Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

In fulfilment of the provisions of the Public Service Management Act 1997, my Department prepared and submitted to me a draft Statement of Strategy 2011-2013 for my consideration. The Department subsequently arranged for this draft to be forwarded to the Department of An Taoiseach for consultation in accordance with the revised guidelines for the preparation of strategy statements issued by the Department of An Taoiseach in July last year.

The Public Service Management Act provides that the strategy statement be laid before each House of the Oireachtas not later than 60 days after it has been approved. However, since the announcement late last year of the intention to hold a general election in the coming months, it was decided that the current draft statements of strategy will not be finalised and published in advance of the election. Nevertheless, business units in my Department are using the draft statement as the basis for the preparation of their business plans for the coming year, taking account of adjustments to reflect the outcome of budget 2011 and of actions necessary to meet our commitments under the EU-IMF and the national recovery plans.

In preparing the draft new statement of strategy, my Department gave considerable time to determining appropriate goals, objectives and strategic actions for the Department for the three years ahead. The range of actions identified in the draft covers all aspects of the work of my Department, aimed at, among other things, growing employment and foreign earnings through enterprise and trade, and through building the smart economy; better regulation of markets and enhanced consumer welfare; and fostering good industrial relations, employment rights and health and safety awareness and compliance.

I should add that when the Select Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Innovation considers my Department's Estimate for 2011, I will present and publish our annual output statement, which will set out our goals and objectives for 2011.

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