As Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, I have policy responsibility for recruitment to the civil service. In relation to internal promotional opportunities for existing civil servants, they may be eligible to compete in internal competitions (confined to their own Civil Service Department/Office) as well as interdepartmental competitions (open to existing eligible civil servants across all Departments/Offices). Additionally, civil servants may explore promotional opportunities by way of open external competitions. Panels are formed from competitions in order of merit, from which appointments may be made should vacancies arise. Placement on a panel is no guarantee of appointment to a position.
Since 12 March 2020, based on returns made available to my Department by civil service employers, 248 internal and interdepartmental competitions have been held with 2221 appointments made to date from these competitions.
The Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) Act 2004 provides the regulatory framework for recruitment and selection that all civil and public service employers are required to adhere to, as well as establishing the Commission for Public Service Appointments (CPSA) as the independent regulator for appointments made under the Act.
In line with its statutory remit, the CPSA has published Codes of Practice on its website to ensure that standards of probity, merit, equity and fairness apply to recruitment selection processes undertaken by employers for appointments to the civil and public service made under the Act. This includes the requirement for clear signposting in competition documents of review and appeal mechanisms available to candidates should they have concerns regarding the conduct of a particular recruitment process.
The CPSA proactively engages with all recruitment licence holders, a list of which is published on the CPSA website, to ensure the observance of best practice and adherence to the CPSA Codes of Practice.
The CPSA accepts complaints from candidates, and has accepted complaints throughout the pandemic, who allege that competitions under the remit of the Commission were not conducted according to the Act and the Codes of Practice. The CPSA examines the complaints and produces reports on its findings. It also has the authority to conduct periodic audits of bodies that it has granted a recruitment licence to, details of which are published on the CPSA website, to ensure compliance with Codes of Practice.