Ms Clare McGrath:

Given the different programmes, to take the flood risk management side, it is probably around what we are publishing on irelandstat.gov.ie. It is around what properties will benefit from what we are doing, the number in a given year that will benefit, and what is the damage avoided We are reflecting through that what the work we are doing is achieving. It is very much an outward facing indicator from the public point of view. If I looked at it on the estate portfolio side, we hold the Civil Service estate, so I might look at that, and some of my opening remarks were reflective of that. I would point to our efficiencies with regard to our cost per square metre and what is the direction of travel in that regard, and our efficiencies relating to utilisation. In previous years we have benchmarked ourselves externally in regard to our cost per square metre, and that is going in a good direction.

In this regard our utilisation requires more work. When I say "utilisation" I mean numbers of square metres per person, namely, the occupancy. The Deputy might ask me what I am aiming for and when will I get there. What we have said on this area, and with respect to asset management reform and our own capacity and capability review, we are aiming for 12 sq. m per person. I will go into the definition of that in more detail if necessary. We are also looking at occupancy. For every ten staff in an organisation we provide eight desks. We are looking at putting these measures in place and we are asking Departments to account for that through their annual reports. The OPW provides the desks. Departments provide the staff. It is a question of how we keep track of that. We have provided the desks but who is occupying them? In fairness, the shared service PeoplePoint is now in a position to provide information on who is where and we can marry that to what we are providing and aim towards moving to this over a number of years.

The reduction in the footprint that we have achieved from 2008 to this year in terms of the 1.2 million square feet of accommodation is reflective of this. We are travelling in this direction but we need more supports. I am looking to ourselves internally, in terms of our technology and our information systems, to provide this, but also how we then have a standard language for measuring. That is our introduction of the IEN standard.