Reform of the public service

Transcription

1 Administration, vol. 60, no. 1 (2012), pp Reform of the public service Brendan Howlin, TD Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Abstract In March 2011 Brendan Howlin, TD, was appointed as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. As minister, he is responsible for the effective management of public expenditure and the reform of the public service. The establishment of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the minister s appointment illustrate the importance of the reform agenda at a time when resources, both in terms of staff and finances, are limited and there are very clear goals for further reductions in public spending. In this article the minister sets out his vision for the public service of the future and his plans for the most comprehensive programme of reform in the history of the State. 15

2 16 BRENDAN HOWLIN Introduction I am pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to Administration, which has been an important and recognised publication since its first issue in No one needs reminding of the challenges that we face as a country it is something that none of us can escape. The scale and complexity of the task to place the public finances on a sustainable footing is all too evident. The simple fact is that emergency borrowing from the EU and IMF is needed to fund our public services and pay people s wages, pensions and social welfare benefits. We have a significant fiscal deficit, which needs to be addressed decisively. Of course, expenditure reductions are difficult. But they are necessary if Ireland is to recover economically and meet its commitments to its citizens. As I said at the Institute of Public Administration s annual conference in October 2011, we should recognise that the choices we face are difficult and they are limited. But the alternative is unthinkable. The Institute of Public Administration has seen many reform initiatives over the years since its foundation. However, the backdrop to this government s ambitious reform programme is very different in light of the burning platform that is our fiscal position far-reaching public service reform is now an essential part of meeting the significant challenges that we face; notwithstanding positive developments to date, the public service must radically change what it does and how it does it. Pressures on public services We have to consolidate public spending. That is clear. But it cannot simply be a case of cutting funding across the board. We must maintain the public services on which so many of our people rely. And in many cases, the demand for these services is now greater than ever. As well as the general increase in demands arising from a population that has increased by over 348,000 since 2006, there are specific pressures on spending and on public services. The cost of jobseekers payments alone is now over three times the 2006 level. The number of medical card holders has increased by more than 400,000 since Demographic changes mean that the cost of providing State pensions is increasing (for example, from 3.75 billion in 2007 to almost 5 billion last year).

3 Reform of the public service 17 Committing to reform The government s commitment to public service reform was made clear by the decision to establish a Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, with a cabinet minister dedicated to driving the reform agenda for the first time. This has placed the issue of reform at the centre of government, and facilitated a direct relationship between the reform and expenditure functions of government. This reinforces the government s belief in the public service and the role that it can play in our national recovery. My department has three key priorities: achieving the government s fiscal targets; delivering public service reform; and supporting the government s political reform agenda. Achieving the government s fiscal targets Tax revenues fell by one-third between 2007 and While we are now rebuilding our revenue base, we do not have the resources to fund all the services that we would like to provide. The fiscal consolidation programme upon which we have embarked is a very challenging one. But the reality is that, in spite of the expenditure and revenue measures taken to date, we have an obligation to adhere to the Stability and Growth Pact and bring the general government deficit back below 3 per cent of GDP. It is currently estimated that an adjustment of some 8.6 billion over the three-year period will be required to achieve this target. As part of this process, we have implemented a fiscal consolidation of 3.8 billion in 2012 to deliver a deficit of 8.6 per cent of GDP, with 2.2 billion of this coming from expenditure reductions. Public expenditure must, of course, also be better managed and accounted for. My department has recently introduced a series of measures to ensure greater accountability, performance measurement and value for money in how the State spends tax revenues, and these are set out in more detail later. Delivering public service reform Turning to public service reform, which is the main focus of this article, the public service is facing an unprecedented challenge to deliver

