Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 33: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has carried out or intends to carry out a cost benefit analysis of the use of agency staff and private contractors who provide services in the different Departments of the public sector or who are engaged for major State capital projects, and which includes a comparative analysis of the cost of those same services by directly employing civil or public service workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35199/11]

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 36: To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has carried out or intends to carry out a cost benefit analysis of the use of agency staff and private contractors which includes a comparative analysis of the cost of those same services being provided by public service workers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35200/11]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 33 and 36 together.

The Government is committed to compliance with the terms of the Public Service Agreement 2010-14 (The Croke Park Agreement). In an Appendix to the Agreement on service delivery options, it is recognised that some new or existing services will be provided on an outsourced basis. The Appendix provides that, in advance of a decision being taken by management to proceed with outsourcing of an existing service, an evaluation will be undertaken with a view to determining whether the service can continue to be carried out in-house through service changes, having regard among other things to overall cost, quality of service, effectiveness and the public interest. In the event that management decide to proceed with outsourcing, commitments are given in relation to ongoing consultation with staff representatives and to job security and protection of employment terms of existing staff.

The Government's overall objective is to ensure that the cost of delivering public services is reduced further and that the public service becomes leaner, better integrated, more efficient and more effective. I am happy that the terms of the Appendix to the Croke Park Agreement will allow for efficient and effective delivery of public services, either directly or on an outsourced basis, while ensuring the concerns of public servants affected are taken into account.

This afternoon, I announced details of the Government's Public Service Reform Plan which provides the basis for delivering comprehensive and strategic reform of the Irish Public Service. It includes delivering actions across a range of issues including shared services, procurement, eGovernment and organisational reform. It also addresses the identification and evaluation of opportunities for external service delivery of non-core processes or services in line with the commitments in the Programme for Government.

In relation to major State capital projects, reflecting their scale and complexity, such projects typically require specialist advisory services. It may therefore be necessary for Departments to procure the services of private contractors cognisant of their particular expertise which their public service counterparts may not possess. Such a decision would however be subject to each Department's budgetary constraints, with private contractors engaged on fixed price contracts, following a competitive tendering process, addressing a specified scope of services.

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's role in relation to capital investment projects is to set the overall capital investment framework and the basic principles to be observed for the appraisal, assessment, procurement and evaluation of projects. Every Government Department, Office and Agency is responsible for the roll out and delivery of projects in the capital programmes in the most cost effective way and in accordance with the principles and rules set out by my Department.