Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)
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321. To ask the Minister for Health when the Department’s programme management office was established; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54766/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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A governance framework has been put in place for the Health Reform Programme to coordinate implementation in a planned, coherent manner. The governance arrangements, as promised in Future Health, include a Programme Management Office (PMO) and a Health Reform Programme Board, in the Department of Health and a Systems Reform Group in the HSE. The Programme Board is chaired by the Secretary General of the Department of Health, and includes senior managers from the Department and Health Service Executive, as well as an independent external expert in programme management.

The Programme Board first met on 26 March 2013 and is driving and overseeing implementation of the health service reform programme in line with the overall public service reform agenda. Work on establishing the Programme Management Office commenced in February 2013. The PMO is focusing on timing, sequencing and milestones for each project. It is prioritising, monitoring and reporting on the health reform programme as a whole, identifying inter-dependencies between actions and highlighting areas for corrective action. Senior officials with extensive experience and two other staff with relevant expertise work in the Programme Management Office.