Committee Reports::Final Report - Appropriation Accounts 1988::05 March, 1990::Appendix


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APPENDIX 41

When I appeared before the Committee on Public Accounts recently, I promised to provide information regarding the average cost of making an appointment in recent years. This information is now set out in the attached statement.

The Commission makes every effort to do its work efficiently and cost effectively. The Commission has, however, never regarded the average cost per appointment as a reliable guide to cost effectiveness because:

—the range of appointments dealt with by both the Civil Service Commission and Local Appointments Commission is very varied and the format of competitions also varies considerably.

—A critical element in determining cost per appointment is the actual number of appointments eventually made from the major recruitment-level competitions to the Civil Service. The number of appointments is not however determined by the Commissioners.

—The Civil Service Commission is called upon to engage in various functions e.g. Irish testing, Excluding Orders, recertifications, reinstatements etc. which are not reflected in numbers of appointments made through the Commission.

There is, of course, the further consideration that the selection of the best candidate for the job must over years yield returns, in terms of the public interest, far above any likely level of recruitment cost.

BRENDAN LANNON,

Secretary,

Civil Service Commission.

5 March 1990.

Clark to the Committee.

Committee of Public Accounts,

Leinster House,

Dublin 2.

Average cost per appointment

Two items may serve to put the following figures in context, viz.

(i)the cost of advertising one single vacancy can amount to anything between £1,000 and £4,000,

(ii)the fee charged by a firm of Consultants for the filling of an appointment amounts to 15 per cent of the first year’s salary in addition to advertising costs and charges in respect of time spent interviewing and/or testing.

The average cost per appointment given below is arrived at by dividing the number of appointments in a particular year into the total expenditure for that year (which includes staff costs overheads and direct expenditure on advertising, interviewing, examinations etc.) Expenditure figures also include some costs arising from Statutory functions not directly related to the appointments enumerated below.

1984
Expenditure	£1,958,900

Recommendations/Assignments

C.S.C.	1,481
L.A.C.	420
Garda	381
	2,282

Average £858

1985
Expenditure	£1,952,000

Recommendations/Assignments

C.S.C.	3,017
L.A.C.	380
Garda	252
	3,649

Average £535

1986
Expenditure	£2,252,400

Recommendations/Assignments

C.S.C.	2,663
L.A.C.	299
Garda	339
	3,301

Average £682

1987

Negligible number of appointments; C.S.C./L.A.C. staff largely redeployed although remaining on C.S.C./L.A.C. payroll; calculations inappropriate and unrepresentative.

1988
Expenditure	£701,000

Recommendations/Assignments

C.S.C.	352
L.A.C.	68
Garda	—
	420

Average £1,690

Note: Garda Trainee recruitment competition commenced in 1988 but no intake occurred in that year although costs accrued.

1989
Expenditure	£1,085,000

Recommendations/Assignments

C.S.C.	628
L.A.C.	211
Garda	384
	1,187

Average £914