MINISTERS, Oireachtas members and civil servants must make major changes in how they operate if efficiency in the public service is to be improved, the Taoiseach said.
During a two day discussion on public service efficiency at an Oireachtas committee yesterday, Mr Bruton suggested performance related pay, large scale devolution of power within the State apparatus, and a major change in the public service culture.
He was addressing the Oireachtas Committee on Finance and General Affairs. The discussion centres on the Strategic Management Initiative (see panel) launched in February 1994 by the then government.
"One of the major objectives for this Government is to make service the ethos of all those who work for the State - whether they be elected or appointed," he said. He gave three examples of what he had in mind:
. Personalised, courteous and speedy service should be delivered as a matter of course;
. Each social welfare, local authority or other public service office should become a "one stop shop" for those who use it. Thus, for example, an unemployed person would get all information on all available services at one office;
. People should not be passed from section to section to have their queries answered.
Such changes involved "putting decision making power in the hands of those who know most about service delivery - front line staff. This means a concerted programme of delegation and devolution" - from Government Ministers to officials and from senior officials to more junior officials.
"This is not easy," he went on "nobody likes to give up power. But without such devolution, almost every decision would be referred upwards and the decision making process would be slowed down.
More junior officials would therefore have to be trusted with making decisions, even though "decision making involves risk". People worked well and were happier in an environment where they had to take a risk every day and were trusted to do so, he said.
Risk taking by individuals should be rewarded, and occasional mistakes would have to be allowed. "If we have the approach that every mistake is punished in an adversarial way, that means people won't take risks." Decisions would continue to be referred upwards by officials seeking "political cover".
The traditional way of rewarding those performing well in their, jobs was through promotion. "But this often involves promoting people from a job they are good at to one they are not."
He said the public service should look at the idea of giving financial rewards, such as performance related pay, instead.
The devolution of power would mean that Ministers were no longer technically in the position of running everything. Therefore the centralised reporting of Ministers to the Dail, with Ministers, responsible for every decision in their Departments, would change.
More officials would report to committees, taking some of the burden off Ministers reporting to the Dail.
He said that each Government department had been asked to prepare a statement of its goals and strategy. These would be published by the end of the year. Each department would then manage its own renewal programme: "This is not a programme of change devised at or enforced from the centre."
Public service efficiency would also be greatly improved through "multi annual budgeting. The idea of giving estimates for just one year and not giving any indication what resources will be available in subsequent years will have to change.