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APPENDIX VPUBLIC SERVICE MANPOWER PLANNING AND CONTROL RESPONSIBILITY APPENDIX V
Letter from the Clerk to the Committee to the Department of the Public ServiceDear Secretary, I am to confirm that the Committee on Public Expenditure will resume hearing evidence on your Department at its next meeting on Tuesday 1 May at 4 p.m. in Committee Room G.24, Kildare House. You will recall that the Committee requested a statement on the distinction between the functions of the personnel sections in the various Departments/ Offices and those areas for which your Department is responsible. I would be glad if you could forward same to me in advance of the next Committee meeting. It may be some weeks before a transcript of yesterday’s meeting becomes available due to the demands on the staff of the Editor of Debates. Yours sincerely, Clerk to the Committee. 18 April, 1984. Letter from the Department of the Public Service to Clerk to the CommitteeI refer to your letter of 18 April 1984 about the request by the Committee on Public Expenditure for a statement on the distinction between the functions of the Personnel Sections in the various Departments/Offices and those areas for which this Department is responsible. I enclose herewith a statement as requested. There are a few points which I would like to make in relation to this statement and to the matters raised during the proceedings of the Committee on 17 April 1984. First, I would draw attention to the definition of personnel work used in the discussions with the Committee. This definition is that adopted in the written reply to the Parliamentary Question by Mr. Richard Bruton T. D. on 8 November 1983 (copy attached). In a note to that reply it was indicated that Departments, in supplying the information, were asked to include staff engaged in personnel, organisational, industrial relations and training work. The definition, therefore, covers personnel work in its widest sense. Second, although the question asked for the number of civil servants employed in each Government Department, the duties of the staff employed in the personnel functions extend, in some cases, to State employees other than civil servants. These were, at the date of the question, some eight thousand industrial and fee-paid employees of Government Departments and some two thousand civilian employees attached to units of the Defence Forces who were also dealt with by the personnel functions in their Departments. Furthermore, in some Departments, the personnel functions deal with the formulation of personnel policy, including industrial relations work, for associated sectors of the public service such as the Health Boards, local authorities and the Defence Forces. These factors account for the higher than average proportions of personnel staff to other civil service staff in such Departments as Health, Environment and Defence. Third, the main principle on which the personnel work is split between this Department and other Departments is that the Minister for the Public Service by statute has ultimate responsibility for laying down arrangements for the regulation and control of the civil service. As a general statement, the individual Departments are concerned with day-to-day personnel management and administration (including negotiation with unions on Departmental matters) within guidelines, sanctions and regulations laid down by this Department. In exercising their day-to-day functions, Departments may, and do, draw on the advice, support and expertise of this Department and also avail of such central services as the Civil Service Training Centre, Operations Research and Management Services. It may be helpful for the Committee to have a copy of the Civil Service Conciliation and Arbitration Scheme which spells out the division of functions between this Department and the Departments in the areas covered by the scheme. Finally, it might be noted that, of the 424 staff employed in the Department of the Public Service, 203 are employed in the Central Data Processing Services where they are mainly engaged on the provision of computer services for other Departments and Agencies; 55 are engaged in common services such as typing, messenger services, registry etc. and 8 have been included in the figure of 1,050 given in reply to the Parliamentary Question. The number engaged in dealing with the functions for which this Department is responsible (as set out in the statement) is therefore 158. Yours sincerely, Secretary. 27 April, 1984. Statement of Functions of Personnel Sections in Departments/ Offices and those areas for which the Department of the Public Service is responsibleNote Personnel is to be taken as including the organisation and industrial relations functions1. Functions of Personnel Sections in Departments/Offices- To advise management on Departmental structures and the organisation of the Department and its associated Agencies -To advise, promote and assist in the provision of systems for carrying out the Department’s work in the most cost-effective way -To review and propose staff numbers and gradings -To advise on, and control, purchases of office machinery and equipment -To engage necessary management expertise, including consultants, as required -To ensure the filling of authorised vacancies by recruitment, promotion or redeployment - To implement Departmental staff appraisal and assessment schemes and to ensure their effective operation -To ensure appropriate training for the staff of the Department by •induction and formal training courses run by the Departmental Training Officer •on-the-job training •specialised training