Written answers

Wednesday, 22 September 2021

Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Flexible Work Practices

Photo of Emer HigginsEmer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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11. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the steps taken by his Department to support the implementation of the national remote work strategy Making Remote Work; the approximate number or percentage of staff within his Department who have access to cloud services for remote videoconferencing and the capacity to work remotely; his plans to increase this percentage; the framework under which procurement for this is managed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45366/21]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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A central policy framework for Blended Working in the Civil Service will be finalised in conjunction with employee representatives over the coming months. One of the key objectives of the Blended Working Framework is to deliver on the Programme for Government commitment to move to 20% remote working. It is anticipated that my Department’s Blended Working Policy will be in place by end Q1 2022 in line with central Government guidance. A key aim of the policy will be to balance and support the business needs of the Department with retaining the flexibility and benefits of remote working.

To enable staff to work remotely during the course of the pandemic, all staff in the Department have been provided with the capacity to work remotely with IT hardware and software including laptops, phones and software licences. The percentage of staff with the capability to remote work and have access to cloud services for videoconferencing amounts to approximately 100%.

During the course of the pandemic, my Department continues to ensure all staff have access to cloud service remote videoconferencing and have the capability to remote work. This is managed under the Office of Government Procurement framework for the provision of Microsoft Licensing Services.

Photo of Emer HigginsEmer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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12. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the steps taken by agencies under the remit of his Department to support the implementation of the national remote work strategy Making Remote Work; the approximate number or percentage of staff within these agencies who have access to cloud services for remote videoconferencing and the capacity to work remotely; if there are plans to increase this percentage; the framework under which procurement for this is managed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45383/21]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The information requested in relation to the agencies under the aegis of my Department is an operational matter for each agency. The Department will request the relevant bodies to reply directly to the Deputy with the appropriate information in respect of their organisations.

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