Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 6, inclusive, together.

On 28 April, I launched Towards an Integrated Public Service, the review of the Irish public service by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, OECD. This report, which benchmarks the public service in Ireland against other comparable countries and makes recommendations as to the further direction of public service reform, is the culmination of over 16 months of extensive consultation and analysis by the OECD. It is an authoritative assessment of the Irish public service which confirms the many strengths of the system and identifies challenges which need to be addressed.

While there are a number of initiatives in place which are already addressing many of the challenges identified by the OECD, I intend to pursue a comprehensive programme of renewal which integrates these initiatives and moves us towards a world-class public service equipped to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.

Last month, I announced the appointment of a task force to develop an action plan for the public service to give detailed consideration to the OECD's recommendations and findings. This task force, which has met twice to date, is chaired by the Secretary General to the Government. Its membership includes four external members, namely, Mr. Mark Ryan, country managing director, Accenture, Mr. John Maloney, group managing director, Glanbia PLC, Ms Breege O'Donoghue, director, Penneys Primark and Mr. Paul Haran, Principal, College of Business and Law, UCD, as well as the Secretaries General to the Departments of Finance, Health and Children, the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Education and Science.

The OECD report takes account of the significant and unprecedented levels of extensive consultation held during 2007 and 2008, including the public consultation process. We now need a small team to advance implementation of the OECD's recommendations. The main reason for the establishment of this task force, therefore, is to develop an action plan to guide the implementation of the recommendations set out in the OECD report. Clearly, there are some key stakeholders concerned with the shape of this implementation phase, including in particular the public service trade unions.

The task force will consider how the principle of partnership with public servants and their representatives should be reflected in the course of implementation. I am sure that engagement with other stakeholders will also form part of the implementation strategy.

The terms of reference for the task force are to prepare for consideration by the Government a comprehensive framework for renewal of the public service which takes into account the analysis and conclusions of the OECD report, as well as the lessons to be drawn from the strategic management initiative, the organisational review programme and the efficiency review process, and to recommend, in particular, how best to secure an overarching policy for an integrated public service that enables increased flexibility, mobility and staff development and supports the competencies and practices necessary for new networked ways of working within and across the broader public service and the basis for determining the contribution which a senior public service could make to an integrated and cohesive public service.

The task force is also being asked to outline a set of criteria to inform the way in which the business of Government is structured and organised with a strategy to enable necessary changes to be planned and implemented successfully, the benefits of greater use of shared services across all sectors of the public service and an appropriate framework for the establishment and operation and governance of State agencies.

It is also being asked to develop a strategy by which e-Government delivers coherent and citizen-focused services and more closely supports greater efficiency in administrative processes and an implementation plan specifying the tasks and responsibilities necessary for the successful implementation of the renewal agenda, including the ways in which the principle of partnership with public servants and their representatives will be applied.

It is not anticipated that there will be any significant costs associated with the task force. External members of the task force are participating on a pro bono basis. The secretariat to the task force will be provided by the public service modernisation division in my Department. It will complete its work by the end of the summer and I look forward to the report.

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