Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 March 2018
160. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the position regarding the performance review for Secretaries General and assistant secretaries general which was set to be implemented by January 2016 under the Civil Service Renewal Plan; when the first round of performance reviews will take place; if these reviews will be made public; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12761/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraAction 12 of the Civil Service Renewal Plan committed to “Design and implement a robust performance review process for Secretaries General and Assistant Secretaries”.
Roll out of a revised performance review process across the Civil Service for those at Assistant Secretary, Deputy Secretary and Second Secretary levels, commenced in January, 2016. The first round of reviews related to the period from January to December 2016.
Key elements of the new process include:
- Setting goals that emphasise leadership and collaboration as well as business goals.
- An emphasis on development - development objectives are set each year with discussion around development and performance at the end of the year, and on an ongoing basis;
- A 360 feedback process to support development; and
- Movement away from numeric ratings to a two point assessment of ‘satisfactory’ or ‘unsatisfactory’, as is the case in the PMDS process for other grades.
With regard to the proposed introduction of a performance review process for Secretary General level, the process began in 2016 and the initial stages of the process, including the setting of objectives and mid-year reviews took place. However, in light of the change of Government and Ministerial functions following the General Election and the development of a new Programme for Government, it was agreed that the steps taken in 2016 would be used to inform the finalisation of the performance review system for full implementation in 2017. The first full year of the process commenced in January 2017 covering the period from January to December 2017. The end-year review process in respect of 2017 took place during January and February, 2018.
The new process provides that individual Secretary General reviews are conducted by members of the Performance Review Group. This group is comprised of the Secretaries General of my Department and the Department of the Taoiseach and an external member of the Civil Service Accountability Board, currently Ms Bernie Gray. In accordance with normal practice, it is not envisaged that individual performance reviews will be made public. However, the Performance Review Group is tasked with the preparation of a report to the Civil Service Accountability Board on the review process as a whole.
