Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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154. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of persons employed at each level of the Civil Service from Secretary General to cleaner each year since 2016; the number of those at each level who are female in each year since 2016, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18344/19]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Staffing resources are an ongoing priority to ensure my Department’s continued ability to facilitate the wide mission and volume of work in a range of challenging policy areas. This will continue with ongoing day-to-day review of the appropriate staffing mix across my Department in response to evolving policy and operational priorities.

My Department has seen a careful increase in overall staffing numbers over the past three years.  This has been due to: the filling of critical vacancies that existed; significant priorities emerging from environmental challenges, such as Brexit, and; new bodies of work, for example the Digital Single Market - impacting on the resourcing needs of the Department.

In this regard, the Department operates a robust workforce plan, on a three-year rolling basis, and liaises directly with the Public Appointments Service (PAS) and Top-Level Appointments Committee (TLAC) in relation to the filling of posts.

The Secretary General of my Department is one of four Secretaries General leading the delivery of Action 8.5 of the Civil Service Renewal Plan – “To improve gender balance at each level by reviewing supports and policies to ensure these measures are impactful and measurable”.

The Civil Service has set an ambitious target to achieve 50/50 gender balance in appointments at senior levels. This is essential to ensure that the Civil Service is reflective of society.

My Department operates an equal opportunity policy to ensure that an equal share of both women and men can compete for and be awarded high visibility positions across the Department and its Offices.  In this regard, the Department operates a best fit for the job policy.

The number and gender in each civil service grade in the Department for each year since 2016 is set out in the following table: