the media, through Government websites, seminars and presentations. Approximately 4,000 copies of the consultation document were distributed and 90 submissions were received from a wide variety of interested parties. A full list of submissions is available on my Department's Better Regulation website.
To inform the subsequent formulation of the White Paper, these submissions have been studied and analysed. Earlier this year, my Department published a booklet containing two papers, the first summarising the submissions received and the second offering an independent analysis and commentary on the submissions by an economist. Over 1,000 copies of the booklet have been sent to interested parties and copies have, of course, been placed in the Oireachtas Library.
A drafting group composed of senior officials from key Departments is in place to prepare the White Paper on regulation, and has met on seven occasions to date. While a specific date for publication has not been set, it is anticipated that the draft text of the policy statement will be submitted to the Government in the coming weeks with a view to publication before the end of the year.
The second priority of the high level group has been the development of a system of regulatory impact analysis as recommended by the OECD in its report. RIA is a policy tool designed to identify and quantify, where possible, the impact of new and existing regulations. A working group of officials has been developing a model that would be suitable for the Irish policy making context. The group has recommended a particular approach and I understand the next steps will be to pilot the model in a small number of volunteer Departments, prepare detailed guidance material and supports and devise and deliver a programme of awareness raising and training to inform civil servants and other interested parties about RIA.
The publication of a White Paper on regulation in 2003 and the introduction of RIA across Departments are two of the commitments on regulatory reform contained in Sustaining Progress. Overall, significant progress has been made in the area of better regulation since the establishment of the high level group on regulation and I look forward to continued progress in the period ahead.
To progress another strand of the public service modernisation agenda, a working group was established in 1999 to oversee the development of the quality customer service initiative. The working group is currently chaired by Mr. Frank Daly, chairman of the Revenue Commissioners, and includes members from Government Departments and offices as well as representatives of trade unions, business, consumer and equality interests. The group also has a number of sub-groups addressing specific aspects of customer service.
The group continues to develop policies to ensure improvements in the level of service provided by the Civil Service. Examples of the work undertaken by the group in recent years include: the publication of 12 principles of quality customer service for customers of the public service; the establishment of the QCS officers network, to support the work of those directly involved in promoting and delivering the QCS agenda in individual Departments; the publication, in consultation with the Equality Authority, of a support pack on the equality-diversity aspects of quality customer service; commissioning an independent evaluation of customer action plans produced by Departments and offices; commissioning a survey by Lansdowne Market Research to assess the level of satisfaction with the service provided by the Civil Service; and the publication of a new manual to support Departments and offices in the introduction of the customer charter initiative.
The evaluation of action plans, as well as the evaluation of the overall strategic management initiative by PA Consulting, concluded that considerable improvements have been achieved in the level of customer service provided. Likewise, the survey by Lansdowne Market Research found generally a very high level of satisfaction with the Civil Service. Some 79% of the public were very or fairly satisfied with the level of service. The evaluations also made a range of recommendations for further improvement and the group has adopted a work programme based on these recommendations.
Last December, I spoke at the conference on quality customer service. In my speech, I asked every Department and office to publish a charter of service standards. The charter should set down clear standards of service to which Departments or offices are committed. These standards should be established following consultation with customers and staff, and achievement of the standards should be evaluated and reported in each Department's annual report.
The detailed guidelines have been prepared by the working group to support and assist Departments in implementing this initiative. They were approved by Government in June 2003 and circulated to all Departments and offices. The working group, in co-operation with the centre for management and organisation development in the Department of Finance, has also organised a training programme for officers and other staff involved in the preparation of customer charters. With these supports in place, each Department and office will be in a position to introduce a customer charter early next year and report on the achievement of the standards in these charters in their 2004 annual reports.
While the improvements in the level of customer service will ultimately depend on the commitment of management and staff at the level of each Department and office, the quality customer service working group has helped to deliver significant improvements over the past few years. The group's support for the customer charter initiative builds on the achievements of the initiatives of the quality customer service working group to date and will reinforce the efforts Departments and offices are already making in this area.
I will not ask the Taoiseach to repeat the reply to the question. That is one of the longest replies we have had in the House for a very long time.
The Deputy should have read the full reply.
Arising from some of the contents of the reply, I refer the Taoiseach to a statement made recently by the chairperson of the Commission for Communications Regulation, Ms Doyle. She said that Irish mobile phone charges are among the highest in the world and have fallen more slowly than those in most other states. She pointed out that the two biggest mobile companies in Ireland hold 96% of the mobile market and that they had a pre-tax profit of almost €300 million last year. In ending the monopoly, the Government has actually created a duopoly.
Does the Taoiseach accept that the way this matter was handled is directly responsible for the circumstances that now obtain, which are bad for business and the consumer? Is the Taoiseach concerned about the possible loss of competitiveness and the resulting damage to the economy because of charges that are higher than the EU average? Does he believe that new entrants to the market should be given access to the networks of the larger and more dominant players in the market?
