Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 105: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the number of applications from staff for transfer, relocation or exchange received in his Department and or other bodies or agencies under his aegis or funded by his Department in each of the past three years to date in 2010; the number of approvals; the number of rejections; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30770/10]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The following outlines my Department's practice with regard to internal staff transfers and requests from staff for relocation or exchange.

(i) My Department has a long-standing policy of affording staff the opportunity to experience different types of work in order to further their career development. The objective of the staff mobility policy operating within the Department is to help staff develop their full potential in a systematic way while also meeting the business needs of the Department. Internal staff transfer requests are facilitated in line with this policy.

(ii) Staff at Clerical Officer and Staff Officer grades may apply to transfer to another Department in an established provincial location through the Central Transfer List, which is operated by the Personnel Section in my Department. Staff can make application to the Personnel Section outlining their location preferences and are facilitated as much as possible. However, this is dependant on the business needs of the Department at any given time. Seven staff transferred out of the Department via the Central Transfer List in the past three years.

(iii) A staff member at any grade up to Principal Officer who wishes to transfer to another Government Department must identify an officer of the same grade in the other Department who is willing to exchange positions. Such exchanges can only take place with the agreement of the Personnel Officers in both Departments. Two such transfers occurred in the past three years.

(iv) Staff may apply to decentralise to their chosen location through the Central Applications Facility, which is administered by the Public Appointments Service. The following table outlines the number of staff who were approved for transfer to a decentralised location:

In relation to (ii), (iii) and (iv) above, my Department has not rejected any applications for transfer from staff in the past three years to date. The question as it relates to other bodies or agencies under the aegis of my Department is a day to day matter for the bodies and agencies concerned and I have no function in the matter.

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 106: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the funding that has been made available for training civil servants in 2010 in his Department; the extent to which this sum has been further reduced since the initial allocation in the Estimates for his Department; the extent to which such sums have been spent to the end of June 2010; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31676/10]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The allocation for training civil servants in my Department's Estimates for 2010 is €611,000. This allocation is intended to cover all training and development activities including training delivered in-house; attendance of staff at relevant external training courses, seminars and conferences; and refunds of fees made to staff who participate, in their own time, in approved Third Level courses of study. At the end of June, €50,587 had been expended.

The training and development needs of the Department are determined through the Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) which seeks to ensure that the business needs of the Department are met through ensuring that staff have the appropriate skills to best deliver on those needs. A lower than expected spend thus far in 2010 is primarily due to the reduction in staff numbers and the difficulty that many business units of the Department have in releasing staff for training courses at a time of depleted resources.

As is normally the case, spending requirements in all areas of my Department's Administrative Budget are carefully controlled and monitored throughout the year. However it is too early at this stage to determine what, if any, level of savings might arise on the Department's training budget for the year as a whole. In the area of training in particular it is not unusual that spending increases in the latter half of the year due, for example, to the refund of fees at the end of the academic year.