Speech by the Taoiseach, Mr. Brian Cowen, T.D., ‘A Public Service for the Future? – The OECD Challenge’
‘A Public Service for the Future? – The OECD Challenge’
A Uachtaráin, a Chathaoirligh, a Chainteoirí Oirirce, a Dhaoine Uaisle.
Réamhrá
Is mór agam a bheith anseo ar maidin chun Comhdháil Náisiúnta IPA: Seirbhís Phoiblí don Todhchaí ? – An Dúshlán do OECD’, a oscailt mar go bhfuil a fhios agam gur fóram luachmhar í an Chomhdháil seo chun saincheisteanna ábhartha maidir leis an tSeirbhís Phoiblí, a iniúchadh le cúnamh ó shaineolaithe in Éirinn agus ó shaineolaithe idirnáisiúnta.
Is tréimhse spreagúil don tSeirbhís Phoiblí í seo; tréimhse chun aitheantas a thabhairt don méid atá déanta ag an tSeirbhís Phoiblí go dtí seo, agus chun scrúdú a dhéanamh ar conas is féidir leis an tSeirbhís Phoiblí leanúint ar aghaidh á hathnuachan féin chun freastal do dhúshláin atá ag athrú idir dhúshláin eacnamaíochta, dhéimeagrafacha agus shóisialta. Ba mhaith liom roinnt saincheisteanna maidir leis an tSeirbhís Phoiblí a iniúchadh inniu.
Áirítear ina measc sin, an t-ardmhian atá agam maidir le Seirbhís Phoiblí athnuaite agus sholúbtha, Athbhreithniú an OECD ar Sheirbhís Phoiblí na hÉireann ina leagtar amach an chéad chéim eile d'athchóiriú na Seirbhíse Poiblí le go leanfaidh iomaíochas agus forás ar aghaidh, agus an Tascfhórsa maidir leis an tSeirbhís Phoiblí, a fhorbróidh Plean Gníomhaíochta don tSeirbhís Phoiblí.
Task Force on the Public Service
The OECD Review of the Irish Public Service, which I launched last month, acknowledged that the Public Service has played a central role in ensuring that the right economic, regulatory, educational and social conditions are in place to facilitate growth and development. It is essential that the Public Service fulfils this role into the future in the most effective and efficient way possible.
That is why, on my appointment as Taoiseach, I made it clear that I am determined to take decisive action to improve public services and to lead the change necessary to bring this improvement about.
Last week, I took the first of many steps to deliver on that commitment by appointing a Task Force on the Public Service. This Task Force, whose membership is drawn from both the public and private sectors, will prepare a comprehensive framework for renewal of the Public Service.
It will take into account the analysis and conclusions of the OECD Report, as well as the lessons to be drawn from our own experience of managing change across the Public Service since the mid-1990’s and from the management of major business transformations in the private sector.
The Task Force, which has already had its first meeting, will complete its work by the end of the Summer. In carrying out their work, the Task Force will look at issues such as: the organisation and structure of the business of government; the creation of a Senior Public Service; use of networks within and across the Public Service; use of shared services; the establishment, operation and governance of State agencies; and advancing e-government. I have asked the Task Force to produce an action plan focusing on the initiatives that should now be undertaken and, most importantly, how such further reforms should be sequenced so that they reinforce each other.
Towards an Integrated Public Service
My ambition is for a renewed and flexible public service which can continue to command the respect and confidence of our citizens, taxpayers and business. I believe that the OECD Review provides the basis for initiating further significant change in the Public Service. As the title of this conference suggests, however, the OECD Report presents us with a challenge – to achieve an “integrated” Public Service. It is striking that the OECD do not recommend that we seek to achieve integration by centralising power or by altering structures. Instead, they see integration coming from the changed behaviour of individual public servants and public service organisations.
Public servants and public bodies have huge discretion to cooperate, collaborate, share information and intelligence, network, exchange staff and pool resources with each other and with the private and not for profit sectors.
