Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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141. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government 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. [28173/13]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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My Department has concluded a number of Value-for-Money and Policy Reviews since March 2011, namely:

- Value for Money Review of the CLÁR and RAPID Leveraged Expenditure Approach. A copy of the report along with the Department's response are available at

- Value for Money Review - Water Services Investment Programme 2007-2009. A copy of the report along with the Department's action plan are available at

The Water Sector Reform Programme currently underway, which includes the establishment of Irish Water to take over responsibility for the delivery of water services from 1 January 2014, has superseded many of the VFM report recommendations.

- The Rental Accommodation Scheme (RAS) Value for Money and Policy Review, which is available in the Oireachtas Library, highlighted six key recommendations that would contribute to the improved operation of the scheme in the future. As far as is possible action has been taken by the Department in relation to all of the recommendations:

- the on-going monitoring and auditing by the Department of the value for money of RAS at recoupment stage, including an analysis of the discount levels achieved by local authorities for each RAS case (recommendation 1);

- the establishment by the Private Residential Tenancies Board of a national rent index in April 2013 (recommendation 2);

- on-going engagement with local authorities to integrate, where possible, the RAS function into the general housing administrative framework of the local authorities (recommendation 3);

- through the Housing Agency, a network of RAS liaison officers has been established with local authorities to try to ensure that any training or information requirements of RAS staff are met (recommendation 3);

- it has been recognised that activation and employment are key concerns: in that context, the Department has been working to remove where possible any barriers in the housing systems that would impede a return to work (recommendation 4);

- on-going review of the administrative processes underpinning social housing delivery and the requirement for performance indicators (recommendations 5 and 6).

In addition to the above, my Department has undertaken other substantial evaluation work in recent years, including the Local Government Efficiency Review, strategies/reports on Ballymun Regeneration, review and assessment of the EPA, review of the Homeless Strategy, Spot Checks on Capital Projects, study on Irish Water and the report on alignment of Local Government and Local Development.

My Department is currently engaged with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on Focussed Policy Assessments of the efficiency and effectiveness of Pobal in the management of grant schemes and the use of Public Private Partnerships in the Water Services sector.