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Public Sector Staff

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 June 2012

Wednesday, 13 June 2012

Ceisteanna (38, 39, 40)

Catherine Murphy

Ceist:

29 Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if the new Civil Service human resources shared service centre, that is projected to cost the State €26 million, will have a direct impact on the practice of rehiring retired civil servants; if it will simplify the competition process for recruitment to the Civil Service; the Exchequer savings that are expected to be made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26483/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Michael Colreavy

Ceist:

37 Deputy Michael Colreavy asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if the human resources shared services centre will be housed within his Department; the person who will be responsible and in turn accountable for his Department; his plans to publish quarterly target reports on the progress of the project and costs; if he will provide more detail of the €26 million once off costs in setting up this service; his plans for similar HR shared services for the public service as a whole as is the case for example with the Public Appointments Service. [28245/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Thomas P. Broughan

Ceist:

46 Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will report on the recent establishment of a human resources shared service centre for the Civil Service; the way that this will operate and be staffed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28146/12]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

I propose to take Questions Nos. 29, 37 and 46 together.

The Government recently decided to proceed with the implementation of a HR Shared Service Centre (HRSSC) for the Civil Service which will be operated and managed by the Civil Service.

The HRSSC will carry out the transactional (administrative) elements of HR, freeing up staff in Departments, Offices and Agencies to focus on more strategic HR activities.

The HRSSC will consist of a centralised function within the Civil Service that will manage the transactional elements of HR processes for the Civil Service. Responsibility for other aspects of HR functions and for all aspects of HR decision making will remain with Secretaries General and Heads of Office and their HR units. The overall governance framework for the HRSSC will be developed further in the next phase of the project (detailed design) having regard to the legislative structures contained in the Civil Service Regulations Acts 1956 to 2005 and the Public Service Management Act 1997.

The HRSSC will manage a large number of key HR process areas that are very suitable to a HRSSC environment: Organisation Structure Management, Employee Administration, Pensions Administration, Training Administration and Performance Management Administration. These processes are high volume, repetitive and transactional in nature thus making them very suitable for management within a shared service centre.

The Public Appointments Service will continue to manage the process of recruitment to the Civil Service and therefore recruitment is not within the scope of this project at this stage. The HRSSC will have no direct impact on the practice of rehiring retired civil servants.

It currently costs the Civil Service €85.6m annually to deliver HR services to 40 bodies. It is estimated that, once fully operational, the implementation of the HRSSC will result in annual savings of €12.5m. The investment costs associated with this four year project have been estimated at €26 million. These costs consist of technology, project team resources (both internal to the Civil Service and the cost of our implementation partners), data cleansing and scanning and facilities costs.

This project is overseen by a Project Management Board that is accountable for project delivery, project budget and the financial appraisal of the project. The project team reports regularly to board and meetings of the board are held every 3 weeks

A significant determining factor for including an organisation in the HRSSC is whether or not that organisation is currently using the single, centrally managed Human Resource Management System (HRMS) for the administration of HR services. The existence of a common IT platform is a significant advantage in establishing any shared service centre. The HRSSC will include 40 organisations in total including all Government Departments and a number of other Offices and Agencies, a small number of which are public service bodies.

Sectoral leads have been appointed to lead delivery of Shared Services within the main sectors and the National Shared Services Office is working closely with the Sectors to guide and support them with the development of their plans (to be completed by end Q2).

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