Introduction
This section outlines the key external and internal factors that have influenced the development of our strategy and those we consider will most likely impact on its delivery in the future.
External Factors
OECD Review: “Towards an Integrated Public Service”
In April, 2006, the Taoiseach, commissioned the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to review the Irish public service. The Report entitled “Towards an Integrated Public Service”, published in 2008, recognised that Ireland’s Public Service has been progressive in seeking to modernise itself and improve openness and service quality. The report stressed that the key reforms that have taken place to-date in the Irish Public Service have been inward orientated, focusing on improving internal processes and structures including:
- Building capacity at individual and organisational levels,
- Improving service delivery,
- Developing organisational and individual performance management ,
- Establishing governance procedures,
- Creating greater transparency,
- Improving consultation, and
- Increasing the use of evidence based policy making.
The OECD Report recommended that Ireland extend its reform agenda to move towards increasing focus on improved outcomes and outputs for service users through the establishment of a more integrated, networked, performance-focused Public Service. Specific recommendations laid out in the Report centred around four key themes and included recommendations under each. The following table outlines these themes and associated recommendations.
| Theme | Key Recommendations |
| Ensuring Capacity | - Increase flexibility and managerial delegation, supported by strengthened staff performance management.
- Improve Human Resource Management (HRM) capacity and strategic capacity in HRM.
- Invest in the development of senior management leadership and capacity
|
| Motivating Performance | - Reinforce a performance culture by linking performance information and decision-making processes.
- Establish dialogue between departments and agencies.
- Create a more coherent performance approach.
- Improve quality of performance indicators and information.
- Improve performance through competition.
- Move from micro to macro spending controls and increase budget flexibility and transparency
|
| Moving towards Citizen Centered Approach | - Maintain focus on service quality.
- Renew e-government efforts with a focus on reinvesting benefits into improved service quality.
- Join-up e-government across government.
- Continue to foster an open Public Service.
|
| Strengthening Governance | - Prioritise the reform programme throughout the Public Service.
- Improve Public Service responsiveness.
- Review the government “agencification” framework.
- Refocus on whole-of-government objectives.
|
Transforming Public Services Programme
In response to the recommendations and findings in the OECD Report, as well as developments in relation to public finances in the interim, the Government appointed a Task Force to develop its ‘Transforming Public Services’ Programme. The stated objectives of the actions identified in the Task Force report are as follows;
- To achieve improved performance by organiations and individuals,
- To create flexibility in deployment of peoples, assets and other resources,
- To identify the precise transformation agenda in each sector and engaging and mobilising the necessary actors,
- To achieve greater efficiency, effectiveness and economy, and
- To build capacity for ongoing transformation.
The actions identified as imperative to developing a more integrated service outlined the report
included:
| Theme | Actions |
| Motivating Performance | - Development of output targets that allow the performance of individual organisations and groups of organisations to be measured
- Extension of individualised systems of performance management throughout the whole Public Service · Strengthening of existing systems
|
| Citizen Engagement | - Development of additional information and participation channels for an increasingly engaged and active citizenry.
- Greater collaboration across government in order to provide better service delivery to uses of public services.
|
| E-Government/Shared Services | - Greater utilisation of e-government to the drive integrated service delivery and collaboration between different organisations and sectors.
- Combination of central, enabling projects and citizen-centred initiatives in the Health, Local Government, Education and other sectors.
|
| People & Leadership | - Reinforcement of public service values and of a system-wide identity to facilitate the creation of a Senior Public Service
- Planned mobility and development to develop a unified labour market across the Public Service
|
| Governance | - Increased devolution of authority and responsibility between the different levels of Government,
- More extensive use of networks to mobilise actors across the Public Service to address cross-cutting issues and for sharing best practice
|
| Agencies | - Evaluate the mandates, governance arrangements and resourcing needs
- of Agencies to clarify the expected achievements of agencies
|
Public Service Agreement 2010-2014
In response to increasing industrial unrest within the public service Government and representatives from all Public Sector Unions are currently examining ways to work together in the coming four-year period to build an integrated public service.
The potential impact of increased or even current levels of industrial unrest on the implementation of the Office’s strategy is acknowledged and it is recognised this will need to be carefully monitored if the Office is to deliver on its strategic objectives.
Internal Issues
The organisation currently has an agreed staff complement of 102. In terms of its management approach, public sector modernisation principles have consistently been applied e.g. customer focused activities, strategy formulation, goal setting and performance measurement and management. In this regard, annual programme and sub-programme business plans are implemented to deliver on agreed strategic objectives, to respond to shifting demand priorities and to deal with operational/reputational risks that might emerge from time to time. The actions and desired outcomes identified in the business planning process are, in turn, recorded in individual action plans and in organisational and sectional risk registers, all of which are monitored and reviewed on a regular basis.
However, there is no doubt but that external developments have the potential to impact on the current resource capacity of the Office. Recognising the importance of obtaining staff input on both these and other potential factors an extensive staff engagement exercise was fundamental to the strategy development process. A three-strand approach was adopted:
- Seven grade-based focus groups drawing on staff from across the Office and one section–based focus group with a mixture of all grades identified a number of key internal factors falling to be addressed in the Strategy Review,
- One-to-One interviews with the Ombudsman, Director General and all senior managers within the Office (10 interviews), and
- 3An online staff questionnaire that achieved a response rate of 85% (see findings at Appendix).
Key Findings:
- It was acknowledged all staff continually display a high degree of professionalism and expertise in discharging their duties,
- There was a sense that further work is required to increase public awareness about the role, functions and responsibilities of both the Office of the Ombudsman and the OIC,
- It is recognised that the Office needs to ensure all human and financial resources are utilised appropriately to deliver greatest effect,
- It was considered essential that the Office focus its attention on delivering excellent services to all users,
- The dynamic and challenging environment in which the Office will operate in the coming years will demand clear and strong leadership at all levels across the Office
Summary of Environmental Analysis
The key messages arising from the extensive internal consultation together with the hugely important external developments have combined to play a significant role in influencing the thinking around the future direction of the Office over the next three years.
In particular, significant time and attention has been given to considering the Office’s level of preparedness to cope with the likely increasing demand for the Office’s services in the coming years as complaints rise in line with increasing pressures on the public services. On the assumption that the Office will face resource difficulties similar to those experienced across the public service, the management team recognised the importance of radically reviewing the manner in which services can be delivered in the future.
It was further acknowledged that the pending Ombudsman Amendment Bill, which will increase the number of bodies for which the Ombudsman is responsible, will place added pressure on internal resources and this needed to be factored into all thinking.