Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 97: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of staff previously employed throughout the public health services prior to the dissolution of the health boards; the cost of the provision of such services in the last full year of their operation; the cost of the provision of the public health services in 2008; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22463/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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The Health Service Executive was established in January 2005. The Health Service Personnel Census indicates that, as at 31 December 2004, there were 98,723 whole-time equivalents employed in the public health service. At the end of March 2008, there were 110,156 whole-time equivalents employed in the public health service.

The Revised Estimates Volume 2008 provides €14.3 billion in gross current expenditure for Vote 40 HSE. The exchequer pay and pensions figure within that total is €7.7 billion or 54%. Within the overall figure there are amounts which, although not classified as direct exchequer pay and pensions costs, also reflect pay costs — for example, the pay cost of agencies which have service level agreements with the HSE. Overall in the public health service pay costs represent up to 70% of total gross spending. The exchequer pay and pensions figure in 2004 was €5.6 billion while the equivalent provision for gross current expenditure was €9.3 billion.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 98: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of personnel employed in the delivery of public health services in the last full year prior to the dissolution of the health boards; the number of persons employed in the delivery of such services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22464/08]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 112: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of personnel recruited by the Health Service Executive since its inception; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22478/08]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 98 and 112 together.

The Health Service Executive's (HSE's) Health Service Personnel Census indicates that between January 2005 (when the HSE was established) and March 2008, the number employed in the public health service increased by 11,433 whole-time equivalents (WTEs) or by 11.58%.

The increases by grade category are set out in the table below. As can be seen, the number of Medical/Dental staff increased by 994 WTEs (or 14.17%); the number of Nursing staff increased by 3,593 WTEs (or 10.47%) and the number of Health & Social Care Professional staff increased by 2,851 WTEs (or 22.22%).

Nevertheless, it is important to note that the methodology under which employment figures are compiled changed during the course of 2007 with the addition of personnel not previously included in subsumed agencies such as the Health Service Executive-EA (HSEA), the Primary Care Reimbursement Service (GMSPB), Health Boards Executive (HeBe) and the Office for Health Management (now part of the HR function) together with many other posts in projects or posts previously excluded such as Health Research Board funded posts, PPARS and Value-for-Money posts (all of which are largely in the Management/Administrative stream) together with the inclusion of student nurses and chaplains. This change was undertaken to represent health service employment on a like-for-like basis with employment ceilings and to more accurately represent a reconfigured health service's employment information. As a result of this change year-on-year figures are not comparable.

In relation to the number of personnel recruited by the HSE, it is a matter for the Executive to manage and deploy its human resources to best meet the requirements of its Annual Service Plan for the delivery of health and personal social services to the public. The Executive is, therefore, the appropriate body to consider the matter raised by the Deputy. My Department has requested the Parliamentary Affairs Division of the Executive to arrange to have the matter investigated and to have a reply issued directly to the Deputy.