Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour)
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456. To ask the Minister for Health the way he plans to address the problem of the large number of management roles within the Health Service Executive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51866/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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In October 2013 there were 15,531 management / administrative staff employed in the HSE and agencies funded by the HSE, which represents 15.4% of total staff; management/administrative staff numbers have reduced by 2,890 since a peak in September 2007. In the context of the employment control framework numbers employed in the health service must be further reduced. While it is a matter for the HSE to determine the composition of its staffing complement, it is important not to underestimate the significant role that management/administrative staff play in the direct support of front line services.

Administrative staff ensure that the service runs as smoothly as possible, for example staffing ED reception, organising OPD clinics, processing medical cards, collecting income due, managing the health service budget and paying its staff. Managers are essential also in such a complex system and those earning over €100,000 have taken the biggest reductions in recent years, while shouldering substantial responsibility for the delivery of essential services and functions at national and regional level. The HSE has operated a general moratorium on the filling of management/administrative posts in recent years, so as to focus development funds as far as possible on the front-line.

I am satisfied that the tools are available to the HSE to ensure that the correct number and mix of staff is available in accordance with its business needs and government policy on public service numbers. In this regard, 78 management/administrative staff have recently been approved for incentivised career breaks. The HSE has been asked to review the scheme to establish whether there is potential for more staff to be released, in light of the additional capacity available under the additional working hours provisions of the Haddington Road Agreement.

In addition a targeted voluntary redundancy scheme is one of the measures that the HSE will use in order to achieve further numbers reduction and facilitate on-going health sector reform. The HSE will determine the areas and functions to be targeted in the context of the changing health service structures and roles, such as the implementation of the hospital groups model, the introduction of shared service functions etc.

There will be no automatic right to redundancy under this scheme as grades and posts targeted will be determined by health service managers, according to plans for future service configuration.