Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent)
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40. To ask the Minister for Social Protection if she will provide in tabular form, the dates of meetings of her Department's management advisory council in 2011, 2012, 2013 and to date in 2014; the civil servants present at each of these meetings; if she or her Department's Minister of State was present at each of these meetings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45483/14]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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The Management Board (MB) of the Department comprises the Secretary General, Deputy Secretary, Assistant Secretaries, Chief Appeals Officer and the Chief Medical Adviser, all of whom are civil servants. Other officials from the Department also attend MB meetings to assist in the discussion of agenda items. Their attendance is only for the agenda item being considered.

The Management Board currently meets on a fortnightly basis. I attend approximately four MB meetings every year – these are highlighted in the table. There was no Minister of State assigned to the Department over the period January 2011 until July 2014 when a Minister of State was assigned. His attendance at Management Board meetings since July 2014 is also given in the table.

In addition to the meetings listed in the attached table, there is a formal weekly meeting scheduled between myself and the Secretary General. Both the Minister of State and I meet regularly with the senior management of the Department in relation to its business and related developments and we both also meet periodically with a number of Programme Boards. These are sub-committees of the Management Board which the Department has in place to focus on both policy and operational issues.