Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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624. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of employees in her Department; the number professionally qualified with organisations (details supplied); the number with other relevant professional qualifications; and the number with no professional qualifications in tabular form. [1887/19]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The staffing level in my Department as at the end of December 2018 was 6728 officers (6363 full-time equivalents).

A register of staff qualifications is maintained by this Department.  The number of staff who have informed the Department on acquiring a professional qualification with the following organisations or bodies to which you refer are as follows:

My Department is not in a position to provide details of those staff members who do not hold a professional qualification.

I trust this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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625. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the number of employees in her Department authorised to engage in procurement; the number professionally qualified with organisations (details supplied); the number with other relevant professional qualifications; and the number with no professional qualifications in tabular form. [1904/19]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The procurement of supplies and services is essential to support the Department in providing high quality service to the public in a cost effective and efficient manner. The Department is compliant with best practice in the procurement of supplies and services and all staff involved in procurement must adhere to comprehensive rules set out in the Department’s Procurement Policy and Procedures.

The Project Office in my Department is responsible for development and implementation of a project management framework and procurement policy.  It promotes best practice in project governance, project management and the procurement of goods and services.  It supports Project Managers and staff involved in procurement through the provision of advice, guidelines and templates which draw on best practice nationally and internationally.  It works closely with the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) to ensure that its policies, procedures and template are in accordance with up to date legislation and EU Directives.

The Project Office also maintains a contract database of all contracts awarded over €25k and in accordance with the provisions under the FOI publication scheme, publishes details of public contracts awarded (over €25k) on .

A voluntary register of staff qualifications is maintained by the Staff Development Unit in my Department.  The total number of qualifications recorded on the register is currently 2439 covering a variety of disciplines.  The table below sets out the number of staff recorded as having attained a professional qualification, for the organisations requested by the Deputy.