Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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389. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to improve accountability in the Civil Service and public sector and to ensure that every employee has a clear job description; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22188/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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One of the central characteristics of effective accountability arrangements is knowing 'who does what and to whom they are answerable'.  The Public Service Management Act 1997 provides a statutory framework for the assignment of specific functions from the Secretary General to officials within Departments, with accountability flowing upwards to the Secretary General for the performance of those functions. 

The Civil Service Renewal Plan contains a commitment to publish the framework of assignments for all Departments down to Principal Officer level. Currently work is underway on developing a centralised webpage for each Department to display information on their framework of assignments. This webpage will be publically available and accessible and ensure that the responsibilities of senior managers in the civil service are clear for the public to see.

My Department has overall responsibility for policy on the management of staff performance through the Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) which applies in the Civil Service.  The management of staff performance in the wider Public Service is a matter for each individual sector.

PMDS places a strong emphasis on individual performance and accountability through the setting of goals and the monitoring of performance.  A key challenge across the Civil Service is the delivery of high performance and to fully engage staff and managers in the management of performance.  Action 11 in the Civil Service Renewal Plan is to 'strengthen the performance management process' and is aimed at fulfilling the commitment to 'maximising the performance and potential of all Civil Service employees and organisations'.  On the basis of this, my Department will continue to review how we manage performance in the Civil Service and we will continue to make changes aimed at improving performance in the Civil Service.