Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 April 2017
198. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which reform remains a feature of his Department's policy, with particular reference to ensuring good value for the taxpayer and quality service for the consumer; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18953/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraPublic Service Reform continues to be a key feature of my Department's policy. Considerable progress has been made since the first Public Service Reform Plan was published in 2011.
We are now moving from a stage of reform to one of development and continuous improvement which will cover the period 2017-2020. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform are currently developing a new Public Service Development and Innovation Framework. This will set out a series of actions to be delivered out to 2020 which will both build on the achievements of the last six years and respond to new challenges.
The Framework will focus, first and foremost, on our customers. We aim to place the customer's needs at the core of every decision from policy formulation to service design through to the service delivery. The Framework will focus on increasing access, enabling better delivery and engagement with our customers using new tools such as increased digitisation, increasing accessibility of services and better data-sharing.
The development and future implementation of the Framework is occurring within a context of increased customer satisfaction with our service delivery. Last week I welcomed the publication of the Civil Service Customer Satisfaction Survey 2017. Overall satisfaction levels for service delivery and outcome are the highest recorded to date. 83% of customers were satisfied with both the service received (up from 76% in 2015). 82% were satisfied with the outcome of their most recent contact (also up from 76% in 2015), and 87% said service levels are mostly meeting or exceeding expectations (up from 83% in 2015).
Ensuring value for the tax payer is an important element of public expenditure management. In January of this year, work began on the 2017 Spending Review. This is the first in a planned series of 'rolling' selective reviews that will take place each year to 2019. The review will systematically examine existing spending programmes to assess their effectiveness in meeting policy objectives and to identify scope for re-allocating funding to meet expenditure priorities. This approach allows for an examination of the totality of Government spending on an ongoing basis and is intended to ensure that the maximum efficiency and effectiveness is achieved for every euro of public funding.
