Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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385. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department has a designated head of procurement; if each agency or public body under her Department’s remit also has a designated head of procurement; and if so, to list those entities, along with the name or grade of the person holding that role. [33638/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Education and Youth have two designated ‘heads of procurement’ outlined below;

The information in respect of state bodies under the aegis, within the scope of the Deputy’s question, is not held by my department. State bodies have been provided with the question and have been advised to respond directly to the Deputy.

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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386. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of staff within her Department and its agencies who hold a formal procurement qualification or certification (for example, CIPS, NFQ Level 6 or higher in procurement, EU public procurement training), broken down by organisation, in tabular form. [33656/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his question; my department does not employ whole time procurement officers and therefore I am unable to provide detail of the number of staff who hold formal qualification or certification in procurement.

Procurement is undertaken throughout the department by officers within the business units responsible for the relevant goods or services, or through the Office of Government Procurement (OGP) who source goods and services on behalf of public bodies. All such procurement must adhere to public procurement policy, regulation and best practice.

My department has a dedicated Procurement Policy Unit. This unit’s responsibilities include providing procurement support and resources to business units and ensuring that staff are aware of their responsibilities under the department’s corporate procurement plan and public procurement policy.

In addition, under the Government’s Procurement Reform programme, led by the OGP, the Education Procurement Service (EPS) is the Department of Education and Youth's sector sourcing hub. It operates as a shared service for the department: it's agencies; the schools sector; Education and Training Boards and the Higher Education Sector.

EPS represents the education and training sector needs, providing a voice for the sector within the development of frameworks and contracts under the national procurement model.

The information in respect of state bodies under the aegis, within the scope of the Deputy’s question, is not held by my department. State bodies have been provided with the question and have been advised to respond directly to the Deputy.

Albert Dolan (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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387. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if her Department and each agency or public body under its remit uses a formal contract management system or procurement tracking platform; to list the systems in use; and if they are centrally monitored or independently operated. [33674/25]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The Department of Education and Youth use a centralised ‘SharePoint’ Contracts Register, which is updated by individual business units within the Department. The program is an inhouse IT design which allows us to improve the data collected to meet Public Procurement Law as it evolves. Contracts listed are also monitored by the Procurement Policy Unit.

The information in respect of state bodies under the aegis, within the scope of the Deputy’s question, is not held by my department. State bodies have been provided with the question and have been advised to respond directly to the Deputy.