However, with some notable exceptions, these discretionary behaviours are too rarely seen in our system. We need to tackle any legal, cultural, ownership, human resource, industrial relations, risk management and ICT barriers that are preventing the demonstration of the positive attitudes and behaviours we need if we are to tackle the complex problems that the public service faces.
We know that individual organisations cannot tackle issues such as climate change or competitiveness or social exclusion alone. And we know that Government cannot achieve its objectives without the participation and contribution of other actors in society. Accordingly, those of us working in the public sector need to find new ways of working, coordinating and influencing within and beyond the Public system.
We have already begun to do this - many of my Ministers of State now have responsibility for cross-cutting issues such as Integration, Children and Youth Affairs, Older People, and Lifelong Learning. In allocating responsibilities, I have ensured that key policy areas can be afforded the necessary level of attention that they require. I intend that these appointments should be seen as important signals to the Public Service system.
The message about integrated approaches to policy design, implementation and service delivery needs to be adopted and applied by individual Public Service managers in a myriad of settings. These Ministerial appointments are intended to have a very wide demonstration effect.
Seizing the Opportunity
In essence, I see the OECD Report as offering an opportunity. An opportunity to renew the direction and accelerate the pace of reform. An opportunity to clearly demonstrate that the Government and the Public Service are driven by, and are trying our best, to respond to the complex and diverse needs of citizens.
Our aim is to make a difference for the better in the quality of the lives of our fellow citizens; and to help create the environment for enterprise and employment to flourish. Finally, I see the OECD Report as providing an opportunity for Public Servants to shape their work patterns and practices to the benefit of the citizen as service user, to the benefit of Government in terms of policy advice, and to the benefit of more satisfying and fulfilling roles within the Public Service. Reinforcing the common purpose and identity of the Public Service will, in turn, reinforce our sense of the importance of the public domain and, most of all, our sense of community. I believe, from the reaction to the Report to date, that this opportunity will be grasped by the Public Service.
Managing Change
Of course, the more I read the OECD Report, the more I find there – sometimes heavily encrypted. However, standing back from the detail, the big issue in the Report, and the issue which all governments, all businesses and organisations are faced with, is the management of change in all its guises. In many ways, change is the only constant in the Public Service. The OECD Report recognises that. It recognises the value of the reform efforts undertaken to date - in customer service, e-government, HR, financial management, and better regulation. The positive results of the change and reform programme in the quality customer service area are easily visible to citizens. Management and organisational reforms introduced through the Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) have resulted in better functioning individual organisations. And the OECD recognises that the dividend from many of these reforms will be fully harvested as they become increasingly embedded.
Notwithstanding the significant improvements and reforms that have been introduced however, challenges remain. The past decade has seen an increase in both expenditure and numbers employed in the Irish Public Service. We have also seen increased expectations for improved service delivery, greater efficiency, and improved performance from our Public Service.
Leadership at all Levels
If we are to embark on a new phase of modernisation, then we will need stronger leadership and support for the change effort. We will require many more capable leaders. Leaders in Local Authorities, in hospitals and other Health settings, in the Gardai, in Agencies, in Civil Service Departments and in schools and colleges at each level of the Education sector. This is as true of leadership at the local level as it is at the national level. We will find individuals with the necessary qualities from within the existing ranks of the Public Service; but we will also find them through development, by exchange and by recruitment.
In order to develop such leaders, to reinforce Public Service values and ethos, and to heighten the system-wide identity of such individuals, the OECD recommend the creation of a Senior Public Service. I have specifically included this amongst the terms of reference of the Task Force on the Public Service. I would like to see early progress in this regard and I believe that we can learn from the experience of others in how such a Service can operate.
I believe that senior Public Servants should have increasingly diverse career paths with experience of front line service delivery as well as policy development and, of different sectors of the economy and society. I will be the first to criticise any elitist attitudes attaching to such a system – as my core aim is to use systematic placement and mobility to develop individuals, so that they can deliver better in their current and future roles. I know that this topic will be addressed in more detail by later speakers.
