Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 48: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the progress that has been made in implementing measures in the Croke Park deal that deal with issues of cost savings on shared services, procurement, HR management and so on and on reconciling the different financial accounting systems within the Health Service Executive; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41876/10]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 48 and 78 together. The Public Service Agreement 2010-2014 (the "Croke Park Agreement") provides a framework for public service management and staff to work together to deliver an ongoing reduction in the cost of delivery of public services, while maintaining and improving the quality of services delivered to the public, in return for commitments on pay and security of employment for public servants. The Implementation Body has been established to drive the implementation of the Agreement across all sectors and ensure that early, robust and verifiable reforms are secured, which lead to sustainable and verifiable savings in the cost of public service delivery.

Chapter 2 of the Public Service Agreement sets out the Health Sectoral Agreement and contained within this chapter are eleven measures which are to be implemented with 'immediate effect'. These cover a wide range of areas, including the centralisation of functional, transactional, support and other services, including through the use of shared services within the public health services, as referred to by Deputy Gilmore.

The Health Sector Action Plan, which was developed by my Department working closely with the HSE, sets out a detailed list of actions which will be required for the implementation of the eleven immediate measures, mentioned above.

Shared services is an area where good progress has been made, with the centralisation of the medical cards and the processing of Fair Deal scheme applications already underway. Similarly, significant work has already been done in developing the National Recruitment Services, National Personnel Administration and National Pensions Management units in the HSE. A Financial Shared Services structure is now also in place and work is entering the next phase where all finance transaction processing staff across the whole Executive will report into this new structure. I am advised that, in respect of the HSE's proposed National Finance and Procurement Solution, the HSE has been developing a plan for a viable and sustainable project for the roll out of such a system. Recently, my Department met with the Department of Finance (CMOD) and the HSE to see how a plan could be activated, taking account of the current resource constraints facing the HSE. It was agreed that the first step is to identify a technology platform upon which the proposed finance and procurement system can be developed, and it is expected that a PIN notice (Prior Indicative Notice) will issue shortly to the market for this purpose. In addition, I also understand that a new operating model is to be put in place in the procurement area of the HSE. The aim behind this new model is to eliminate duplication and to provide greater flexibility in staff roles and to redeploy staff, where necessary.

The Health Sector Implementation Body (HSIB) is responsible for driving the implementation of the Action Plan and will be required to report on progress to the Implementation Body. Local structures are also being put in place at regional level across the HSE to help to drive implementation of the Public Service Agreement at a regional level and report progress to the HSIB.