Written answers

Thursday, 2 February 2017

Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Departmental Staff Data

Photo of Niall CollinsNiall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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353. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the total number of full-time and part-time staff hired since 1 January 2017; the number of these staff hires recruited specifically to work on Brexit-related issues on a Department wide basis and in each State agency under her auspices, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5198/17]

Photo of Niall CollinsNiall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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355. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of full-time and part-time staff hired since January 2017 following the confirmation that an additional €3 million has been allocated by her Department to the evolving Brexit scenario to increase resources in 2017, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5200/17]

Photo of Niall CollinsNiall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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357. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of full-time and part-time staff in her trade policy section; the staff increases she is considering for 2017 to deal with developments around an impending Brexit; if any staff requests were made in 2016 to strengthen resources; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5202/17]

Photo of Mary Mitchell O'ConnorMary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 353, 355 and 357 together.

Staffing levels of my Department, its Offices and Agencies reflect the requirement to manage the pay bill and staff numbers in accordance with Government pay policy with staff resources deployed in the most effective and efficient manner as appropriate to business needs and key priorities at any given time.

An additional €3 million was secured in respect of Pay in Budget 2017 and is being targeted specifically to assist in our response to the evolving Brexit scenario. It is enabling the Department and, primarily, our Agencies recruit an additional forty to fifty staff to supplement existing staffing numbers.  In this regard, the additional €3m has been allocated across Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and the Health and Safety Authority, as well as to support the dedicated Brexit Unit within my Department, which is led at Principal Officer level with a team of three staff (two assigned and one to follow), to be reviewed in line with the necessary workload as the Unit’s agenda unfolds.  In addition, of course, the work of very many other Business Units across my Department is impacted by Brexit and these Units have, or are in the process of finalising, business plans for 2017 whereby Brexit implications for their work is factored in.

A workforce planning process spanning the years 2017-19 is currently underway across the Department and coordinated by my HR Unit which will review the level of resources assigned across all Divisions of my Department in relation to the current strategic priorities of my Department.  Naturally, responding to Brexit will feature heavily in the plan.

Staffing resources are an ongoing priority to ensure my Department’s continued ability to facilitate the wide mission and volume of work in a range of challenging policy areas. This will continue with ongoing day-to-day review of the appropriate staffing across my Department in response to known and developing priority areas.

In relation to the number of staff serving in the Trade Policy and Export Licencing Section in 2016 and 2017 is concerned the figures are as follows:

January 2016January 2017
1618

A small number of staff in this Unit have availed themselves of various reduced working hours arrangements such that the Fulltime Equivalent figures are:

January 2016January 2017
15.517.1

In relation to the number of staff hired in the Department between 2012 and 2017 the following table sets out the position:

Year201220132014201520162017
New “hires”14335933754
Total number of staff843857854848857854*
*Position as at 27 January, 2017

It is important to appreciate that the increase in numbers in 2013 was primarily due to the transfer of functions from the Equality Tribunal from the Department of Justice and Equality, whereas for 2014 it was primarily as a result of the dissolution of Forfás which was integrated into the Department.  Also, there would have been a number of exits through retirement, promotion, resignations and so on such that the total number of staff employed in the Department at year end in each year has been given to show how staffing levels have been relatively stable in recent years after the earlier period of downsizing under the various employment control measures introduced from 2008.

Photo of Niall CollinsNiall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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354. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of staff requested by her Department and in each State agency under the auspices of her Department in the 2012 to 2016 period on an annual basis in tabular form; the number of staff subsequently hired in each year in this period on a departmental-wide basis and in each State agency under the auspices of her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5199/17]

Photo of Mary Mitchell O'ConnorMary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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In the earlier part of the 2012-2016 period my Department, as with all others, was subject to the Employment Control Framework and Moratorium on recruitment as a means of reducing the overall Government pay bill.  Therefore, with some exceptions to the Moratorium under which the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform granted sanction to fill particular posts over this time, the thrust of policy was to reduce the numbers employed in the Department and our Agencies until the Moratorium and ECF were lifted in the October 2014 Budget after which the Department and our Agencies now organise our staffing levels in line with pay-budget limits.

In relation to the number of staff hired by the Department between 2012 and 2016 the following table sets out the position:

Year20122013201420152016
New “hires”1433593375
Total number of staff843857854848857

In interpreting these figures, it is important to appreciate that the increase in numbers in 2013 was primarily due to the transfer of functions from the Equality Tribunal from the Department of Justice and Equality, whereas for 2014 it was primarily as a result of the dissolution of Forfás which was integrated into the Department.  Also, there would have been a number of exits through retirement, promotion, resignations and so on such that the total number of staff employed in the Department at year end in each year has been given to show how staffing levels have been relatively stable in recent years after the earlier period of downsizing under the various employment control measures introduced from 2008.

Insofar as the number of staff in each of the Agencies under my Department’s remit from 2012 to 2016 is concerned the tables that follow set out the staffing position in each case in the years in question.

