Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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339. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps he has taken to ensure that grant aided organisations are spending their moneys appropriately in view of the revelations regarding a charity (details supplied) in 2016; if his attention has been drawn to concerns in relation to organisations funded by his Department; if so, the action he has taken; if his Department has issued new procedures regarding the use of credit cards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46092/17]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Departmental grant funding to bodies is made in compliance with central guidelines, as set out in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's Circular number 13 of 2014, "Management of and Accountability for Grants from Exchequer Funds."  The aim of these procedures is to ensure that there is transparency and accountability in the management of public money having regard to economy, efficiency and effectiveness. This circular sets out the full range of obligations which must be met, including oversight arrangements (such as Service Level Agreements), financial and performance reporting, inspection and accounting and control arrangements.

My Department seeks regular information from bodies in receipt of Departmental funding in respect of any potential irregularities.  Where the Department is made aware of any cases of suspected irregularities, the Comptroller and Auditor General is informed and the Department makes all reasonable efforts to recover Exchequer funds where fraud or irregularities have occurred.   

The Department of Education and Skills has a very strict policy in relation to the use of credit cards.  Their use in the Department is restricted to Ministerial Private Secretaries and the Principal Officer responsible for the Department's IT Unit. The Department has a written policy in place which sets out the limited circumstances in which credit cards can be used, namely costs associated with travel on official business and urgent ad hoc expenditure in extremely time-limited circumstances.

All expenditure on credit cards must be certified by a manager as compliant with relevant current financial legislation and guidelines, correctly incurred in relation to official business and all supporting documentation must be provided. All claims for reimbursement of work related expenditure on personally held credit cards must meet the same strict controls as any other type of payment. The use of credit cards is monitored by the Department's Finance Unit, to ensure compliance with Departmental policy. This written policy is kept under review, and the most recent review was carried out in July 2016.

More widely, the Department is undertaking significant efforts to further develop and implement robust and consistent governance arrangements across the education sector.  The aim is to ensure that utilisation of public funds is achieved within a framework of high standards of performance, accountability, compliance and oversight.

A Management Board Committee on Sectoral Governance and Accountability, which is chaired by the Secretary General, was established in 2015.  This committee provides overall guidance on the enhancement of governance arrangements across the education sector.  It is supported by a Sectoral Governance unit which has been established in the Department which undertakes work to support the enhancement and standardisation of governance and accountability oversight across the Department. This has included rolling out of the first phase of a programme of governance compliance reviews involving the Department’s non-commercial bodies.