Department of Public Expenditure and ReformStructure of the Department
The Department, many of whose activities are carried out on a co-operative basis by two or more Divisions, has ten Divisions as follows:
Central Expenditure Policy and Reporting Division (including Justice and Health Votes) supports the Department’s mission in relation to sustainable, well-managed public expenditure and effective, responsive, transparent governance through the Division’s responsibility for overall public expenditure policy, strategy and related reporting. This includes preparation of the annual Estimates and Mid-Year Expenditure Report as well as the development of the Medium Term Expenditure Framework, Spending Review, Performance Budgeting, Equality Budgeting and aggregate public service numbers policy. The Division is also responsible for the oversight and implementation of the National Development Plan 2018-2027 in the context of Project Ireland 2040, national policy for Public Private Partnerships and expenditure management for the Health and Justice sectors; and for promoting highest standards in public financial management, reporting and corporate governance.
Labour Market and Enterprise Policy Division is responsible for development of the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) and management of the DPER IGEES Unit.
The Division manages the Prevention and Early Intervention Unit and various Votes (Agriculture,
Food and the Marine; Children and Youth Affairs; Housing; Business, Enterprise and Innovation;
Employment Affairs and Social Protection; Transport, Tourism and Sport; Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht; Finance; Foreign Affairs and Trade, OPW; Rural and Community Development; Taoiseach; State Property; and the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission).
Expenditure Management, Structural Funds and Audit manages the following Votes - Communications, Climate Action and Environment; Defence; Education and Skills; as well as the Climate Change Unit. It is also responsible for EU Structural and Investment Funds as well as Cohesion Policy including the management of the eCohesion System. The Division also conducts departmental coordination of a range of issues relating to the EU and North South cooperation. In addition, this Division is responsible for the ERDF Audit Authority and the Internal Audit Unit.
Public Service Pay and Pensions Division deals with pay and pension policy development and application for the entire Public Service. It also leads on the management of industrial relations issues across all sectors of the Public Service (Civil Service, education, health, local authorities, defence, justice (Garda Siochána, Prisons), and non-commercial State agencies). The Division is responsible for matters relating to the pay and pensions of Officeholders, Oireachtas, Judiciary and senior post holders. It also manages the operation of the IR machinery for the Civil Service – the Conciliation & Arbitration (C & A) Scheme. The Division manages Vote 12 Superannuation and deals with pension’s terms applying in commercial State bodies where significant matters of policy are involved; atypical pension terms (e.g. professional added years; cost neutral early retirement), employment conditions for EU officials; Board fees; Travel and Subsistence policy. The Division is leading a project to address deficits in the implementation of the Single Public Service Pension Scheme.
Reform Division is responsible for developing, driving, co-ordinating, supporting and evaluating the Government’s programme of Public Service Reform and Innovation and Civil Service Renewal. It is also responsible for legislative and other Government reform commitments to promote and support open, accountable and transparent government. The implementation of Our Public Service 2020 is a key priority, as is the development of a culture of evaluation across the Public Service. An important part of the work of the division in driving reform is the implementation of the Civil Service Renewal Plan and supporting the Civil Service Management Board, which has collective responsibility for delivering the plan. It also has responsibility for managing the Civil Service wide Employee Engagement Surveys, the Annual Civil Service Excellence Awards and for the programme of Organisational Capability Reviews.
Civil Service Human Resources Division is responsible for the development and implementation of HR policies in the Civil Service including workforce planning encompassing the workforce planning framework and policies on recruitment; promotion; talent management; mobility and secondment. The Division is also responsible for Civil Service performance management policies including probation; PMDS and underperformance and employment policies including discipline, grievance, and bullying and harassment; leave policy including the Public Service Sick Leave scheme. It also has a role in developing Civil Service equality and diversity policies and associated flexible working arrangements. It has responsibility for OneLearning, which is the learning and development centre for the civil service responsible for training needs and initiatives that are common across the civil service. It supports the Senior Public Service in terms of continuous professional development, performance management, talent management and networking and is responsible for the Civil Service Employee Assistance Service. The Division is responsible for facilitating the implementation of the People Strategy, which focuses on addressing key common challenges across the Civil Service. The primary aim of the People Strategy is to support the civil service in delivering excellent services to the public under the following pillars: Be an Employer of Choice; Building the Workforce of the Future; Build Support and Value Managers as People Developers; and Position HR as a Strategic Driver.
Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) has a broad remit. A key part of its responsibilities is to direct digital transformation across government and the implementation of relevant strategies. These currently include the eGovernment Strategy 2017-2020, which is under review, the Public Service Data Strategy 2019-2023, the priority actions from Cruinniú GovTech 2019, Action 1 of Our Public Service 2020, and the Public Service ICT Strategy. The later document, which will be updated in late 2020, seeks to deliver better outcomes and efficiency through innovation and excellence in ICT - encompassing five pillars namely Build to Share, Digital First, Data as an Enabler, Improve Governance and Increase Capability. The establishment of the Vote for OGCIO in 2020 is a recognition of the importance and success to date of the Build to Share initiative which is a significant driver of the digital agenda across a range of platforms including Government Networks, the common applications suite, managed desktop services, private Government cloud and the gov.ie portal; with plans in place to continue expanding both the client base and range of services further during 2020; as well as taking forward the ICT HR Professionalisation Strategy for the Civil Service. In addition, OGCIO participates in a range of internal, national and international working groups, steering and programme boards for strategic initiatives; has significant engagement with multilateral institutions including the OECD and in particular the EU, acting as the national coordinator for implementation of the Single Digital
Gateway and eIDAS Regulations; and plays a leadership role to accelerate digital service delivery and innovation across the Public Service including through the development and application of a range of ICT policies.
Office of Government Procurement (OGP) leads on the reform of public procurement across the Public Service, and integrates national public procurement policy and operations. It provides a range of compliant value-for-money procurement solutions, including framework agreements and contracts, to support its public service clients in delivering services to the public. It works with partner sourcing organisations in Health, Education, Local Government and Defence to deliver on the objectives set by Government for procurement and to enable collaboration and coordination. Finally, it supports a number of national procurement systems, including eTenders and Business Intelligence, on behalf of Government.
HR Strategy Unit operates across three functional areas HR Operations, Organisational Development and HR Business Partnering. The Unit provides a comprehensive range of services across the HR disciplines including, Recruitment, Workforce Planning, Learning and Development, HR Consultancy, Performance Management, Employee/ Industrial Relations, Health and Wellbeing and Change Management.
Corporate Office is comprised of four Units – the Corporate Support Unit, the Corporate Governance Unit, the Data Protection Unit and the Finance Unit. Its role is to operate and continually enhance D/PER’s governance, risk management and compliance framework and provide a high quality of corporate support, and to implement effective financial management and procurement arrangements for the Department.
In addition to the above ten Divisions, the Office of the Chief Medical Officer is also located in the Department.
