Mr. Jim Breslin:

I am here today to deal with the annual report and appropriation accounts of the Comptroller and Auditor General in respect of Vote 38, the Department of Health. I am very happy to be here on my first occasion as Accounting Officer for the Department of Health's Vote. The Department of Health is relatively small, with 350 staff directly on its payroll. In 2013 it was responsible for a budget of some €248 million and, as the Comptroller and Auditor General has said, that budget was €206 million in 2014. The budget covered the salaries and expenses of the office of the Minister and certain other services administered by that office, including grants to research, consultative and advisory bodies.

After more than a decade of change in the wider health sector, it is important that the Department of Health redefine its role to take account of these developments and to meet future challenges. The Department's statement of strategy for the period 2015-2017 identifies the following four main elements to the Department’s role: leadership and policy direction for the health sector to improve health outcomes; governance and performance oversight to ensure accountable and high-quality services; collaboration to achieve health priorities and contribute to wider social and economic goals; and the creation of an organisational environment where, on an ongoing basis, high performance is achieved and the knowledge and skills of staff are developed. A programme of change is under way in the Department and our aim is to create an organisational environment that will position us to fulfil our role and achieve our priorities in the most effective way possible. This programme of change also includes new assignment of management team responsibilities and the recruitment of new members to the management team, including a deputy secretary general for governance and performance and a deputy secretary general for policy and strategy, together with an assistant secretary for research and development and health analytics.

I will turn now to the IBTS pension fund. When the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009 was initially introduced, the IBTS questioned whether its staff should be liable for the pension-related deductions provided for under the FEMPI legislation, as employees of the IBTS are members of a long-standing private pension scheme. The Department communicated to the IBTS from the outset that its staff were subject to the pension levy and stressed at every opportunity the necessity of remitting the pension-related deductions collected from employees. The IBTS, which subsequently accepted that the legislation applies to its employees, linked the non-remittance of pension levy funds to the need to address a deficit in the IBTS pension fund. Various efforts have been made to resolve the issue and considerable progress has been made in recent months. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Health are participating in conciliation talks with the IBTS and employee representatives under the auspices of the newly created Workplace Relations Commission with a view to reaching a sustainable conclusion. In line with the IBTS pension fund's trust deed, any changes in pension arrangements have to be agreed by the employees. At a Workplace Relations Commission conciliation conference attended by all parties on 2 October 2015, a proposal was put forward by the commission. This proposal will be considered further by the IBTS and its employees. However, the proposal is acceptable to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Department of Health, and it is the hope of both Departments that it can bring resolution to the matters set out by the Comptroller and Auditor General in his report.

I will now set out the main points of the 2013 accounts as they pertain to Vote 38. Funding is allocated to the Department of Health under Vote 38. Through this Vote, funding is also allocated to bodies under the aegis of the Department, such as the Mental Health Commission, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland and the Health Information and Quality Authority. The 2013 provision, current and capital, for Vote 38 was almost €248 million. The 2013 outturn was almost €220 million, leaving an overall saving of €28 million. The 2013 provision for current expenditure was €233 million and the outturn was €208 million, giving a saving of €25 million. In 2013, €20 million of this saving was used to offset the Supplementary Estimate requirement for Vote 39, the Health Service Executive, thereby reducing the call on the Exchequer. The 2013 provision for capital expenditure was almost €14 million and the outturn was €11 million, a saving of €4 million. The majority of this saving was due to timing issues on projects, particularly the construction of a clinical research facility at University Hospital Galway, which, I am delighted to say, was recently opened. The contingency allocation was not required. Further detail is provided in the opening statement on the breakdown of the appropriation account, and I might skip over that in the interest of time.

As members will be aware, under the provisions of the Health Service Executive (Financial Matters) Act 2014, the Vote of the Health Service Executive is disestablished and funding of the HSE is now provided from the Vote of the Minister for Health, Vote 38, with effect from 1 January 2015. I look forward in future years to accounting to the committee for this expenditure as part of my Accounting Officer duties.

In my capacity as Secretary General I am seeking to develop the Department’s policy and performance oversight of the entire range of complex services falling within total public health expenditure. I have mentioned the change programme under way in the Department, including the revised management team responsibilities which seek to equip us for this aspect of our role, amongst others. I look forward to working with the committee, and with the Oireachtas generally, on this objective. I am happy to take any questions.