Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 5 to 8, inclusive, together.

The Government statement on transforming public services, TPS, and the report of the task force on the public service were published on 26 November last and set out an ambitious programme of renewal for the entire public service. Implementation of the change programme is being overseen by the Cabinet Committee on Transforming Public Services, which I chair. The work of the Cabinet committee is being supported by the newly established programme office, which is based in my Department.

The programme office will support organisations across the public service in their transformation efforts and will also support the Government in driving, co-ordinating and monitoring progress on implementation. It will also promote innovation and the piloting of new activities and identify areas for joint action by organisations. In addition, designated officials have been charged with supporting the change agenda within each of the main branches of the public service.

The programme office has been established with seven officials from within the existing financial and staff resources of my Department. They will be supplemented by four secondees, one each from the four main sectors of the public service - local government, health, education and justice. The salaries of these secondees will continue to be paid by their parent organisation so there is no additional cost to my Department. In addition, a further six officials work on the organisational review programme, which was established to review the capabilities of all Departments and major offices to deliver on their stated goals into the future. The overall work of the programme office is supplemented by staff in other Departments, in particular the Department of Finance, and designated officials charged with supporting the change agenda at the sectoral level.

The TPS agenda is necessarily very broad and encompasses the whole of the public service - the health sector, the education sector, non-commercial State-sponsored bodies, local authorities and regional bodies, the Garda and the Defence Forces. Detailed and ambitious timelines are set down in TPS for many of the commitments and to date, progress has been made in a number of areas. These include the special group on public service numbers and expenditure programmes, which began its work in December and to date has met with 13 of the 15 Departments scheduled for review. Under its terms of reference, the special group will submit its report to the Minister for Finance by the end of June, and this is on course.

An e-Government policy unit has been established within the Department of Finance on foot of responsibility for e-Government policy and central operations being consolidated in that Department. All Departments, offices, agencies, non-commercial public bodies and authorities are currently preparing their e-Government plans to be submitted to the Department of Finance by end June 2009.

Work has commenced in examining some specific proposals in the areas of shared services on the basis that there are potential savings associated with such initiatives. Groups of senior officials have been established to advance shared services in both the HR and financial services area. These groups are examining the feasibility of a shared services model for administrative HR and pensions for the public service, and undertaking a detailed study of the issues involved in the payroll and finance functions.

Significant savings can be realised from the improved professionalisation of procurement and, to this end, a new national operations unit is being established within the Office of Public Works. This unit will work to leverage the public service's buying power by organising the procurement of common goods and services. It is envisaged that the unit will achieve savings from a combination of price reductions, administrative efficiencies and demand management.

The organisational review programme has been extended so that all Departments and major offices will be reviewed within the next three years. The five organisations to be reviewed in 2009 are the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Health and Children, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, the Central Statistics Office and the Property Registration Authority.

A new round of value for money reviews was approved by Government in late 2008. Reviews are underway or due to commence in 12 Departments for completion by end 2009. These focus on evaluations of significant areas of expenditure and major policy issues with a focus on health, education, social welfare and justice sectors. They ensure that programmes are delivering outcomes in line with expectations and identify appropriate policy responses where they are not.

Work has commenced on some of the numerous commitments in relation to improving customer focus. An examination of the feasibility of introducing a single point of contact telephone service has commenced, as has work on reducing the administrative burden for citizens. A group has also been established to determine the feasibility and value of mechanisms to simplify the provision of means information by citizens to public bodies.

These measures are in parallel to projects and initiatives previously established under the quality customer service initiative. The objective of this initiative has been to enhance the citizens' experience in their interaction with the public service. Central to this objective is the customer charter initiative under which organisations consult their customers, set targets, measure progress and report publicly on the results. The charter process is now in the process of being strengthened and extended throughout the public service to ensure a consistent and quality standard of service whether, for example, from a Department, a local authority or a Garda station.

Other areas of work which will be progressed in the near future include the allocation and redeployment of staff to areas of highest priority, which is the subject of discussions with the social partners, as well as extending individual performance management systems across the public service.

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