4 18 BRENDAN HOWLIN services faster, better and more cost-effectively. All elements of the public service must work together to deliver value for money and quality public services that meet the needs of our community. Our commitment to reform must be built on the core values of integrity, fairness, accountability and openness. We need a public service that has the flexibility, capacity and capability to respond to current and future challenges in an everchanging economic and business environment, nationally and internationally. We need a public service that does better for less, providing real value for money for the Irish taxpayer by maximising efficiency and eliminating waste, and that is innovative in its approach to providing services. We must build a public service that is focused on improving organisational and individual performance, with public servants motivated by a commitment to excellence in administration and service delivery, and with the citizen at the centre of service planning and delivery. Putting in place the building blocks for reform I have already referred to the fact that previous reform initiatives did not have the same burning platform that now exists. I also believe that they did not have the requisite focus on implementation. The success of this government s public service reform programme will be highly dependent on a robust and inclusive focus on delivery and empowering public servants to deliver reform at local level. The establishment of my department is an innovative development and provides an opportunity to drive the implementation of the many elements of the reform programme in a new way by integrating our approaches to reform and expenditure. The role of my department in this context is to facilitate, support and drive reform; we cannot micromanage the delivery of change specific to each sector, although we will of course take the lead on key cross-cutting initiatives and enablers. To ensure a strong focus on implementation, I have established a dedicated Reform and Delivery Office in my department to coordinate the various reform initiatives across the public service and to ensure a strategic and concerted implementation programme. This office is led by a programme director with experience of implementing major change and restructuring in the private sector. In addition, each

5 Reform of the public service 19 department and major office has put in place a Change Delivery Team to manage and drive the reform process in their organisations and sectors, as well as in the various bodies and agencies under their aegis. The key driver in the reform process is the Cabinet Committee on Public Service Reform, which provides political direction and accountability for reform. The cabinet committee, chaired by the Taoiseach and convened by myself, meets regularly to consider priority issues and ensure that overall progress is being achieved. In addition, an Advisory Group of Secretaries General has been established, which meets quarterly to provide support and advice on strategic issues to the cabinet committee. A Reform Delivery Board, primarily comprising assistant secretaries responsible for leading reform in each government department and major office, meets regularly to oversee and monitor the delivery of public service reform at organisational and sectoral level, and to provide assurance to the Reform and Delivery Office, and to the cabinet committee, that public service reform is being successfully delivered. Taking action the Public Service Reform Plan On 17 November 2011 I launched the comprehensive Public Service Reform Plan, which outlines key commitments and actions for change across the public service. The Reform Plan sets out five central themes for reform. These are: placing customer service at the core of everything we do; maximising new and innovative service-delivery channels; radically reducing our costs to drive better value for money; leading, organising and working in new ways; and a strong focus on implementation and delivery. The Reform Plan contains some 70 recommendations and more than 200 actions, grouped under 14 main headings, as follows: implementa - tion; e-government, ICT, information sharing and customer service; shared services; business process improvement; procurement reform; property asset management; external service delivery; rationalisation and reorganisation; public expenditure reform; government-level performance management; organisational performance; leadership and individual performance; public service numbers, workforce planning and redeployment; and legislative and political reform.

6 20 BRENDAN HOWLIN A number of major projects have been identified as being of particular strategic importance and a priority for delivery. These projects, which have been assigned senior responsible owners (SROs), are the public services card, HR shared services (civil service), payroll shared services (civil service), public procurement reform, property asset management, government-level performance management and the senior public service. At this point I want to acknowledge the contribution of my colleague Minister of State Brian Hayes, who is driving key crossorganisational initiatives as part of the reform agenda. These include a drive for greater efficiency in public service spending, through shared services, procurement reform, property asset management and the development of a whole-of-government performance measure - ment system. These projects are particularly important in ensuring greater value for money for taxpayers and in enabling organisational and sectoral reforms. An integrated approach to reform It is essential that we take an integrated approach to public service reform that aligns the commitments to reform in the programme for government, coordinated delivery of key cross-government reforms, delivery of reform to frontline services within individual sectors, the outcome of the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure, and the Public Service (Croke Park) Agreement. Underpinning this integrated approach is the creation of high-level Integrated Reform Delivery Plans by each department and major office. This enables a clear understanding of the priority reform initiatives underway across the public service at both a cross-cutting and organisational level. These departmental plans also capture the reforms for the associated sector where applicable. Adopting these high-level Integrated Reform Delivery Plans enables a consistent approach to managing the portfolio of reform-related change across the public service and identifies key milestones and interdependencies that need to be managed to ensure the successful delivery of public service reform. Progress on many fronts I believe that it is already clear that we are a government committed to reform. For example, since taking office we have:

