Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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93. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will report on the progress or otherwise in the implementation of his Department's People Strategy 2021-2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60494/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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My Department's People Strategy 2021-2024 sets out the following three high-level goals:

- For DETE to be an ‘Employer of Choice’

- To develop a resilient workforce

- To build a supportive and inclusive workplace

Progress made under each of these goals is set out below.

Employer of Choice

The HR Unit of my Department has implemented a range of initiatives to further enhance career progression pathways and to communicate career opportunities both within the Department, the wider Civil Service and at EU and International level.  The Department is committed to increasing Irish representation in the European Union’s Institutions through the Department of Foreign Affair’s ‘A Career for EU’ Strategy, increasing our number of seconded national experts (SNE) to five at end November 2022, with a further one SNE due to be posted in January 2023.

The Department launched its Blended Working Policy on 30 June 2022 which is informed by the Civil Service Blended Working Framework.  Applications for blended working commenced in September 2022 following a series of information roadshows and to date 82% of staff have applied for a blended working arrangement. These applications are currently being processed.

My Department has a dedicated Innovation Officer who provides support to an internal committee Innovate@ETE, which is overseen by a steering group and chaired by the Secretary General. Staff are encouraged to submit ideas for consideration and there are a number of sub-groups focused on putting ideas into practice. My Department has submitted four applications as part of our engagement with the Civil Service Excellence and Innovation Awards 2022. Following a shortlisting process, winners will be announced at a ceremony in Dublin Castle, next March 2023.

As part of Innovation Week, commencing October 23^rd, the DETE iLabs were launched. The aim of iLabs is to embed 'design thinking' further into the work of the Department, in line with the overarching document: ‘Design Principles for Government in Ireland – Designing our Public Services’, which was launched in October this year.

Resilient Workforce

Strategic Workforce Planning (SWFP) is an important initiative to ensure that the Department has the right people, in the right place, with the right skills at the right time.  The HR Unit of my Department has recently concluded SWFP engagements with senior leaders and is currently analysing the data before presenting its findings to the Management Board in early 2023.  In line with the People Strategy, the HR Unit has refreshed its approach to SWFP enabling additional formal consultation in line with the business plan process and ongoing informal consultation through the Department’s HR Business Partnering initiative.

The Department secured its own recruitment licence to ensure that for specific posts, it can recruit the required talent with the right skills.

Supportive and inclusive workplace

Currently, a consultation with all staff is underway on the Department’s Strategy Statement on Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (E,D&I).  The consultation closes on 6^thDecember and in the preceding weeks the HR Unit has presented to the Disability Consultancy Committee, the departmental network ‘Pride in Enterprise’, and consulted with the Unions through Departmental Council.  Views and perspectives from these consultations will inform the final Policy Statement on E, D&I and our E, D&I Strategy which will be launched in 2023.  The Department has been liaising closely with the Irish Centre for Diversity over the last year and will be applying shortly for ‘Investors in Diversity Bronze’ workplace award.

The Department, though its People Strategy, is committed to regular staff engagement and conducted most recently in September a Staff Pulse Survey on Blended Working with a second survey to issue in the new year.  The data collected will inform the ongoing implementation of blended working across the Department and its Offices.

To support staff in a blended working environment, the HR Unit developed an action plan ‘ConnEcTEd Teams Action Plan’. The ‘ConnEcTEd Teams’ programme established behaviours that support effective remote/blended working for teams. The programme targets five key areas to ensure connectedness and trust, efficient information flows, coaching, remote collaboration and innovation, and supporting employee wellbeing. A working group was established to oversee implementation of the Action Plan and is supported by HR and led at Assistant Secretary level.

A valuable initiative, developed through ‘ConnEcTEd Teams’, was the establishment of a Peer-2-Peer Network enabling more experienced staff members and new entrants to meet on a monthly basis, supporting connectedness.

My Department developed an Action Plan in response to the results of the 2020 Civil Service Employee Engagement Survey, which was submitted to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) and progress updates on this Action Plan are provided to DPER as requested. 

The DETE People Strategy and the goals and targets set out will continue to be implemented by the Department, its HR Unit, and its people over the remainder of its duration to end 2023.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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94. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will report on the progress or otherwise in the implementation of his Department’s ICT Strategy 2020-2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60495/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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My Department’s current ICT Strategy was finalised and published in November 2020, with a vision for the Department “to be a leader among its peers through the consistent delivery of innovative digital and data solutions and services”.  The strategy contains 59 actions in total, spread across a number of high-level objectives.  Good progress has been made during the first two years of the strategy.  Of 59 actions in the strategy, 9 are completed, 5 partially complete, 19 commenced, 21 ongoing, 3 not started and 1 currently stalled (but options to address this are being explored). 

The strategy is not intended to be a static document, but is intended to be reviewed over the course of its life to ensure that it remains relevant to the changing needs of my Department.  As the strategy has reached its mid-way point my Department has begun a process to review progress on the strategy and its implementation.  This review will provide an opportunity to ensure that the strategy goals remain relevant.  This review process may give rise to new areas of action, or identify some actions which are no longer as relevant.