Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Since 2017 my Department has been responsible for the co-ordination and management of the annual Spending Review process. This involves individual Departments choosing an expenditure or policy area to review and conducting analysis that improves our knowledge of and the data around that policy or programme with the aim of making it more effective and efficient.

The objective and scope of spending reviews has changed over time and the process moved from a centralised top down approach to one that facilitated Departments to analyse the efficiency and effectiveness of their own key policy areas. This widened the scope for Departments to develop the concept of evidence based policy making without necessarily a cost focus; though this was to remain a core objective. This changeover coincided with the further development of the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) and the embedding of IGEES analysts throughout Departments.

The result has been that more Departments now routinely assess key policies and programmes as part of the process compared to when it began in 2017; when reviews were mainly carried out by staff within my own Department. A total of 183 Spending Review papers have been published to date and are all published on my Department's website. The key trend within this uptake has been the move since 2020 onwards for line Departments to publish their own work or to work collaboratively with my Department to publish joint papers. So the uptake now is roughly 50:50 between papers published by line Departments and those published by my own Department.

In relation to reforms of the Spending Review, following a consultation process with key stakeholders via the cross departmental Steering Group, Spending Review 2023 trialed a number of reforms that aim to increase the impact of the spending review process. Following an appraisal of the Spending Review process during 2022 it was proposed that the 2023 iteration would see:

• The introduction of Technical Review Groups (formed thematically to replace or supplement the current Subgroup process);
• Changes to the Steering Group (to bring in a streamlined approach with a more strategic focus).

These changes were introduced along with some operational improvements such as revisions to the format of the scoping documents, the format of the templates, and the feedback process. In addition, more minor reforms were made which formalise the engagement and consultation processes and to encourage a wider focus on impact for the evaluations. The impact of the changes introduced is currently being reviewed and will be assessed by the Interdepartmental Steering Group overseeing this valued process.

In the coming weeks I will be publishing the final papers from the 2023 process. The publication of this research is an important feature of the budget cycle.

Specifically in relation to the selection of topics for review in the coming calendar year, this process is overseen by line-management structures, takes place with consideration of unit capacity, strategic priorities, and business needs. Business plans are currently being finalised and my Department therefore expects to have a preliminary list of areas subject to evaluation in 2024 in the coming months.