7 Reform of the public service 21 reduced the pay of the Taoiseach and ministers; reformed ministerial transport arrangements; changed the composition of the Top Level Appointments Committee (TLAC) to include an external chair and more external members; changed the TLAC terms that apply to secretaries general on retirement; introduced new pay ceilings for senior public servants; reduced the number of Oireachtas committees; and published legislation to significantly reduce future public service pension costs. Progress is also being made across the themes set out in the Public Service Reform Plan: Public service numbers will be reduced to 282,500 by the end of 2015, from a peak of 320,000 in There has already been a reduction of over 23,000 to the end of By 2015, there will have been a reduction in the public service of 37,500 staff, or 12 per cent of the workforce. Workforce planning groups in the health, education, local government, justice and defence, and civil service sectors are working to manage the operational and strategic consequences from such a significant reduction in staff numbers. Building on already developed initiatives in procurement reform, we will implement further measures in aggregation, mandated use of common frameworks, performance measurement, increased professionalism and more innovative use of technology. A crosssectoral steering group has been established to take this priority work forward. The implementation of shared services models will be core to our reform plans in areas such as HR, payroll, pensions and banking. This will provide significant benefits through a reduction in duplication, streamlining of business processes and reduced transaction times. Shared services will be implemented on a phased basis over the lifetime of the Reform Plan, and significant progress is already being made on a HR shared service for the civil service. Payroll and pensions shared services projects are also being initiated in the civil service, and sector-specific shared services implementation plans will be in place for all sectors by the middle of this year.

8 22 BRENDAN HOWLIN It is crucial that we manage the State s property assets strategically. We intend to realise significant savings in our property costs, particularly through leasehold and maintenance arrangements. We will also raise additional capital income through the sale of excess property assets, at the appropriate time. Work has commenced in this regard and I look forward to positive developments across all sectors over the coming months and years. The effective use of e-government and ICT in the public service will be particularly critical in delivering cost reductions. We will use new and emerging technologies in imaginative ways to improve public service delivery. The new egovernment Strategy will ensure that the public service continues to develop informational and transactional online services that deliver real benefits to service users. The central government portal now facilitates access to over 300 public services online, with more to be added over time. We also have a strong focus on the new public services card, which will facilitate easier access to government services, with the rollout of the first cards having already commenced. Cloud computing will be utilised to meet public service ICT needs in the years ahead and a cloud computing strategy is in preparation. We want to ensure a strong focus on and culture of business process improvement across the public service to review opportunities to address non-value-adding activities, including a reduction in duplication and related costs. A number of organisations are already strong in this area but we need to assist others and increase capacity in this area generally, so we have established a business consulting unit within the Reform and Delivery Office for this purpose. New business models for service delivery can support the delivery of a range of our non-core activities in new ways, where appropriate. We are engaging with departments so that we can identify, consolidate and evaluate opportunities for external service delivery during There is a need for improved openness and transparency in the delivery of public services and this is something in which I believe passionately. We are introducing measures to engage better with the citizen and to deliver transparency and insights into the delivery of public services, including a range of political reforms, which are addressed later in this article. We have introduced performance-based budgeting. This will link expenditure more closely to performance indicators and strengthen

