Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This is a provision, which means that it may not all be spent. I will provide a breakdown of the figure. The first provision is for the report on the responses received in the public consultation on legislation on the sale of tobacco products and non-medicinal nicotine delivery systems, namely, e-cigarettes. The Institute of Public Health is doing this work on behalf of the Department on a consultancy basis. The next provision which is probably the most expensive of the provisions is for the development of the national clinical guidance guidelines. These relate to early warning scores for maternity and paediatric services and so forth. This work is being done on a consultancy basis by the national clinical effectiveness committee. Approximately €50,000 has been provided for the national clinical audit, the purpose of which is to ensure the scores and guidelines are implemented in hospitals.

Funding has also been provided for the nursing policy unit for nursing products. Approximately €170,000 has been provided for tobacco and alcohol related research which is not conducted in the Department but is usually carried out by universities or other experts in the field. Consultancy is generally undertaken on the basis that the expertise required is not available in-house and that it would be more expensive to employ people to undertake it, rather than commission it on a consultancy basis.