for Departmental grades •courses run by the Civil Service Training Centre, the IPA etc. -To ensure the development of staff through •planned placement and mobility •post-entry education -To deal with day-to-day personnel matters (involving in many cases discussion with local branches of unions) •probation and promotion •sick, annual and other leave •disciplinary problems •termination of service •superannuation -To maintain all necessary staff records -To provide appropriate welfare services -To operate, in conjunction with the Department of the Public Service, the Departmental aspects of the relevant systems of negotiation of pay and conditions for civil servants, including the Departmental Conciliation Councils -To operate, where appropriate, in consultation with the Department of the Public Service, relevant systems of negotiation of pay and conditions for non-civil service staff under the aegis of the Department -To maintain liaison with State-sponsored bodies and other public service agencies to ensure consistency with Government policy on pay and conditions -To provide necessary accommodation (in association with the Office of Public Works) and to maintain security and safety arrangements -To manage central services for the Department (e.g. messenger, typing, telephone and registry services) -To ensure satisfactory arrangements for dealing with the public. 2. Functions of the Department of the Public Service-To advise on the overall structural and systems requirements of the public service -To advise on the machinery of the public service generally and to develop legislative measures where required e.g. amendments to Ministers and Secretaries Acts, Ombudsman, etc. - To develop appropriate management systems -To advise on, and provide, a central pool of special management skills, e.g. O&M, operations research, technology -To control central Government expenditure on office machinery and equipment -To review organisation efficiency and effectiveness in conjunction with Departments - To co-ordinate, control and advise on, the engagement of special expertise (including consultants) -To promote satisfactory arrangements for dealing with the public - To co-ordinate and control recruitment and promotional procedures in the civil service to ensure the availability of adequate numbers of staff with appropriate skills -To develop and co-ordinate systems of staff appraisal, motivation, development and training for civil servants and to provide and promote training and educational facilities either directly through the Civil Service Training Centre or through the Institute of Public Administration or other institutions -To adapt personnel policies to changing economic and social conditions (job sharing, career breaks, employment of the handicapped, provision of welfare services etc.) -To promote the use of the Irish language in the public service -To oversee, control and co-ordinate numbers and gradings of civil service staff and to contribute to policy on public service numbers generally -To review and advise the Minister/Government on developments in pay, conditions and industrial relations in the public sector -To contribute to the development of national incomes policy, especially within the public sector -To advise on and, where appropriate, act as negotiators for the Government as employer in national or public service pay negotiations -To operate the central negotiation systems and procedures for pay and conditions for civil servants; to participate, where appropriate, in negotiating systems for other public service groups and to maintain liaison with Departments and other public sector bodies to ensure consistency with Government policy -To make rules and regulations governing the conduct and activities of civil servants -To settle the annual estimates for, and monitor expenditure on, the Exchequer pay bill -To administer superannuation schemes for the civil service and to supervise and co-ordinate public sector superannuation and related schemes -To advise the Minister/Government on the personnel implications of all proposals put forward by other Departments -To carry out from time to time comprehensive and fundamental examinations of the public service - To undertake, encourage and sponsor administrative research. In addition, through the Central Data Processing Services, the Department of the Public Service provides a central computer service for Departments and Agencies and controls expenditure on computer equipment and staffing. DAIL DEBATES
Civil Servants Numbers. 265. Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for the Public Service the number of civil servants employed in each Government Department; and the number employed in the personnel function within each Department. Minister for the Public Service (Mr. Boland): The information, which has been supplied to me by Departments, is as follows:
Notes: 1. Departments in supplying the above information were asked to include staff engaged in personnel, organisation, industrial relations and training work. In some Departments these persons are integrated with officers engaged on other personnel work and it was not feasible to try to segregate the various duties. The numbers shown do not include those providing common services such as typing, messenger services and registry which come under the management of personnel sections. 2. The figures include persons employed in the formulation of personnel policy for bodies coming under the aegis of a Department/Office such as health boards, local authorities, An Garda Siochána. State-sponsored bodies and education sector employees. |
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