Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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279. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the position regarding the Public Service Management Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17271/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Public Service Management (Recruitment and Appointments) (Amendment) Act 2013 was signed into law by the President at the end of December 2013. The Act provides for the removal of legislative barriers to redeployment and mobility within the public service by:

- broadening the definition of public service body to encompass all public service employers except commercial State bodies and their subsidiaries;

- empowering the Public Appointments Service (PAS) to designate an existing employee of a public service body for redeployment to a comparable post in another such body;

- providing that redeployment is to be on no less favourable conditions in relation to basic pay and pension;

- making provision for the continuity of service for redeployees for certain statutory purposes such as the Redundancy Acts, Unfair Dismissal Act, Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Act, Parental Leave Act etc.;  removing any impediments under the Data Protection Acts to the transfer of personal information to the PAS, or to another public service body, for the purpose of redeployment to that body.

It provides for the removal of the existing exemption, under section 7(2)(a), from the general provisions of the Principal Act in respect of the Top Level Appointments Committee (TLAC) appointments, to bring these within the ambit of the Act. The redeployment and TLAC provisions came into force on enactment.

The Act also empowers the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to make Regulations providing for the payment of remuneration to a public servant during a period of sick leave. The Public Service (Sick Leave) Regulations - S.I. 124 of 2014 - were signed by the Minister on 6^thMarch and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. The regulations came into effect on 31^stMarch 2014.