Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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652. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of staff in her Department working on procurement services providing support to contracting authorities and their respective grades; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38195/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will appreciate, my Department procures a wide range of goods and services and works with contracting authorities across the education sector in relation to their procurement requirements.

In this context, I would note that the Education Procurement Service has been established in order to provide support in relation to procurement to schools, ETBs and other bodies within the education sector.

In the Department itself, there are the equivalent of 15.4 FTE working directly on procurement as part of their responsibilities. The attached table gives the breakdown by grade of the officers involved.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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653. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of times the education procurement service has been contacted by contracting authorities for guidance on the inclusion of social and environmental criteria in procurement contracts; if the education procurement service monitors the level of use of social and environmental criterion in procurement by contracting authorities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38196/23]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Education Procurement Service (EPS) has a policy of providing general guidance and advice on social and environmental criteria to all contracting authorities on initial engagement when they are sourcing goods/services on their behalf.

The EPS has not received any specific requests for guidance from contracting authorities on the inclusion of social and environmental criteria for self-procurement projects.

If contacted by contracting authorities, the EPS would advise: a) it’s their responsibility to devise their own social and environmental criteria appropriate to their procurement requirements and b) The Office of Government Procurement (OGP) an office of DPENDER or the EPA who have responsibility for providing guidance on social and environmental criteria can be contacted for advice.

The responsibility for monitoring the level of use of social and environmental criteria in procurements is the responsibility of each contracting authority. EPS ensures as a central procurement body that all its central arrangements include social and environmental criteria where appropriate.