Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive, together.

The OECD review of the Irish public service published in April 2008 benchmarked the public service in Ireland against other comparable countries and made recommendations as to the further direction of public service reform.

It confirmed the many strengths of the system and identified the challenges that needed to be addressed.

Following the launch of that report, a task force was appointed to develop an action plan building on the analysis and recommendations of the review. It completed its work in November 2008 with the publication of its report Transforming Public Services, which I launched in tandem with an accompanying Government statement. The transforming public services programme represents the blueprint for a new type of unified public service focused on common goals, with greater co-operation and reduced boundaries between sectors, organisations and professions, with a much greater integration of services around user needs and far greater efficiency in internal data sharing and administration through shared service models.

Implementation of the transformation programme is overseen by the Cabinet committee on transforming public services, which I chair. Its membership also includes the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Mary Coughlan, the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan, the Minister for Health and Children, Deputy Mary Harney, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy Dermot Ahern, and the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Deputy John Gormley. The Minister of State with responsibility for public service transformation, Deputy Dara Calleary, who was appointed in March to strengthen the political leadership of the transformation programme, is also a member of the Cabinet committee. Other Ministers and Ministers of State attend meetings as necessary.

The Cabinet committee on transforming public services has met on nine occasions to date. The committee last met on 24 March and will meet again tomorrow. In addition, the steering group of Secretaries General which supports the work of the Cabinet committee meets on a very regular basis. The Cabinet committee will meet regularly over the coming months to ensure progress on the implementation of the commitments in the transforming public servicesprogramme and the public service agreement 2010-14. To date, progress has been made in a number of areas of the programme.

Examples of this progress include a range of instruments in the human resourcearea which continue to contribute to the implementation of expenditure savings for this year, notably the incentivised scheme of early retirement in the public service, the special Civil Service career break scheme and the shorter working year scheme, together with the moratorium on the filling of public service vacancies by recruitment or promotion.

A new e-Government strategy for 2010 has been approved by the Cabinet committee. The strategy highlights new approaches to overcome some of the difficulties with putting certain services on-line and should thereby help to achieve an improvement in the use of electronic means for delivering public services. The Department of Finance is engaging bilaterally with organisations to help them with their analysis and development work. It should be noted that according to the latest European Commission e-Government benchmarks, Ireland's ranking for on-line sophistication has now improved from 17th position in 2007 to joint 7th position.

The National Procurement Service,established in 2009, continues to leverage the public service's buying power by organising procurement of common goods and services across the public service. During 2009, in addition to achieving better value on procurement spend, savings of €27 million were achieved by public bodies with the support of the unit. Additional savings of at least €40 million are being targeted in 2010.

Work is ongoing on specific proposals in the area of shared services on the basis that there are significant potential savings associated with such initiatives. Work is currently being advanced on shared services in a number of sectors in areas including human resources, pensions administration, payroll and financial management. The organisational review programme has been extended in order that all Departments and major offices will be reviewed over the next three years. This team, which is based in my Department, carries out and publishes assessments of the capacity of individual Departments and major offices to meet their challenges over the coming years.

Four organisations were reviewed last year, the Department of Health and Children, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners, the Central Statistics Office and the Property Registration Authority. These reviews are due to be published in early July and will be accompanied by follow-up action plans on the key findings prepared by each of the four organisations. An additional three organisations are being reviewed this year, including the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Department of Education and Skills and the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government. My Department is also being reviewed this year, with this review being led by a senior official from the Department of Finance. Work is progressing on the development of new performance and governance frameworks for State agencies and the greater use of service level agreements in this context.

As Deputies are aware, the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has now ratified the public service agreement 2010-14 This is a very important step in our collective efforts to meet the challenges we face, and this agreement will result in significantly enhanced public services and a more cost-effective and better integrated public service. I want to acknowledge the contribution of many people in the union movement for their leadership in securing ratification. It is the Government's intention to enter into and operate the agreement in good faith, including the provisions relating to the review of public service pay. All concerned must now work together to ensure that the agreement is implemented in a timely and ambitious manner.

For its part, the Government is instructing senior management across the entire public service to accord the highest possible priority to implementing the agenda for change set out in the agreement. We are engaging with the public services committee of ICTU to finalise membership of the management-union implementation body, which has been given a role in driving the process of change and ensuring that any difficulties which may be encountered are resolved in a fair and speedy manner.

As outlined in the Government statement on the public service agreement issued on 16 June, we will shortly announce the membership of a new public service board, with a majority of members from outside the public service, to advise the Government on further opportunities and priorities for transformation and efficiency and the capacity of the public service to lead change and deliver a high standard of performance. This will inform the approach of the Government and public service management to the transformation process over the period ahead.

In order to strengthen the capacity to lead change and deliver efficiencies as rapidly as possible, a number of senior appointments, including a chief information officer, will be made to bring greater expertise to the leadership of change in the critical areas of e-Government, shared services and public procurement. To underline the commitment to appointing the best people available from within or outside the public service to senior positions, the Government will shortly announce the details of a new approach to such recruitment by reconstituting the top level appointments committee with more outside members. In addition, to promote greater mobility at senior levels in the public service, we will also announce details of the new senior public service, encompassing initially the assignment and development of all Secretaries General and assistant secretaries and equivalents in Departments.

It is clear that the challenge of doing more with less requires a fresh approach to the design and delivery of public services and the management of the organisations responsible for them. I am confident that the public service at all levels has the capacity for change and innovation and that the terms of the Croke Park agreement provide the means of realising that capacity to the full.

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