Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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258. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the total current and capital funding allocated to his Department; the underspend or overspend in 2015 to date under each category, based on his Department's spending profile; the funding made available within, and external to, his Department's functions to support innovation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30130/15]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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In response to the Deputy's question the following tables outline the total current and capital funding allocated to his Department; the under or overspend year to date in 2015 in my Department.

PROGRAMME EXPENDITURE

A - PUBLIC EXPENDITURE AND SECTORAL POLICY

PROGRAMME EXPENDITURE

B - PUBLIC SERVICE MANAGEMENT AND REFORM

An amount of €2.423 million has been allocated within my Department's Vote to the Reform Agenda Fund 2015, which is supporting the delivery of Public Service Reform and Civil Service Renewal.  This funding is being used to support a number of innovative reform initiatives and projects including, for example, the implementation of the Public Service Reform Plan 2014-2016; the implementation of the Civil Service Renewal Plan; funding for the Benefacts partnership initiative (formerly The Irish NonProfits Project/INKEx); and support for External Service Delivery and Shared Services projects.  It is also being used to support other reform related initiatives such as the Open Government Partnership.

Separately, in January 2015, the Government approved the Public Service ICT Strategy - "Delivering better outcomes and efficiency through innovation and excellence in ICT".  Building on the successful delivery of many existing services, the Strategy sets out how we can operate in a more efficient, shared and integrated manner across all of Government while delivering new and innovative digital services to citizens and businesses. Innovative use of ICT in the Public Service will deliver better value for taxpayers by creating efficiencies through integration, consolidation and sharing of common infrastructure, systems and resources.

The strategy has five key strategic objectives that will set the future direction for innovation and excellence in ICT in Public Service.  A Strategic Implementation Plan is currently being developed and will include business cases for future investment in a number of strategic initiatives.

An amount of €39,033,000 has been allocated within my Department for the National Shared Services Office Vote for 2015. This funding is being used to support the establishment of Shared Services within the Civil Service which is a key innovation initiative in the delivery of Public Service Reform and Civil Service Renewal. Shared services is a recognised model globally for consolidating transactional functions, such as Finance, Payroll, and Human Resources, that improves business performance and drives value through the provision of shared transactional services by an independent service provider to a number of organisations that were previously carried out by each organisation separately. Shared Services improve efficiencies and control by freeing up resources to focus on their core business and eliminating duplication of effort, enabling quicker access to data and improved data quality through process standardisation, specialisation, and technology automation.

Within the Civil Service the introduction of shared services is an important part of the Government's reform programme. The new shared services office began providing HR and Pensions Administration Shared Services to the Civil Service on a phased basis in March 2013 and is continuing to roll this out to other Public Service Bodies throughout this year. The Payroll Shared Service Centre began transacting in December 2013 and this will become fully operational by 2017. There is also a project underway to develop a Financial Management Shared Service Centre for the Civil Service, expected to be operational in 2017.

The Procurement Reform Programme and the establishment of the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) is one of the key government reform programmes designed to achieve significant benefits including savings in public expenditure. The new procurement arrangements will deliver significant benefits to the State by transforming the existing fragmented procurement model to a centre-led structure, underpinned by common policies, processes and systems. The net funding allocation for the Office of Government Procurement in 2015 is estimated at €18.974m.