Delegation and Performance Management
I believe that one of the key factors in developing leadership is delegation. I believe we must look at enhanced delegation to organisations and to the individuals within them – married, of course, with greater accountability. We are not interested in compliance alone: we want to encourage creativity and innovation. This means that we must allow managers appropriate degrees of discretion, we must allow them to take managed risks, and to experiment.
Of course, the corollary to such autonomy, is that we must hold people to account for their use of resources and the results they achieve; and we need suitable measures and indicators if we are to take this approach. We need to shift our focus, so that, instead of looking just at inputs, or the processes and procedures used by organisations, we look at their outputs and, particularly, at the outcomes they achieve.
The OECD acknowledges that there is, overall, an insufficient focus on performance, understood as delivering outcomes in line with the needs of citizens. They rightly caution against the creation of an even heavier culture of control based on more and more indicators. Instead, we need to develop a performance culture where indicators inform policy choices, budgetary allocations and the day to day management of operations. It is in this wider context of performance management that performance indicators can serve to heighten accountability and facilitate the sort of delegation we desire.
Lisbon Treaty
I would now like to turn briefly to another issue – that of the Lisbon Treaty. I take the view that this referendum is a chance to show the rest of Europe that Ireland remains fully committed to the European Union, that we value the improved efficiency and effectiveness that the Treaty will bring about, and we recognise that it holds nothing to fear for Ireland.
Above all, by voting YES and adopting this Treaty, we will be better able to build even closer levels of co-operation, stronger alliances and greater goodwill with our fellow Member States with whom we will have to engage with, collaborate with and negotiate with in the months and years ahead.
I am confident that, come June 12th, most people will recognise that, overall, this Treaty is a sensible package. They will know that it will improve the functioning of Europe, and that this will be good for the success of our economy and the wellbeing of our society, without sacrificing anything whatsoever in areas of special concern for Ireland.
Our successful economy, our record of job creation, our strong social policies, our commitment to the environment, have all been shaped by our membership of a Union which itself has evolved and adapted sensibly to the changing world. I believe that it is in Ireland’s interest to make sure that the Union continues to adapt, to be able to meet the challenges of a changing world.
Concluding Remarks
Adapting to a changed and changing environment, internationally or domestically, is imperative for all countries and their administrations. We need to have the tools and mechanisms to lead change, drive change, and implement change. This is true for the structures of the European Union, as it is for our own Public Service.
The OECD’s Report is already widely recognised, and is accepted by Government, as an authoritative assessment of the current state of the Irish Public Service. It is recommending to us that if we are to meet today’s challenges, and Ireland’s ambitions to sustain its economic success and achieve greater value for money in public services, we need to continue to change. Change in the way the Public Service views its business, and change in the focus of the modernisation agenda.
This will require the development of methodologies to lead, drive and expand reforms beyond the Civil Service to the wider Public Service, as many of the reform initiatives to date have focused largely on the Civil Service, while acknowledging that significant reforms have been adopted and implemented within the different organisational cultures of the wider Public Service.
The OECD messages are clear- we need to put the public at the centre of our public services, and the public service modernisation process needs to deliver results that are clear, useful and verifiable to the user. We must not shy away from the challenges presented by the OECD. I am ambitious for the Public Service, and I know that the Public Service is ambitious for itself.
I want the Irish Public Service to be an exemplar of success; ‘fit for purpose’, performance-focused, integrated, and citizen-centred. Perhaps the most challenging of these attributes is ‘integrated’. In the words of Séamus Heaney, I believe this will require ‘a compound of energy and artifice’.
Chairman, you have a range of outstanding speakers in your line up today who will deal in much greater detail with particular aspects of the OECD Report. I would like to take this opportunity to thank one of them, Mme Jocelyne Bourgon, who has worked closely with my Department over the course of the OECD review and who continues to share her valuable experience with us.
I am confident that your deliberations here today will greatly facilitate a deeper understanding of the OECD’s Report and help shape the debate from which a new energy and new directions for change will emerge.