Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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98. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will set out the value for money reports and the Focused Policy Assessments carried out within his Department since March 2011; the actions that have been taken to implement such reports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28179/13]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The responsibility for conducting value for money reviews lies in the first instance with the spending Departments and Implementing Agencies. The role of my Department is to assist these bodies by promoting best practice in the evaluation and implementation of programme and project expenditure, including the provision of guidance which is now captured in a unified Public Spending Code. While my Department has not carried out any value for money reviews since the specified date, it has provided on-going technical assistance in respect of the value for money reviews conducted by other Departments.

Focused policy assessments were introduced on foot of the Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2012 - 2014 (http://per.gov.ie/wp-content/uploads/CER-Estimates-Final2.pdf), as a model whereby a single evaluator or a small team can address specific aspects of policy configuration and delivery in a tightly-focused manner. The Expenditure Report 2013 () published some analytical outputs (including analyses on: reducing public expenditure in respect of legal services; the expenditure impacts of climate change; and demographic implications for education expenditure) and provided an overview of the range of work being carried out in the form of focused policy assessments within my Department. This work will feed into the deliberations in respect of the forthcoming Budget. A copy of the two reports mentioned can be found on my Department's website at the links set out above.