Results 401-420 of 2,965 for speaker:Robert Dowds
- Public Accounts Committee: Business of Committee (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: I appreciate it is impossible for Ted to do it this week, but it would be good to receive an update.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirleach. Cuirim fáilte roimh anseo inniu. Like all public representatives, I was very much aware of the initial difficulties at SUSI because it put a huge workload on my office, which was probably the same for every other Deputy in this place. However, I recognise that the situation has greatly improved and now we rarely get requests for assistance on...
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: Does this situation relate to the appeals issue? I noticed that there was an appeals rate of 11% in the period covered by the report, of which 74% of appeals were successful. Can the chief executive explain the situation?
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: Is Ms Stewart expecting the number of appeals to drop, given the streamlining of the administration of the organisation?
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: That represents a drop of more than one half in the number of appeals.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: Is the current success rate of appeals similar to the previous rate or has it declined?
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: That represents a reduction on the previous 74% rate.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: The main area on which I wish to focus is the procurement of services. I understand Abtran was the successful company to provide outsourced services. I also understand its tender was the most expensive. Why did SUSI go for the most expensive tender?
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: Obviously, the information I have before me is slightly incorrect. In his report the Comptroller and Auditor General referred to the delay in signing the contract with the service provider, which was not signed until February 2013, in spite of the service commencing 14 months earlier? What was the reason for the significant delay?
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: As Ms Stewart stated, Abtran's tender was the second most expensive.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: I appreciate the support of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: Perhaps Ms Stewart might send a note to the committee secretariat clarifying the matter.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: I am aware that after the contract was agreed to, changes were made to it. Let me elaborate. It strikes me that the company was able to change the contract on a number of occasions to suit itself. There is a question about whether it was the most expensive contract; about the delay in signing the contract; about how the nature of the contract was changed, in that the timeframe for dealing...
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: There was no requirement in respect of the time it would take to respond to the remaining 20% of calls.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: I am afraid there is a disagreement between us on that issue.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: That would not result in money being saved because it would lead to a significant demand being placed on people like us which, in turn, would lead to a demand being placed on other public servants.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: It seems the company had a "get out of jail" card because if the number of calls increased to a very high level, the service level agreement would not apply. It is no wonder there were major problems at the time.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: Does the witness accept that was the case?
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: It refers to the average waiting time for answered calls.
- Public Accounts Committee: Special Report No. 88 of the Comptroller and Auditor General: Restructuring the Administration of Student Grants (11 Jun 2015)
Robert Dowds: Many.