Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question. I launched the current framework for public service innovation and development, Our Public Service 2020, in December 2017. This plan is a whole-of-public service initiative that has been designed to build on the success of previous reforms, while also expanding the scope of reform to enable more collaboration, innovation and evaluation.

Ensuring equity and consistency in the application of reform across the entire public service is central to the framework. I expect this to be achieved through a robust and innovative governance structure, namely, the public service leadership board, PSLB, and the development of key indicators and metrics that are designed to track performance across our entire public service.

The PSLB was established to lead the delivery of Our Public Service 2020. For the first time ever, civil and wider public service leaders will share ownership and work jointly to drive the reform programme. This governance structure provides a platform for officials at the most senior level and from across the gamut of public services that we provide to ensure the even and consistent application of reform. Furthermore, Our Public Service 2020 contains an added focus on evaluation and the importance of building an evaluation culture. This will be achieved in part by developing indicators that support a focus on outcomes. For this reason, my Department established a reform evaluation unit to monitor and evaluate the reform outcomes and to create greater links between expenditure and reform.

Our Public Service 2020 seeks to deliver better outcomes for the public by ensuring that the citizen is at the centre of all policies and services that we deliver. There are always ways to do things better when it comes to the delivery of public services, but I am confident that my Department and those involved in the delivery of public services look to find ways to improve continually.

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