Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

The shared services programme, as set out in the public service reform plan, is being implemented incrementally. Good progress has been made since the end of March, principally in respect of the following; a shared services transformation unit has been has been established within my Department and is working with nominated senior officials to ensure ambitious and robust plans are developed and implemented in the other key sectors of health, education, justice, defence and local government; a shared service entity, PeoplePoint,has been established for administering transactional Civil Service human resources and pensions activities; a base-lining exercise of Civil Service payroll, which describes the processes, systems and estimated costs of current provision, has been completed and the business case is now being developed; a base-lining Civil Service financial management and banking services has recently commenced; a high level review of procurement has been conducted; and the appointment of a chief procurement officer is in train.

Based on experience from abroad, a shared service centre cannot deliver savings until it is fully established and stabilised. This typically takes two years and the payback period is usually four years. For this reason, it is not possible at this stage to provide information on actual savings. That said, I am satisfied with the progress made to date. An ambitious transformation plan is being implemented for the Civil Service and the shared services transformation unit is working with nominated senior officials to ensure similar plans will be implemented in the other key sectors of health, education, justice, defence and local government.

We are building the appropriate expertise, engaging with each key Department in a structured way and ensuring that decisions will be based on strong evidentiary platforms derived from baselines and business cases. International experience shows that this is the best way to realise maximum benefits from shared services over time.

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