Written answers

Tuesday, 19 January 2010

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment

Departmental Staff

9:00 pm

Photo of George LeeGeorge Lee (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 173: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of Civil Service staff in her Department; the number of these staff who hold an economics degree; the number of these staff who hold a post graduate economics degree; the number of these staff who hold a PhD in economics; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48312/09]

Photo of Mary CoughlanMary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Some 1,056 civil servants are currently employed in my Department and the Offices under its aegis. This equates to 988.98 in fulltime equivalent terms. A number of the staff of my Department have studied economics, or economics-related subjects, prior to joining the Department. As my Department does not currently have a comprehensive record of the educational qualifications achieved by staff prior to joining the Department, I am not, therefore, in a position to answer the question fully at present. However, it is envisaged that a comprehensive skills audit of the staff of my Department will be undertaken in the near future as part of the development of longer-term workforce planning in the Department.

Information on the number of staff whose qualifications in economics were funded by my Department is given below. In common with other Government Departments, my Department operates the Refund of Fees Scheme. Under the Scheme, fees for approved courses of study undertaken by staff members in their own time are repaid on successfully completing their examinations. Courses are approved based on their relevance to the business needs of the Department. The number of staff currently working in the Department who have attained third-level qualifications in which economics formed part of the course of studies, and who were refunded their course fees by the Department is as follows:

Primary Degree35
Post-graduate qualification5
Ph Dnil

In addition, my Department has sponsored 15 staff to participate in the Diploma and M.Sc programmes in economic policy analysis. To date 8 staff have successfully completed the Diploma programme and 7 staff have completed the M Sc programme. The Department also has access to considerable economic expertise through its Agencies such as Forfás, IDA and Enterprise Ireland. Economics is but one of the areas of expertise required to assist the Department to achieve its strategic mission. Consequently, my Department has sponsored its staff to pursue relevant qualifications across the range of studies relevant to the work of the Department.

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