Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 35: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her plans to reduce the number of staff who work in her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41886/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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At the end of October 2010, there were 430.70 whole time equivalents (WTE) employed in my Department. In addition, a further 46.65 WTEs were employed across a number of offices including the Adoption Board, the Office of the Ombudsman for Children, the Disability Appeals Office and the Health Repayment Scheme Appeals Office. This level of employment represents an overall decrease of 27% since 2003 and this 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 Childcare schemes and 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 overall 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.