James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Question 284: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the total number of staff employed in the Department of Health and Children for the years 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and to date in 2010 in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36150/10]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Question 285: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will provide details of any measures to reduce the number of staff in the Department of Health and Children; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36151/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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I propose to take Question Nos. 284 and 285 together.

The information requested by the Deputy is set out as follows in tabular format. As can be seen, the numbers employed at my Department have been falling steadily over the period concerned with overall numbers decreasing by 173 or 27%. This reduction has been achieved as a result of a number of developments including:

the establishment of the HSE & HIQA and the transfer of certain functions from the Department to these bodies;

the transfer of the General Register Office from the Department to the Department of Social Protection;

the Incentivised Scheme of Early Retirement;

the Incentivised Career Break scheme and

the moratorium on the filling of vacancies in the public service.

It should also be noted that my Department took on a number of additional responsibilities and functions during this period. Responsibility for Youth Affairs transferred into my Department and three agencies have been subsumed under the Government's rationalisation of agencies programme.

In line with the Employment Control Framework (ECF) setting out Government policy on numbers employed in the public service, my Department must further reduce its staffing complement to 450 by 2012. We will use all appropriate mechanisms such as re-organisation and re-allocation of work, including redeployment where necessary, to meet this target.

* The figures quoted relate to whole-time equivalents employed at the end of December each year (unless otherwise stated) and are rounded to a whole number. It includes staff working in the core Department, the Adoption Board, the Office of the Ombudsman for Children, the Disability Appeals Office and the Health Repayment Scheme Appeals Office.

** The figures for 2003 and 2004 do not include staff seconded in to the Department.