Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 112: To ask the Minister for Finance the responsibilities of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. [11421/11]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 144: To ask the Minister for Finance the role and responsibilities of the sectoral policy and public service management development divisions and the modernisation unit of the Department of the Taoiseach. [11817/11]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 112 and 144 together.

As indicated in my reply to a previous PQ, it was my intention that Minister Howlin and I would present the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Bill for consideration by the Government at its meeting, today Tuesday, 17 May, with a view to publishing it as soon as possible thereafter.

In general terms, it is proposed that the following broad functions will be transferred to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform:

the entirety of functions relating to the public service;

public service reform functions which will, for the first time, be placed on a statutory footing;

In terms of expenditure, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform will be responsible for managing public expenditure within the overall envelope set by the Government, while the Minister for Finance will retain responsibility for overall budgetary parameters.

Sectoral Policy Division deals with sectoral policy advice and formulation in conjunction with the responsible departments; public expenditure management issues, including the Annual Estimates, Annual Output statements and the multi-annual capital investment process; infrastructural investment and the National Development Plan; the elaboration of Frameworks and guidance to promote better value for money; aspects of policy in relation to commercial state bodies; policy on public-private partnerships; environmental policy; civil service organisational issues such as structures, staff numbers and administrative budgets; superannuation policy in the Public Service and co-ordination of pension matters within the Department and policy on Government contracts, e-procurement and the National Lottery.

Public Service Management Development Division deals with public service modernisation, public service pay and conditions and public service policy on HR, equality, recruitment and promotions, mobility and redeployment, ethics, freedom of information, decentralisation, IT, e-Government, telecommunications policy, Civil Service Training Centre and Language training.

The Public Service Modernisation Division of the Department of the Taoiseach is transferring to the new Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. That Division has principally been involved in co-ordinating , supporting and communicating the Public Service transformation programme, including through supporting the participation of the Taoiseach and Ministers in the relevant Cabinet Committee and the senior officials groups under that, and participating in the negotiation and implementation of the Public Service Agreement , as well as a broad range of other functions such as initiating the Senior Public Service (a leadership initiative) and the conduct of the Organisational Review Programme (where capacity of individual Government Departments is examined).