Question to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Mr Brendan Howlin, TD)
To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide an update on the work of the Commission for Public Service Appointments; its role in maintaining high standards in public service recruitment and selection practices; its Annual Report 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. – Jerry Buttimer.
For ORAL answer on Thursday, 21st November, 2013.
REPLY
The function of the Commission for Public Service Appointment (CPSA) is to safeguard the integrity of the recruitment, selection and appointment of people to publicly funded positions and, by continually improving standards, to engender widespread confidence in the ability of those appointed to contribute to the delivery of public services.
The annual report of the CPSA is laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas each year and is also available on the CPSA’s website www.cpsa.ie. In its most recent report, the Commission described its activity in terms of the numbers of complaints it has examined, its own initiative audits of appointment processes, licensing of Public Service recruiters and consideration of requests for excluding orders from Civil Service bodies.
In view of the continuing moratorium on public service recruitment, the CPSA acknowledges that its activity levels have fallen in recent years. In this regard it should be noted that the secretariat of the CPSA is now merged with the Office of the Ombudsman and many of its former staff are now contributing to the work of that Office.
The most recent annual report of the CPSA for 2012 is available at the following link: http://www.cpsa.ie/en/Publications/Annual-Reports/2012-Annual-Report/cpsa_AR_2012_en/index.html