Under the career break scheme for Civil Servants, a total of ten staff in my Department have availed of unpaid leave to pursue a course of study in their own time since 2002, as follows: 2002, one; 2003, one; 2004, three; and 2005, five.
A career break can be taken for a number of reasons, one of which is educational, and there are no terms or conditions relating to academic achievement pertaining to it. A career break can be taken for a minimum of six months and up to a maximum of five years duration.
In addition, a Civil Service wide confined competition for the selection of candidates at higher executive officer-administrative officer level to avail of leave of absence to participate in a Master's programme in public policy analysis was re-initiated in 2003.
The programme is a two year full time programme which is delivered by the Institute of Public Administration in association with the Faculty of Commerce, UCD. It involves academic study and the completion of a major evaluation project under supervision.
Candidates who are allocated a place on the programme are paid at the level of assistant principal and, upon successful completion of the programme, they are offered promotion to assistant principal and will generally undertake work in public policy analysis.
With effect from 2005, there is also provision for the selection of existing assistant principal officers or equivalent grades to participate in the programme. Again, upon successful completion of the programme, they will generally be assigned to work in public policy analysis.
Since 2003, the number of staff in my Department who have availed of leave of absence under the above programme is as follows; 2003, one; 2004, two; and 2005, three. The staff member in my Department who has so far completed the Master's programme has done so successfully.