Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 578: To ask the Minister for Finance the number of public servants currently employed by his Department in its central expenditure evaluation unit; if this figure amounts to the total number of public servants expected to be employed in this unit; the duties and functions of this unit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2461/07]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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A Central Expenditure Evaluation Unit (CEEU) was recently established in my Department and is in its initial phase of operations. There are currently six civil servants (including support staff) employed in the Unit. Two more expenditure evaluators are expected to join the Unit in the near future following a recent open recruitment process. In addition, my Department currently has four participants in the Masters Programme in Policy Analysis delivered by the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) in association with the Faculty of Commerce, UCD. Upon completion of the programme, they will be assigned as expenditure evaluators to the Central Expenditure Evaluation Unit, two in mid 2007 and two in mid 2008.

I established the CEEU as part of a range of recent initiatives to assist Value for Money (VFM) in public expenditure. These initiatives also include the putting in place of a comprehensive approach to appraising and managing capital programmes and projects including requirements for: ex ante appraisal of all capital spending; cost benefit analysis of all capital projects costing more than €30 million; regular reporting on progress to Departmental Management Advisory Committees and Boards of implementing agencies; appointment of an individual project manager to manage and monitor progress on all projects; spot checks for compliance with the VFM requirements; and, post project reviews.

I would stress that responsibility for achieving VFM for programmes and projects rests in the first instance with the relevant Departments and Implementing Agencies. The role of the CEEU is to assist these bodies by promoting best practice in the evaluation and implementation of programme and project expenditure. It will focus in particular on ensuring that Department of Finance frameworks in relation to the appraisal and management of programmes and projects are being implemented and can carry out spot checks to verify this. The Unit also oversees ongoing programme evaluation under the Value for Money and Policy Review Initiative and it has a remit to develop and implement a scheme of programme evaluation under the new National Development Plan (2007-2013). Overall it is my objective that the CEEU will play an important role in inculcating better VFM practice throughout the system.