Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 157: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if there are clear derogations of responsibility between staff grades across his Department, in Iveagh House and other relevant offices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9501/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Under the powers vested in Secretaries General under section 4(1) of the Public Services Management Act, 1997, the Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs has the authority to carry out certain duties and management functions, including preparing an outline of how specific elements of Departmental responsibilities are to be assigned so as to ensure that the functions performed on my behalf are carried out by an appropriate officer or by an officer of an appropriate grade or rank. The Secretary General assigns responsibilities to individual heads of Divisions at Headquarters in my Department. Heads of Division assign responsibilities to officers within their Divisions according to business needs and with regard to the general duties appropriate to each grade. Responsibilities are re-assigned regularly in line with the rotation of officials.

Under the Public Service Management Act, I am obliged personally to approve, with or without amendments, Statements of Strategy prepared and submitted by the Secretary General of my Department. These Statements set out the key objectives of the Department and related outputs and strategies and the assignment of responsibilities is based on the contents of these Statements. I am satisfied that the service provided by my Department continues to be in line with the commitments in the Department's Strategy Statements and Business Plan. The Civil Service Performance Management and Development System (PMDS), which operates in all Government Departments, ensures that individual staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities and of how their roles fit in with the wider goals of the Department and with its Business Plan.

Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 158: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs when his Department was last benchmarked for staff efficiency and effectiveness. [9502/10]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My Department was part of the wider Public Service benchmarking exercise, details of which may be found in the 2002 and 2007 reports of the Public Service Benchmarking Body (available at www.benchmarking.gov.ie ). The exercise involved the detailed examination of the job size, pay, benefits and superannuation of public servants compared with jobs in the private sector. There was no further specific benchmarking of my Department.

It is envisaged that an Organisational Review of my Department will be undertaken during the coming year. The Organisational Review Programme (ORP), which was approved by Government in March 2007, is part of the latest phase of public service modernisation led by the Department of the Taoiseach. The ORP is focused on individual organisations and it complements the wider, system-level OECD review of the public service as published in the report Ireland: Towards an Integrated Public Service.

I am satisfied that the service provided by my Department continues to be in line with the commitments in the Department's Strategy Statements and Business Plan. My Department's Annual Reports detail the progress we have made in achieving our goals each year and these may be downloaded from the Department's website, www.dfa.ie . The Civil Service Performance Management and Development System (PMDS), which operates in all Government Departments, ensures that individual staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities and of how their roles fit in with the wider goals of the Department and with its Business Plan.