The issues raised by Deputy Kenny are not necessarily related. Although he drew our attention to a major issue, there is a lot of competition in the business, particularly in the mobile sector. There is more in the mobile sector than in any other sector, although we still have high charges relative to those in other areas. The Minister has been involved in long and detailed discussions with all the companies involved to try make progress in this area. However, it is not a case of there being a lack of competition or that mobile companies do not have access to the framework – they have – or a case of issues pertaining to their pricing policies. The Minister has made some progress but he is trying to get the companies to make contributions to broadband, which would be useful because these are the same companies that could drive broadband in terms of the issues we discussed yesterday.
The Minister will be following on from his discussions and ultimately making a report, if he has not already done so. He has now completed the discussions and is trying to secure financial contributions from the companies involved towards his broadband initiative.
As an aside to the central argument, I recently tried to make arrangements to install broadband technology in my constituency office. I was informed that if I did so I would not be able to access the system in Leinster House. It seems to be very contradictory that if one follows the Minister's advice to have broadband—
A question, please.
—provided, one cannot access the system in Leinster House.
In welcoming the OECD report on regulatory reform, the Taoiseach announced the acceleration of a review of the health regulations governing the award of the general medical scheme contracts to pharmacies. The pharmacy review group was chaired by Dr. Michael Mortell and it reported its findings recently. Has the Taoiseach examined the findings of the group and, if so, do they have his support? Will he comment on whether the findings will be implemented in full?
The first question is in order. The second is a matter for the Minister and certainly could not arise from the issue of regulatory reform.
It relates to the OECD report on regulatory reform.
Specific issues referring to line Departments should be addressed to line Departments.
The Taoiseach welcomed the OECD report on regulatory reform. This is an aspect of regulatory reform on which the review group has reported findings. I ask the Taoiseach if he accepts those findings.
All the reports issued on this matter have been dealt with by the line Departments. The one referred to, which was published earlier this year, is being examined by the Minister for Health and Children. He intends to publish his findings on it shortly.
On the first question pertaining to the general issue of regulatory reform, regulation is not always necessary – the OECD has stressed this – and where it exists, it should be of good quality and not characterised by unnecessary bureaucracy, built-in charges or overheads that affect competitiveness. It should be in a simplified form and should be implemented.
The group to which I referred in my lengthy reply cannot deal with all the legislation and regulations of the past but, in terms of those of the future, it can examine what is considered to be good practice and design regulations of a simplified form that do not make the country uncompetitive. The group has completed a model and the senior officials of all the Departments worked hard on it. They believe, as does the OECD, that we have had too much law and regulation and that there are other models in other countries which, if adopted, would work better. The model that has been completed is designed around these models and it will prove to be quite effective. It took years to build. The group has been trying to change something that has existed for decades, but it has designed a very good programme. The subject of the White Paper may not be the most exciting in the world but it is very important in terms of the future competitiveness of the country.
Will the Taoiseach address the professional services study? What is the next step after the issuing of the consultation papers from the Competition Authority?
The Competition Authority is dealing with four major areas and its reports have to be implemented by the Departments. Eight professions have been examined: engineers, architects, dentists, veterinarians, solicitors, barristers, optometrists and medical practitioners. The consultants' report was published earlier this year and, based on this, the authority is now engaging in further consultation. It hopes to deal with the issues concerning each of the professions. A consultation report containing draft recommendations for changes relating to architects is due in October – I do not know whether it has been published yet – while reports on dentists and veterinarians will be issued before Christmas. Reports on barristers, solicitors, optometrists and medical practitioners in that order will be issued next year so all the reports will be issued within the next 12 months.
How will matters proceed once the reports have been published? Will the professional bodies be charged with implementing their findings or will the recommendations for change be implemented at all?
The Competition Authority has engaged directly with the professions and will issue recommendations. Some of these may be statutory – I am not sure – but whoever is responsible will then have to implement the recommendations. I understand agreement has not been reached, as one would expect, on all these issues following discussions with the professions. The Government's line will be to take the report to the Competition Authority and use its conclusions as the basis for implementation.
The Government attempted to amend the OECD report's references on regulatory reform in which its performance was referred to as sluggish with regard to public houses, pharmacies and the legal profession. Does the Taoiseach consider this criticism fair and has the Government initiated any action since to address it?
Yes, we have taken on board the criticisms in the professional reports and other reports, of which there are several, including one on the licensed trade. We are implementing the report on the pharmacies. There are others on professional services, the electricity sector, communications and many more. We have developed the best model from looking at what is happening in Europe, examining research by the European Commission and the OECD and implementing it. We have tried to deal with the criticism in a direct manner. We accepted it at the time and have tried to implement a best practice model. This is what some of the working groups to which I referred are actively doing.