Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 70: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the number of public servants who have left under the incentivised early retirement scheme with details of grades; the number of public servants who left for other reasons with details of grades; the number of new staff recruited with details of grades; the number of promotions with details of grades; and the net savings arising from the staff leaving over and above those recruited and promoted; and to provide a breakdown of each of these figures for years 2008, 2009 and to date in 2010 [38323/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Information requested by the Deputy in respect of the number of staff from my Department who have left under the Incentivised Scheme of Early Retirement (ISER), those who left for other reasons, new recruits and number of promotions is in Table 1. I have not included staff who left the Department as a result of decentralisation through the Central Applications Facility (CAF) or under the Dublin Arrangements as these were, for the most part, replaced.

It is not possible to accurately calculate net savings arising from staff leaving over and above those recruited and promoted as there are many other factors which affect the payroll outturn including the timing of departures and replacement, timing of recruitment and/or promotions, staff being replaced by others on different starting salary points, staff returning/going on career breaks, changes to work sharing arrangements etc. In addition, when staff of this Department leave under the levy to the Department of Social Protection, their salary transfers with them. There was also a salary adjustment made to my Department's administrative budget when 31 staff transferred to this Department as a result of certain responsibilities transferring here from Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, including responsibility for Skills and Training policy and for FÁS. The corresponding staff/sections transferred to this Department with effect from 1st May, 2010. I have however included the salary outturn for this Department for 2008, 2009 and the estimated outturn for 2010 in Table 2.

In terms of the wider Education sector, details in relation to staff who availed of the Incentivised Scheme of Early Retirement (ISER) from Third Level institutions and from the Vocational Education Committees (VEC) is in Table 3.

Third Level institutions report on their overall staffing numbers to my Department on a quarterly basis in the context of my Department's overall control of public sector numbers. Aggregate figures that are provided by the institutions show that, since the introduction of the Employment Control Framework (ECF), the total number of whole time equivalent staff employed in the sector has decreased from 21,149 at 31 December, 2008 to 19,819 at 30 June, 2010: a reduction of 1,330 or 6.29% in whole-time equivalents. Matters in relation to staff departures, recruitment and promotions are a matter for each institution. Each institution is subject to the ECF which has been developed to provide for the application of the moratorium arrangements on recruitment and promotion to higher education institutions.

VEC's report on their overall staffing numbers to my Department in the context of control of public sector numbers, however matters in relation to staff departures, recruitment and promotions are a matter for each VEC subject to the moratorium on recruitment and promotion in the Public Service.

The Incentivised Scheme of Early Retirement (ISER) for public servants over 50 years of age, did not apply to certain school staff including teachers and special needs assistants. Primary and post-primary teachers are not subject to the moratorium on recruitment which applies to most other parts of the public service and so retiring teachers are, in most cases, replaced. The ISER was aimed at civil and public servants who retired before the age of 60 and whose superannuation options were limited to receiving their entitlements at preserved pension age or, for people aged over 50, immediate payment of pension benefits subject to an actuarial reduction. Under the 55/35 year rule a teacher, other than a new entrant appointed after 1 April 2004, who has reached the age of 55 years and has at least 35 years of actual pensionable service, may retire voluntarily. There is no actuarial reduction in benefits and credit for certain pre-service training is given in order to assist teachers to reach the 35-year threshold for retirement. The other information requested by the Deputy, in respect of teachers, is not readily available and would take an inordinate amount of time to compile.

Information in relation to bodies under the aegis of my Department is currently being compiled by my Department and I will forward it to you in due course.

TABLE 2