Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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563. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he will report on the implementation of the recommendations of the independent review group of his Department in 2014; the recommendations that have not been implemented, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36147/17]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, my Department has been implementing a comprehensive Programme for Change in response to the recommendations set out in the Review Group report. The programme, which mirrors many of the actions set out in the Civil Service Renewal Plan, covers areas such as culture; leadership and structure; audit and risk management; corporate functions and IT systems; and external benchmarks.

Significant progress has been made in implementing these recommendations as outlined below and the work of embedding and sustaining the changes continues to be prioritised in my Department. Regular updates have been published on my Department's website. The following recommendations have been implemented in the Department:

- The Department’s Management Advisory Committee was reconstituted as a Management Board, new personnel were appointed, both from within the Department and externally, and lateral mobility put into effect. A new Deputy Secretary post was created in April 2015 to provide more cohesive leadership across the criminal justice portfolio and a Secretary General was permanently appointed in October 2016. Both I and the Minister of State for Equality, Immigration and integration meet on a monthly basis with the full Management Board.

- Following consultation with staff and stakeholders, a Culture and Values Charter was published in 2016 with the objective of fostering a more open, listening organisational culture. These values have been signed off by the Department's leadership team and are fed into all induction and leadership training with a view to informing the way in which the Department communicates with staff and stakeholders. It is recognised that changes to organisational culture takes sustained effort over time and a cross grade team, led by the Secretary General, is working to ensure that this continues to be embedded in the organisation.

- Robust supporting processes have been put in place to enhance leadership and oversight of the Department and wider sector and to facilitate more effective management and governance of the strategic objectives. A Corporate Governance Framework for the Department was published in April 2016. Since 2015 an annual Strategic Implementation Plan has been published, which draws together in one single plan all of the strategic priorities across the Department. To support the Management Board in its oversight of this programme, a programme management reporting system has been implemented, providing the Management Board with information and status updates on strategic actions across all of the Department's programmes; In addition, progress reports are published on the Department's website.

- Risk management processes have been significantly strengthened and the Department's Audit Committee which has a majority of external members has reviewed its processes in line with the recommendations.

- Since March 2014, the Department has also put in place revised systems and procedures to ensure all correspondence is handled appropriately which specifies that high-priority correspondence is brought to the attention of both myself and relevant officials and followed up in a timely manner.

- The Report made several recommendations regarding relationship management and oversight of Agencies, all of which have been implemented. Agency performance and governance arrangements have been formalised and strengthened through formal Oversight/Performance/Service Delivery Agreements and Frameworksagreed with 24 key agencies including An Garda Síochána. In addition, as the Deputy is aware, the Policing Authority was established in January 2016 to bring a new and dedicated layer of public accountability to the administration of policing services and provide additional impetus to drive necessary changes in the policing system and its practices.

- Formal structures have been put in place to support communication and collaboration with the agencies in the Justice and Equality sector: the Civil Agencies Network covers a range of diverse agencies and meets quarterly to share information and best practise while the Criminal Justice Strategic Committee comprising the heads of all the relevant agencies was established in 2015. The Strategic Committee also meets quarterly and is driving effective collaboration through a detailed work-plan on a range of shared interests from international cooperation, data needs and interoperability to leadership development and victims services.

- A programme of work in regard to Data and Information has been developed and is being taken forward in cooperation with the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer, including a system providing real time support to the front-line Joint Agency Response to Crime (JARC) programme, the rollout of an e-Submissions system and the development of the Justice and Equality Hub, to facilitate better collaboration and information sharing between the Department and its stakeholders and the provision of data and management information to support the development of more evidence based policy.

- Several of the Review Group's recommendations related to Human Resources management and the Department held an open competition last year to appoint a professional Head of Strategic Human Resources. Following this appointment, a three year workforce plan has been developed which directly supports the Department’s 2016-19 Strategy and informs recruitment and deployment of available resources to effectively deliver on the Department's business objectives as well as identifying training needs. The 2017 training plan includes risk management, customer service, leadership development and performance management. The Department is also developing its HR capacity, including the recent implementation of a business partner model to try to ensure that the business needs, including managed mobility and succession planning, are being met by HR. A HR strategy is being prepared which will build on the changes implemented since the Toland Report and which will reflect the internal Change Programme, the forthcoming Civil Service HR strategy and public service reform.

- A Head of Communications was appointed and a strategy covering internal and external communications in support of the change programme was published in 2016.

- New structured governance arrangements with An Garda Síochána have also been introduced. A Governance Framework Document is in place which makes provision, amongst other things, for regular meetings involving my Department, An Garda Síochána and the Policing Authority. Officials also meet monthly with An Garda Síochána to oversee progress on strategic and resource matters. In addition, arrangements are in place for quarterly meetings involving the Department, An Garda Síochána and the Policing Authority in the context of the Authority's statutory functions in relation to advising the Minister with regard to Garda resources.

In terms of recommendations not yet implemented, the Review Group recommended the development of a HR strategy which is in preparation in parallel with the overall Civil Service HR Strategy as mentioned above. It also recommended changes to the Department’s structure but was not definitive on the detail of this. The Department’s structure has been reviewed in recent months and a number of options for structural changes are under consideration. Given the need to deal with a considerable workload on hand, it is envisaged that structural change will be implemented on a phased basis, commencing in Quarter 4 this year. It should be noted that despite concerns expressed by the Review Group about the breadth of its responsibilities, my Department's remit continued to expand significantly in recent years with responsibility assigned in 2015 for additional agencies including the Valuation Office and Ordnance Survey Ireland. In addition the Charities Regulator, the Policing Authority and the Legal Services Regulatory Authority have all been established in recent years.

In addition to the ongoing reforms in the policing area, achieving better collaborative practice and parallel to implementing the major change programme, the Deputy will be aware of the volume of work delivered over the past 3 years on the Department's business agenda across very significant areas of public life. Major achievements include the Children and Family Relationship Act 2015, the Marriage Equality Referendum, International Protection Act 2015 incorporating a single applications procedure and implementation of the McMahon report recommendations, progressing the implementation of the EU Victims Directive, establishment of the Irish Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) to meet Ireland’s international humanitarian obligations, amongst many others.

Finally, I should add that my Department is taking stock of the change programme to assess progress to date and to identify priorities for the next phase of improvement to ensure the measures outlined above are embedded and sustained and the drive for continuous improvement is maintained.