Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 28: To ask the Minister for Finance his views of the Central Statistics Office estimate in the latest quarterly national household survey that the number of persons working in public administration and defence was at an all-time high in the second quarter of 2010; the way in which this is consistent with the Government's employment control framework; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33914/10]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Following the recent publication of the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) by the Central Statistics Office, officials from my Department contacted officials of the Central Statistics Office to discuss the differences between the numbers attributed in the QNHS to the "public sector" and the "public service" numbers as collated by my Department. The outcome of these contacts is a clearer understanding that the two systems are not comparable. In effect, we are dealing with "apples and oranges". The major differences are:

§ The QNHS is a sample survey and as such the numbers reported in the QNHS can be subject to variance and in particular this can affect the trends seen over time. The numbers produced by my Department are based on a fuller census and as such are not subject to such sampling variances; § The QNHS sector categories (for Health, Education, Public Administration, etc.) include both private sector and public service staff, whereas my Department's figures report exclusively on the public service;

§ The QNHS "public sector" numbers include Commercial State Bodies (CSB) whereas the numbers reported by my Department for the "public service" do not include staff from CSBs (whose staff are not subject to the moratorium on recruitment and promotion);

§ In the case of the QNHS, persons in employment whether full-time or part-time are treated in the same way (i.e. counted as one employed person) in the estimation of the total number of persons employed. In contrast to this "headcount" basis, my Department reports numbers on a Whole Time Equivalent basis (WTE); and

§ The QNHS is a large survey (approximately 30,000 households each quarter) that relies on self-reporting by persons in employment of the economic sector in which they work and also whether they work in the public or private sector. The supplied sectoral detail is subsequently categorised into the harmonised European Classification of Economic Activity (known as NACE), while my Department uses an employer reporting basis to collect its numbers from all public service bodies that employ civil or other public servants.

The Central Statistics Office have informed my Department that their survey indicates that public sector employees make up approximately 80% of the Education Sector, 60% of the Human Health and Social Work Activities Sector and 95% of the Public Administration and Defence Sector. Applying these percentages to strip out the private sector element would reduce the gross total for these Sectors from 492,500 to approximately 363,000 on a "headcount" basis.

The monitoring of public service numbers to verify compliance with Employment Control Frameworks will continue to use the systems set up by my Department. The numbers reported to my Department for end-June 2010 were 308,370 (WTE), compared to 319,440 at end-December 2008.