Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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428. To ask the Minister for Health if he will provide details of recruitment under the aegis of his Department to the public sector since the partial lifting of the embargo on recruitment. [18254/15]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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There was a requirement to reduce public service numbers and maximise savings in the public service from the time of the downturn in the economy. The HSE introduced an embargo on recruitment in 2007, and this was followed by the moratorium on recruitment and promotion in the public sector in 2008. The HSE has had the capacity to recruit where it is necessary to deliver front-line services.

The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform announced in Budget 2015 that he intends to delegate greater autonomy to Departments and Agencies to manage their own staffing levels. The change from the application of a rigid employment control framework, with its particular focus on a moratorium on recruitment and compliance with employment ceilings and targets, to one operating strictly within allocated pay frameworks will allow for recruitment where it is determined that this can achieve more economical service delivery.

The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) has advised that the HSE and Department of Health are required to submit a 2015 Pay and Numbers Strategy, outlining planned pay expenditure and staff numbers. Following approval of the strategy by DPER, a letter of delegated sanction will be issued. As this process is still ongoing, the existing moratorium and Employment Control Framework arrangements will continue to apply. However the number of nurses employed has already increased by nearly 500 in the past 12 months. This increase partly reflects the initiative being undertaken by the HSE to reduce reliance on agency and to offer contracts of employment where agency can be replaced by full time posts. The increase also reflects the continuing capacity of the HSE to recruit where it is necessary to deliver front line services.