Competition and Consumer Protection Commission

YearNo of Staff at 1st JanNo of staff requestedNo hired
201239+42**2+106
201342+37**11
201484.530
201583.5269
201683.61432
*hired staff may also relate to replacing staff as opposed to increasing the staff complement

**The Competition Authority and the National Consumer Agency merged in 2014. The staffing figures for 2012 and 2013 are included in the above table.

Enterprise Ireland

YearNo of Staff at 1st JanNo of staff requestedNo hired
2012719.51210
2013666.52222
2014648.52121
20156311919
201653639Recruitment Ongoing
*hired staff may also relate to replacing staff as opposed to increasing the staff complement

Health and Safety Authority

YearNo of Staff at 1st JanNo of staff requestedNo hired
2012177.230
201317000
2014162.441
2015167.1*43
2016166.2126
*hired staff may also relate to replacing staff as opposed to increasing the staff complement

Irish Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority

YearNo of Staff at 1st JanNo of staff requestedNo hired
20121400
20131301
201413110
20151315
201617174
*hired staff may also relate to replacing staff as opposed to increasing the staff complement

IDA

YearNo of Staff at 1st JanNo of staff requestedNo hired
20122551919
20132541616
20142825454
20152623838
201626599**50
*hired staff may also relate to replacing staff as opposed to increasing the staff complement

**includes proposal for the retention of 35 “Winning Abroad” contract staff which has yet to be sanctioned

National Standards Authority of Ireland

YearNo of Staff at 1st JanNo of staff requestedNo hired
201213200
201313230
201413211
201513382
201613037
*hired staff may also relate to replacing staff as opposed to increasing the staff complement

In addition NSAI Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of NSAI located in Nashua, New Hampshire, USA, has a headcount of 15 who are paid from NSAI’s Own Resource Income.

Personal Injuries Assessment Board

YearNo of Staff at 1st JanNo of staff requestedNo hired
201266141
201366141
201467130
201567132
2016661416
*hired staff may also relate to replacing staff as opposed to increasing the staff complement

Science Foundation Ireland

YearNo of Staff at 1st JanNo of staff requestedNo hired
20124821
20134911
20144933
20154933
20164911
*hired staff may also relate to replacing staff as opposed to increasing the staff complement

Forfas

YearNo of Staff at 1st JanNo of staff requestedNo hired
201211022
20139100
20147500
Forfás was dissolved in 2014 and its functions merged into my Department

CEBs

YearNo of Staff at 1st JanNo of staff requestedNo hired
201212122
201312860
201412600
The CEBs were dissolved in 2014 and their functions were transferred to the Local Enterprise Offices which are under the aegis of the Department of Housing Planning and Local Government

Staffing levels for InterTrade Ireland have not been included since it is a Cross-Border Body funded by the Department of Jobs Enterprise & Innovation in Dublin and the Department for the Economy in Belfast so is not generally considered a “State Agency” in the traditional sense.

Includes 20 posts sanctioned for local overseas recruitment

Posts sanctioned as part of overall approval of Enterprise Ireland’s Voluntary Leaving Programme

[Posts sanctioned as part of Enterprise Ireland's strategic response to Brexit

Photo of Niall CollinsNiall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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356. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of full-time and part-time staff requests each agency had made for 2017 prior to the announcement in October 2016 that an additional budget allocation had been given to her Department for the evolving Brexit scenario by increasing staff resources in 2017, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5201/17]

Photo of Mary Mitchell O'ConnorMary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Agency staffing requests are made to my Department at various times during the year depending on workforce planning demands in each Agency rather than at a fixed time during the year.  In parallel, during the annual Estimates process Agencies will bid for a certain pay allocation to reflect their staffing costs in the year ahead.  In this context, various Agency requests were considered in the normal way in advance of the last Estimates campaign on a case-by-case basis during the year.

As part of the Estimates campaign, my Department secured an additional €3m towards pay costs arising from the need to commit extra resources to Brexit-related policies/interventions.  In that regard, the additional €3m was designed to support the creation of a dedicated Brexit Unit in my Department as well as to fund additional staffing in a number of our Agencies to support their Brexit-related work.  Additional resources have been allocated to Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and the Health and Safety Authority to allow each recruit additional staff to work on Brexit-related activity.  Each Agency may also apply some of its Own Resource Income, where it has such a stream, to augment the Exchequer resources by agreement with my Department as required.

Insofar as the four aforementioned Agencies are concerned the allocation of additional resources is anticipated to allow for additional Brexit staffing as follows:

Enterprise Ireland+39
IDA Ireland+21
Science Foundation Ireland+2
Health and Safety AuthorityTo be determined

IDA has sought 21 additional staff resources in order that it can meet the jobs and investment targets set out in its Strategy - “Winning Foreign Direct Investment 2015-2019” - and to meet the global challenges of 2017 and beyond with Brexit key among the identified challenges.  The Agency also submitted a staff resourcing strategy to the Department in July 2016 which sought sanction for retention of the 35 staff hired on 3-year fixed term contracts under the Winning Abroad Programme. IDA has also sought to reinstate its Graduate Recruitment Programme on a three year contract basis.  These latter two requests are still under consideration.

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