Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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54. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of complaints that were made to the CCPC in each of the years 2015, 2016 and to date in 2017 by industry sector; and the number of complaints in which no action was taken. [44430/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is the statutory body responsible for the enforcement of competition and consumer law in the State. Section 9(5) of the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 provides that the CCPC is independent in the performance of its functions, including its day to day operational work regarding complaints made to it. Section 10 of that Act, which refers to the functions of the CCPC, states at subsection (8) that “Nothing in this section or any other provision of this Act imposes a duty on the Commission to consider whether to investigate a matter that is referred to it but the Commission may, in the case of a matter referred to it, consider whether to do so (and, accordingly, may proceed to investigate the matter) where it is satisfied the matter may affect competition or the interests and welfare of consumers or both.” I, as Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, have no direct function in relation to such matters. 

The CCPC’s Annual Reports contain details regarding the contacts made to it each year.

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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55. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of times the CCPC has made requests for additional personnel or financial resources since 2015. [44431/17]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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56. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her views on whether the CCPC has enough resources to perform its functions in compliance with the legislation under which it operates. [44432/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 55 and 56 together.

On one occasion each in 2015, 2016 and 2017, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) requested additional personnel. In 2015, the request was for 16 additional personnel. In 2016, it requested 6 additional personnel and to date this year, it has requested 1 additional staff member. These figures do not include requests for backfilling of vacancies due to resignations, promotions, transfers, retirement etc. and neither does it refer to any request for the reconfiguration of grades in that Agency.  

The requests for additional staff in 2015 and 2016 were considered in the context of the overall Departmental vote allocation and were not sanctioned. However, iwithin its current pay budget. It has received approval to fill any vacancy that has arisen since then that it has wished to bn July 2015, the CCPC was given approval by the Department under the Staffing Resource Management Framework to fill 25 vacant posts subject to the CCPC remaining e filled. The 2017 request for 1 additional staff member was also sanctioned.

Regarding its financial resources, the CCPC’s allocation is divided between “General Administration” and “Financial Information and Education Functions” expenditure. The first element covers the general administration and expenses of the CCPC in relation to the exercise of its statutory functions, except for its financial information and education functions and these expenses are funded through an exchequer grant each year. The second element is funded by a levy imposed on regulated financial service providers. As the levy is not collected until after mid-year, the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation prefunds the expenditure by the CCPC on these functions, on the proviso that the Department is reimbursed by way of Appropriations-in-Aid before year end. It is therefore exchequer neutral. The CCPC’s combined allocations since 2015 are set out in the table.

Aside from the costs that would have been associated with the request for the additional 16 personnel in 2015, the CCPC did not request any additional financial resources that year. On one occasion in August 2016, it requested an extra €2.040m proposing to cover, amongst other matters, once off expenses arising from its planned move to new offices and the costs associated with its requests for additional personnel. In July 2017, it requested an extra €235,000 to cover new projects.  

Due a variety of reasons, the CCPC’s expenditure for 2015 and 2016 was under the monies allocated to it and so its request for extra financial resources in 2016 was not granted. Its request in 2017 has been approved.  

The CCPC’s requests for additional financial resources have to be managed in the context of the overall Departmental Vote allocation and bearing this in mind, I consider the CCPC to be adequately resourced.