9 Reform of the public service 23 the focus upon performance and delivery, as well as allowing for improved performance measurement and reporting, and increased transparency and accountability in public expenditure. The traditional annual estimates cycle is being replaced by a more dynamic Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, which will provide greater transparency about the allocations available to each department over a three-year period. This will open the way for proper structural planning, based on priorities and reform, with full public input and Oireachtas oversight. A new Value-for-Money (VFM) Code has been introduced to con - solidate and update the earlier VFM framework and make it more effective in supporting policy decisions and to embed a culture of evaluation across the public service. Reform of the public service starts with its greatest asset: its people. We want to drive a high-performance culture. We are strengthening our performance management systems and related processes to deal with underperformance where it occurs. My department is also improving productivity levels through the introduction of new working arrangements in a range of areas. We are further developing the senior public service to ensure that we have a leadership cadre to meet the challenges that we face. This will involve the promotion of a more integrated public service through increased mobility, and a strengthening of the senior management and leadership capacity. We are rationalising some forty-eight State bodies by the end of 2012 and will review the position of forty-six others by June These are just some examples of the wide range of reform initiatives and actions underway across the public service. Croke Park Agreement The implementation of the Public Service (Croke Park) Agreement, and in particular its redeployment arrangements, will be important in supporting many of the reform initiatives. This will allow increasingly limited staff resources to be directed to the areas of most strategic importance. At the same time, the envisaged re-engineering of structures, systems and services will mean that the public service will be able to continue to deliver key services with reduced numbers. The government sees the Croke Park Agreement as a key enabler for the delivery of the overall reform programme. It is helping to

10 24 BRENDAN HOWLIN reduce the size of the public service and the cost of delivering services. Reform and change on the scale and level of complexity that need to happen cannot be simply imposed on an unwilling workforce of around 300,000 people. The cooperation of staff at all levels across the public service is important. The agreement provides an effective framework for ensuring that far-reaching reform can be implemented to protect critical frontline services to the greatest extent possible as resources are further reduced by securing staff cooperation with key tools of change such as redeployment, restructuring and reconfiguration of services. The redeployment provisions of the Croke Park Agreement are essential to protect frontline services as staff numbers fall. To take just one example of this in action, over 2,000 staff have been redeployed into the Department of Social Protection from the HSE, FÁS and government departments to support the delivery of essential services in response to increased demand. We must also bear in mind that the reform agenda is not something that is set in stone. It must evolve continuously in response to changing circumstances. The agreement provides a solid platform for pursuing additional reform measures, and it has yielded results to date. Additional working hours are being implemented in schools and universities, resulting in fewer in-house training days and more teaching hours. New working arrangements are being implemented for radiographers and those working in medical laboratories in the health sector, with significant savings in expenditure and extended working arrangements. Outmoded practices such as bank time and privilege days have been eliminated in the civil service. Organisations and structures are being rationalised; for example, the number of VECs is being reduced from thirty-three to sixteen, certain local authority structures are being amalgamated, the number of State agencies is being reduced, and organisations such as Teagasc, Revenue, the Courts Service and the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine are all engaged in rationalising their office structures, leading to considerable savings. New rosters have been agreed for An Garda Síochána and are being implemented. This will make best use of available resources and ensure that Garda resources are made available to the public at the times they are most needed. Centralised and shared service arrangements are being put in place across the public service to deliver efficiencies and savings and to free up staff for more frontline duties. A student grant scheme, where four

11 Reform of the public service 25 separate schemes are administered by sixty-six bodies, is being replaced by a single scheme administered by one organisation. More and more State services are being placed online so that the public can have access to services and transact with public service providers at times that are convenient to them. Increased use of this delivery channel also delivers savings and efficiencies. Supporting the government s political reform agenda In tandem with reform of the public service, the government has committed itself to an ambitious programme of reform to help rebuild trust in the institutions of the State by delivering fundamental change in democratic and public governance in Ireland. This reform programme includes policy and legislative changes covering: regulation of lobbyists; protected disclosures (i.e. whistleblowing ); freedom of information; ethics; ministerial and civil service accountability; and statute law revision. As we approach the centenary of the foundation of the State, it is an appropriate time to review and examine whether the various aspects of our system of government are serving us well. As a nation we were, to a certain extent, well placed in We inherited the structures and processes of a democratic state and an existing, well-established public service. As the editors of the recent Institute of Public Administration publication Governing Ireland point out, Ireland s stable democracy is one of the triumphs of the independent state in the last century (O Malley & MacCarthaigh, 2012, p. 2). However, we must never take our democracy for granted. We must look objectively at our system of government and examine what works well, where it is failing and what we can do to strengthen it. My department is at an advanced stage in the preparation of the General Scheme of a Freedom of Information Bill and, subject to government approval of these draft heads, it is expected that I will be in a position to introduce a Bill later this year to give effect to the commitments in the programme for government in relation to freedom of information.

12 26 BRENDAN HOWLIN I have recently published the draft General Scheme of the Protected Disclosures in the Public Interest Bill, This Bill will provide for an overarching legislative framework for making protected disclosures on a uniform basis in all sectors of the economy covering the public and private spheres. This represents the first step in fulfilling the commitment in the programme for government in relation to the introduction of whistleblower legislation. The main objective of the proposed Bill will be to support those who bring attention to serious wrongdoing in the workplace. A secondary, but equally important, objective is to bring potential risks facing any organisation to the fore early so that the appropriate remedial action can be taken quickly. In addition, work is also progressing on the introduction of a legislative framework for the regulation of lobbying. A consultation process was launched in late 2011, requesting information and views. My department is currently studying the submissions received and is developing a policy paper on the issue. The commitment to restricting people taking up work in the private sector within two years of leaving State appointments in any area involving a potential conflict of interest is also being progressed as part of this process. Taken together, I believe that these and other measures in the programme for government represent a new maturity in our approach to government s relationship with the citizen. They will represent a major improvement in openness and transparency and will contribute to opening up the black box of government to a much greater degree than heretofore. The nature of the accountability relationship between ministers and civil servants is also under review by the government. What is needed here is clarity who is responsible for what within the complex public administrative system? The programme for government includes a number of commitments in this area, including legislating for a reformulated code of laws replacing both the Ministers and Secretaries Acts and the Public Service Management Act and addressing restrictions on the nature and extent of evidence by civil servants to Oireachtas committees. Work on these and other commitments aimed at improving the overall level of accountability is currently underway in my department. A position paper is being developed to identify the necessary changes to deliver on the commitments in the programme for government.

13 Reform of the public service 27 In addition, the programme for government contains a commit - ment to progress the Statute Law Revision Project in order to enhance public accessibility to the statute book. So far the project has been examining all pre-1922 Acts (i.e. pre-independence) to identify those Acts that are obsolete and spent. The recently published Statute Law Revision Bill, 2012, will complete this task. The proposed Bill, once it has completed its passage through the Oireachtas, will repeal all remaining spent and obsolete Local and Personal Acts and Private Acts passed prior to independence in Taken together with the 2005, 2007 and 2009 Acts, they will collectively be the most extensive set of repealing measures in the history of the State and, as far as the Office of the Attorney General is aware, the most extensive set of statute law revision measures ever enacted anywhere in the world. The repeal of obsolete and spent statutes is vital to the effective and efficient provision of an accessible statute book. It is also a necessary prerequisite before any comprehensive modernisation of the Irish statute book can be undertaken. Leading change The scope and scale of the public service reform programme are substantial. It is clear that leadership will be crucial to its success. I refer here to leadership at all levels, and across the whole of the public service. This is where effective communication of the reform agenda will play a key role. It is essential that the right people are in place to take on the complex challenges that the country faces, now and in the future. In line with the commitment given in the programme for government, the structure of the TLAC has been radically overhauled. In addition, the new senior public service will play a key role in developing our cadre of public service leaders, by identifying where skills gaps exist, by ensuring a breadth of experience and by instilling an ethos of collegiality and cross-organisational cooperation. In developing the model for our senior public service, we have drawn on international best practice and the experience of other countries such as Canada, New Zealand, the UK and, in particular, the Netherlands. Communicating change The vision for a new public service must be communicated effectively to all public servants, as well as to service users. The vast majority of

14 28 BRENDAN HOWLIN public servants are hard-working and dedicated, with a real commitment to public service, and have already made a real contribution to recovery through pay reductions and more flexible work practices. But there must also be a realisation that the old ways of doing things are no longer valid or appropriate. We must ensure that public servants are fully aware of what we are trying to achieve in the public service, of their role in that process and of the benefits that this will bring to them and their work in the future. Citizens are at the very centre of the reform programme, and it is important that they know the efforts being made to ensure that their services are delivered as efficiently and effectively as possible. Citizens and business customers expect more now from the public service than ever before. We have to meet these demands on a much tighter budget but it is my belief that it can be done. It can be done by being flexible, it can be done through clever allocation of resources, and it can be done through leading, organising and working in new ways. I believe that we need to focus on cultural change, just as much as on organisational change. Culture is perhaps the most difficult thing to manage in any system, but it is also often the most important factor too. Changing attitudes to embrace a more open, flexible and service-centred form of public service is the key to reform. We must win hearts and minds by putting in place the structures and processes to empower public servants to assume ownership of the change process. We are reforming how we manage people, how we are organised and how we manage expenditure. It is an integrated and strategic approach, and the important role of individual public servants in this process should not be underestimated. We must also be open to good ideas for reform, from any source. Indeed, the government s Public Service Reform Plan was informed by the public consultation undertaken as part of the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure, and we have had a series of consultations on the issue of reform with Oireachtas committees and other stakeholders. This open and shared approach to the design and delivery of reform will be an important feature of the implementation of the reform programme in the months and years ahead. We fully accept that we do not and cannot know everything that is happening in every part of the public service. We will listen to those who do know, and who are willing to make a contribution to the opportunities and challenges that we now face.

15 Reform of the public service 29 Conclusion The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform is well positioned to drive real change by integrating its reform and expenditure functions, and by ensuring that performance is measured and enhanced in a strategic and coordinated manner. Change is happening across the public service, and we have made a good start. Over the coming months and years, I expect public servants themselves to grasp the opportunity for reform, and to make a fundamental difference to how the public service designs and delivers its services. Public servants must be equipped with the tools and the supports to take this opportunity, not simply to deliver a lean, flexible and responsive public service but also to develop rewarding and interesting careers for themselves. Reform is not just about structures and processes; it is more than anything about people. In the first half of 2013, Ireland will hold the presidency of the EU. As it has in the past, I fully expect the public service to rise to the challenge and opportunity that this presents. By the time we assume the presidency, I am very hopeful that we will have seen considerable progress on our radical reform agenda. True reform will involve changing mindsets and instilling dynamism to the delivery of public services. We have the ability to do this. We just need to release the potential of the public service and public servants, to allow them to meet the requirements of the future. I believe that there is broad agreement that it is essential that we reform the way the public service does business. We know what we have to do. The reality is that frontline services will suffer if we do not reform now. We need to deliver quality services with significantly reduced resources and staff numbers. We need to focus on supporting citizens and businesses where and when they need it most, making the interaction with the State as simple and seamless as possible, and improving the citizen s experience in engaging with government. It is my belief that the Public Service Reform Plan shows that we are addressing the issue head-on and that we can achieve a public service of which we can all be proud. I would like to again thank the Institute of Public Administration for this opportunity and to commend them on the important work that they do. I, for one, look forward to their continued valuable contribution to public administration and public service reform in Ireland in the years ahead.

16 30 BRENDAN HOWLIN Reference O Malley, E., & MacCarthaigh, M. (2012). Governing Ireland: From cabinet government to delegated governance. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration.