Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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Question 477: To ask the Minister for Health the details of any organisation under his Department's remit which has informed him of staffing difficulties which may impinge upon its ability to effectively oversee the spending of public funds; and his views regarding same. [28372/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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None of the organisations that come under the remit of my Department has informed me of staffing difficulties that would impinge upon their ability to effectively oversee the spending of public funds.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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Question 478: To ask the Minister for Health if he will outline the organisations under his Department's remit for which an employment control framework has been agreed; the current numbers they have in place; and if any of them has been waiting more than one month to receive sanction to proceed to fill or retain any positions in spite of such positions falling below the agreed ECF ceiling. [28388/11]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The public health sector (comprising the Health Service Executive (HSE) and voluntary hospitals) together with my Department's non-commercial State agencies are subject to Employment Control Frameworks.

The Employment Control Framework for the public health sector is managed by the HSE and provides for a general reduction in the numbers employed of at least 8,511 Whole Time Equivalents (WTEs) from the end of 2010 to the end of 2014. Certain grades and posts, such as social workers, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists and medical consultants, are exempted from the public service recruitment moratorium. In addition, the HSE has discretion to make exceptions to the moratorium in order to maintain essential services and to meet priority service change/reorganisation requirements. Notwithstanding the HSE's decision in July 2011 to pause recruitment, due to its serious budgetary overrun, exceptions are still being made to address critical service risks. The latest information available (August 2011) shows the numbers of staff employed by the public health sector at 104,511 WTEs.

The Employment Control Framework for my Department's agencies provides for a general reduction in the numbers employed of at least 128 WTEs from the end of 2010 to the end of 2014. While individual agency reduction targets do not currently apply, one agency, the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), has an approved employment ceiling to accommodate the employment of key additional staff over the period. HIQA has been in discussions with my Department since the end of August about the filling of two senior posts in the organisation. The current agency employment numbers, expressed in Whole Time Equivalents (WTEs), at the end of June 2011 are set out in the following table.