Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

Regarding the second part of the question, the committee was established by the Minister for Finance to whom it reports on an ongoing basis. It is in the process of examining areas of expenditure in various departmental Estimates and will proceed and report as it sees fit based on the work that it is progressing. Such work is reported to the Minister for Finance who then brings matters to the attention of the Cabinet. It is for the Cabinet to decide in what way any of the recommendations are to be implemented or what decisions are to be taken. Such political decisions are taken by Cabinet, but the recommendations or the work of the committee on public service numbers will inform the recommendations of the Minister for Finance to Cabinet.

I refer to the question regarding the progress made with the transforming public services programme. The implementation structures have been established, namely, the Cabinet committee and the steering group, and the programme office has been established. It is expected that the sectoral centres will also be up and running by the end of March. A communication strategy has been agreed by the Cabinet committee, the implementation of which has commenced. It includes a new website, a series of presentations and seminars and the production of sector specific and topic specific material. The special group on public service numbers and expenditure programmes is currently reviewing staff allocation on a Vote group by Vote group basis. Thereafter, it is a matter for the Minister for Finance.

On organisational review programmes, the five organisations to be reviewed in 2009 have been identified and the process has commenced. A public announcement on the matter will be made shortly. On the value for money reviews, a new round of reviews was approved by Government in late 2008. The 2009 reviews are under way. They are due to commence in 12 Departments for completion by the end of this year. Again, the matter is reported to the Minister for Finance in the first instance. On shared services, groups have been established to drive forward shared services initiatives in respect of financial management, payroll, human resources, pensions, single point of contact telephone services and a common means assessment repository. Again, this matter is to be dealt with by the Minister for Finance in the first instance. On public procurement, the national operations unit based in the OPW has been established. A progress report to Government on e-Government projects is also coming forward. We have attempted to ensure the various recommendations under those headings are progressed. We put the structures in place and we have made arrangements for work to commence and that is ongoing.

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