Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 135: To ask the Taoiseach the assignments of responsibility which have been made under section 9 of the Public Service Management Act 1997 for the performance of his functions by officers of his Department, indicating in respect of each function or class of function whether the assignment has been to named officers or to a grade or grades of officer and whether any of the requirements listed in section 9(1)([i]a[/i]) to ([i]f[/i]) of the Act have been included in the assignment; if information relating to such assignments of responsibility ispublished by his Department; if he is satisfied with the workings of section 9 within his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8139/05]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 136: To ask the Taoiseach the arrangements in place within his Department relating to the delegation by him of his functions under Acts other than the Public Service Management Act 1997, indicating whether such delegations are express or implied, whether they are in general terms or confined to particular functions or the performance of functions in particular classes of cases, whether the delegation is to named officers or to officers of a particular grade or grades and whether the performance of functions of any particular class is reserved to him personally; if information relating to such delegations is published by his Department; if he has satisfied himself with the working of this system of administration in conjunction with the provisions of the Public Service Management Act 1997; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8154/05]

Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 135 and 136 together.

In 1999, the Secretary General in my Department assigned responsibilities to assistant secretaries, under section 9 of the Public Service Management Act, for overseeing the management of their divisions in line with the outputs specified in their business plans and the resources allocated to them or under their control. Under these assignments, assistant secretaries are responsible for advising on, monitoring and implementing policy, and overseeing the delivery of quality services in respect of their divisions.

The Secretary General subsequently assigned responsibility for financial management matters, as envisaged in section 9(1)(e) of the Act, to assistant secretaries and principal officers, in the context of further strengthening the internal financial control systems within the Department. Further assignments in regard to staff management matters, as envisaged in section 9(1)(f) of the Act, will be considered once legislation to amend the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956 has been enacted, at which time revisions to the original assignments are also planned to reflect changes in personnel and re-assignments of functions at assistant secretary level.

The assignment of functions under the Act forms part of more extensive management arrangements to support the discharge of the Department's business, including; preparation of the three-year strategy statement and annual progress reports; a programme of business planning reviews undertaken by the management advisory committee in respect of each division; target setting and annual review for each assistant secretary; and the performance management and development system, PMDS, under which responsibility for the delivery of the outputs in the business plans is assigned at individual and team level across all grades in the Department.

While the Department's strategy statements, which outline the objectives and strategies being pursued by the Department and the indicators against which progress will be measured, and annual reports, which report progress on the implementation of the strategy statements, are published, it has not been the practice to publish assignments of responsibility, divisional business plans or the role profiles of individual staff members.

In the normal course of discharge of the business of the Department, I, like my predecessors, delegate responsibilities to my Ministers of State and officials. Some of these are undertaken under implied delegation of authority, while others are delegated under, and in accordance with the provisions of, the relevant legislation, for example, under the Statistics Act, responsibility for the Central Statistics Office is delegated to the Government Chief Whip, under the Civil Service Regulation Act, responsibility for certain staff management matters is delegated to officials in the Department and so forth. Any question arising in regard to such implied delegation of authority is a matter for legal interpretation by the courts.

I believe that the above arrangements for the delegation and assignment of functions within my Department are the appropriate ones, having regard to its size and remit.