Departments are now judged not on what they spend but on what they deliver, writes ROBERT WATT
PAUL HARAN set out an interesting critique of Irish policymaking (The Irish Times, Opinion, June 8th), reflecting on the type of structure and approach we are discarding, but his comments indicate a lack of familiarity with the changed approach of 2012.
All the issues raised in his article, and more besides, have moved on a good way.
I wholly agree with Haran’s central theme that organisations should focus on delivery, not just spending. Yet we have completely revamped the old budget process; departments are now judged not on what they spend but on what they deliver. Performance objectives are now published in the new estimates format alongside spending allocations. Senior public service managers and ministers will be held to account for what they plan to achieve.
The concern is raised that, in the public service, “success is spending all your money”. Since 2004, government departments have been allowed to carry over unspent capital sums to the following year, rather than rush to spend a full allocation by year-end. This “carryover” facility has been successful in improving the quality of public spending and from this year it is being extended to current spending.
This is part of the modernisation of public budgeting announced by Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin in last year’s Comprehensive Expenditure Report 2012-2014.
Haran imagines possible new roles for the Oireachtas and its committees, without mentioning the major innovations already under way.
Apart from the role of the committees in scrutinising the performance-based budgets, they can and are encouraged to engage with departments to discuss spending plans and priorities for the coming years.
Last December, the Government published multi-annual spending ceilings for 2012 to 2014.
The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform published all the background documents to the comprehensive review of expenditure in December, setting out all the costed options for savings.
Several Dáil committees are now set to debate the 2013 estimates allocations on the basis of the fixed spending ceilings with the relevant departments. A close engagement with the Oireachtas can improve the quality of scrutiny of what is being achieved and delivered with diminished public funds. It also can increase the levels of accountability, both for ministers and for public service managers.
This approach – open engagement and debating of spending allocations before they have been decided by Government, not afterwards – is an unprecedented innovation in Irish budgeting and a long way from the “centralised” approach of former times, against which Haran directs his views.
Better budgeting and greater devolution of decision-making is a central part of the Government’s reform agenda.
This will be delivered within an appropriate accountability framework where managers have authority and are also accountable for their actions.
Related to this, a new Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) is now being put in place under which highly skilled economists are being deployed into the public service to address the specialist skills gaps identified in the past.
The IGEES will mark a major shift towards evidence-based policymaking, and its analyses and recommendations will be routinely published.
More generally, there is now an unprecedented momentum for reform and innovation across all areas of the public service.
The Government published a far-reaching public service reform plan last November, and a Reform Delivery Office – headed by a director recruited specifically for this purpose – is overseeing implementation of the reform agenda.
The Government’s reform programme is based around five central themes: placing customer service at the core of all we do; maximising new, innovative service-delivery; radically cutting costs to get better value; leading, organising and working in new ways; and a strong focus on implementation and delivery.
Centrally, the department is co-ordinating reform across a range of issues including annual leave, pensions, allowances, overtime, workforce planning, performance management, leadership, mobility, shared services, procurement, property management and eGovernment.
Departments and major offices have produced integrated reform delivery plans, which place centrally driven initiatives in the context of organisational and sectoral reforms.
Progress is overseen by the Reform and Delivery Office.
There is an argument to be made that reform initiatives in the past lacked sufficient focus on co-ordination and delivery. The department is driving increased capacity and capability for change across the various sectors of the public service, to ensure the focus is firmly on implementation and delivery.
The public service landscape has shifted – and will shift – a long way from the institutions of old. We are moving towards a smaller, leaner, more accountable and results-focused service.
The winners from all this will be the people who benefit from well-designed and well-delivered public services, and those of us in the public service who take pride in an innovative environment with highly motivated colleagues.
Robert Watt is secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform