Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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390. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his plans to reform the performance measurement system in the Civil Service and public sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22189/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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My Department has overall responsibility for policy on the measurement of individual staff performance in the Civil Service through the Performance Management System (PMDS).  The management of staff performance in the wider Public Service is a matter for each individual sector.

Action 11 in the Civil Service Renewal Plan, launched in October 2014, is to 'strengthen the performance management process'. This action, which is strongly related to a range of other important HR objectives in the Plan, is aimed at fulfilling the commitment to 'maximising the performance and potential of all Civil Service employees and organisations' and includes the following:

- Replacement of the current performance ratings scheme for the 2016 PMDS cycle with a new model of performance assessment that is focused on identifying excellent performance, leadership potential and underperformance and that encourages regular and constructive feedback;

- Development of the integration of PMDS with learning and development through, for example, focused training for managers on the effective management of performance;

- Continuation of the simplification of the performance management process by building on the success of the ePMDS electronic system deployed in 2014 through the development and rollout of an eProbation system to manage the performance of new entrants.

A key challenge across the Civil Service is the delivery of high performance and to fully engage staff and managers in the management and improvement of performance.  My Department will continue to review how we manage performance in the Civil Service and on the basis of this we will continue to make changes aimed at improving performance in the Civil Service.