Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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333. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she has conducted a capacity review of her Department’s ability to deliver services that they are responsible for in the past ten years to date; the same of State bodies and agencies under her Department’s aegis; if she published those reviews; the number of recommendations implemented arising from the reviews and same for State bodies and agencies under her aegis; if the capacity review was outsourced; and if so, to whom and at what cost. [40844/24]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I can confirm that my Department's most recent Organisational Capability Review (OCR) commenced in December 2019 under Action 20 of the Civil Service Renewal Plan.

This review was carried out by a team from the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, supported and assisted by a liaison officer from the Department of Rural and Community Development. It followed a set format to examine the Department’s capability under four over-arching filters – Leadership; Policy and Strategy; Delivery; and Organisational Capacity. The final report was received in June 2020.

Following receipt of the report my Department developed an OCR Implementation Plan, which contained 86 actions responding to the recommendations in the OCR. The implementation plan comprises a broad mix of small and larger actions that facilitate delivery of the Department’s ambitious policy agenda and support it as a champion for rural and community development.

Implementation of the plan continues to be led out by my Department’s senior management team . This includes for example, our people strategy, leadership development, our communications strategy, and how we can use ICT to support more efficient and effective delivery. Of the 86 actions in the implementation plan, 74 are either complete, or are implemented and embedded within the processes of the organisation.

Both the OCR and the OCR implementation plan are available here -

The agencies under the aegis of my Department are independent legal entities responsible for managing their own corporate affairs and related matters in compliance with statutory obligations and the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies.