Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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215. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the degree to which he has quantified the likely contribution of reform in the public sector in the context of economic performance in the coming years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13535/18]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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216. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the degree to which each Department remains committed to using reform to achieve economic benefit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13536/18]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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220. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if particular Departments or public offices or bodies under their aegis require reforming procedures with a view to increasing efficiency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13540/18]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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223. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which he is satisfied that reforms to date will continue to benefit the economy in the future; the reforms which have become outdated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13543/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 215, 216, 220 and 223 together.

The public service is central to economic and social life in Ireland. Significant reforms have been made in recent years and have made the work of the public service more transparent, decision-making more accountable and service delivery more effective and efficient.

Our Public Service 2020, which I launched last December, is a new policy framework designed to build on these previous reforms while expanding the scope of reform to focus more on collaboration, innovation and evaluation. I am confident that Our Public Service 2020 will contribute to the strengthening and further development of our economy over the period of its implementation.

Our Public Service 2020 is a whole-of-public-service initiative. A Public Service Leadership Board comprising Secretary General and CEO level participants from across the civil and public service has been established to drive the reform agenda and lead on its implementation. This approach will support and enable public servants and their organisations to perform at their best and to work together to deliver high-quality, value-for-money outcomes that will benefit the economy.

As Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform I must ensure that our fiscal and public expenditure policy is prudent and sustainable. There are a number of budgetary reforms introduced in recent years to guide my decisions on overall fiscal policy in this regard, including fiscal rules, expenditure ceilings and spending reviews. The actions in Our Public Service 2020 will ensure that the focus of the public service is very much on delivery of quality public services, while operating within these prudent limits.

Our Public Service 2020 contains an added focus on evaluation and on the importance of building a reform evaluation culture. The newly established Reform Evaluation Unit will work closely with units within my Department focused on performance budgeting and spending reviews to strengthen the links between expenditure and reform. This will take place alongside the work of the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) which leads a programme of evaluation of public service delivery across the public service. A series of rolling, selective reviews, which will cover the totality of Government spending over a three-year period to 2019, started in 2017.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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217. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the extent to which reforms embraced by public administration in recent years years compare with reforms introduced in other competing EU or non-EU jurisdictions, with particular reference to enhancing this country's opportunities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13537/18]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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In 2017, the OECD were commissioned by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to undertake a written evaluation of the Public Service Reform Plan 2014-16, with a view to informing future public service reform efforts. This assessment, which was published in July 2017, focused on whether the plan met its objectives; provided clear recommendations for the future direction of public service reform in Ireland; and considered and compared approaches in other OECD States.

The OECD assessment noted that the plan succeeded in completing the majority of the activities it set out to do and that the plan succeeded in creating a public-service wide approach to reform. It particularly highlighted the significance of the plan in both creating an impetus for reform and identifying actions within each public service body to support the plan. Key learnings from the OECD assessment informed the development of Our Public Service 2020, a new framework for development and innovation in the public service to 2020 and beyond, which I launched last December.

In addition to the positive report from the OECD, a recent report by the Institute of Public Administration (Public Sector Trends 2017) includes many positive findings on the development and progress of our public services across the EU28. This review which draws on data from the World Bank, the IMF and the OECD amongst other sources, found that:

- Ireland’s Public Administration comes first in the EU28 for being the most professional and least politicised.

- Ireland comes 6th in the EU28 for the quality of its public administration (a relatively consistent score over last three years).

- Ireland is 5th in the EU28 in the rating of perceptions that Government decisions are effectively implemented.

Both the OECD assessment of the Public Service Reform Plan 2014-16, and the IPA Public Sector Trends report demonstrate that Ireland’s public services continue to perform well on an international stage and that there is a solid basis for continuous improvement and development of our public services.