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The Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Mr. Phil Hogan T.D., today (25 July 2012), welcomed the publication of the first Report of the Local Government Efficiency Review (LGER) Implementation Group. Minister Hogan said: ‘We have had a lot of talk about local government reform over the past decade. That reform programme is already underway with the sector achieving over €195million savings through efficiency measures in 2010 and 2011 alone.’

"One of the key aims of local government reform is to ensure that good value public services are delivered at local level with maximum efficiency. The sector has saved €830 million since 2008 and a further €150 million in direct efficiency savings will be targeted over the next 18 months, while maintaining existing services".

Minister Hogan welcomed the ongoing rationalisation of staffing within the local government sector, ‘With savings of €288 million on staff, the sector has already achieved the highest proportionate staffing reduction of any sector in the public service, with staff numbers reduced by 8,432 (or 23%) from 37,243 in mid-2008 to 28,811 at March 2012, involving significant reduction in senior management grades.’

"The establishment of a new dedicated Public Service Reform Oversight Group in the local government sector with the capacity and mandate to manage and deliver the reform programme through all county and city councils is an important contribution to delivery and reporting on efficiency gains" Minister Hogan continued. ‘The easier savings have started to be delivered, now the focus will be on spreading further cost-saving methods and on developing strong sectoral and shared services approaches. Other savings will be made through procurement, debt collection measures and standardisation of business processes across the sector nationally to streamline efficiency.’ Minister Hogan also committed to keeping the processes to identifying and delivering efficiencies in the sector under ongoing review.

The Implementation Group, with independent chair Pat McLoughlin and private sector expertise, was set up by Minister Hogan in April 2011 and tasked with overseeing and advising on the implementation of the Report of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group. The Group’s Report contains 106 recommendations for efficiency and other savings of

for the local government sector to be attained in the short, medium and long term. The recommendations will be addressed in the context of the Local Government Reform Package,

which Minister Hogan will announce in Autumn.

The Group prioritised the implementation of key recommendations relating to procurement, ICT, human resources/staffing and shared services as areas with potential for short-term and significant savings. The majority of the efficiency savings identified relate to staffing reductions and procurement. This is the first in a series of reports to the Minister and outlines the Group’s assessment of progress to date and the next steps necessary.

The report is available at

Ends.

Notes for Editors

Local Government Efficiency Review Report Implementation Group

The Group’s Report (July 2010) contains 106 recommendations for efficiency and other savings of

for the local government sector to be attained in the short, medium and long terms. These savings are comprised of

in efficiencies and

in improved cost recovery and revenue-raising.

In summary, the recommendations relate to: -

staffing;

securing optimal efficiency in the delivery of local government service areas across functional boundaries;

local government procurement;

greater efficiency in the delivery of specific local government services,;

greater use of shared services and a regional / national approach to service provision and support functions in specific areas;

audit, financial control and performance measurement and reporting,;

full recovery of amounts due to local authorities;

greater cost recovery and revenue for local government services.

Headline Progress

Overall Savings Identified by CCMA 2008 to 2012:

Overall Savings Identified in respect of gross expenditure savings and capital payroll savings 2010-2012:

Efficiency Savings Identified in LGER Report: 2010-2012:

Made up of:

• Staffing Reductions:€98.1m
• Procurement:€78.8m 
• Consultancies & Professional Fees:€10.6m 
• Consolidation of hazardous waste controls into lead authorities:€5m 
• Shared HR and Payrollsystem:€3m

  Key Recommendations of the Implementation Group 

Against the background of ensuring that implementation of the LGER Report is now anchored in the reform processes of the wider, Public Service Reform Plan, the Group has recommended that:  

(i) further efficiency opportunities, particularly the identification of outstanding recommendations within their control be assessed and an implementation programme be put in place by the end of Q2 2012;  

(ii) proposals be developed, as a matter of urgency, for a mechanism to independently quality assure the assessment of the major efficiency measures;  

(iii) relevant sectoral and technical/professional experts to be consulted as part of the Workforce Planning exercise;  

(iv) a comprehensive study be carried out, led by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER), on grading structures for middle and senior grades across the whole public sector, with benchmarks for the most efficient span of control in these grades;  

(v) evaluate whether a cost effective graduate trainee programme could provide a future stream of talent for local authorities while giving training opportunities to new graduates;  

(vi) all services that could potentially be shared on a sector-wide or lead authority basis (i.e. grouping a number of local authorities’ services to be delivered by one) should be evaluated;  

(vii) the scope of an agreed ICT Strategy should include provision for assessment of all services to be available via eGovernment channels; cost/benefit evaluation of sharing all infrastructure; standardisation of business applications; pooling expertise at national or lead authority level; evaluation of outsourcing, co-sourcing and open sourcing solutions.  

(viii) a single decision mechanism be established by the local authority sector to decide how specific procurement elements will be managed (nationally, locally or by a lead authority) to ensure that shared procurement should be targeted to manage at least 80% of procurement, but with sufficient safeguards to ensure SMEs have the capacity to participate; 

(ix) the current methods of revenue collection be examined, together with alternatives, to identify the most efficient agency for revenue collection, including incentivisation of on time and online payments, and the application of interest and penalty charges in respect of late payments.

Members of Implementation Group

The members of the Local Government Efficiency Review Implementation Group are:- 

• Mr. Pat McLoughlin (Chairman), Chief Executive, Irish Payments Services Organisation, and former chairman of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group
• Mr. Des Dowling, Assistant Secretary, Local Government, Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government
• Mr Garrett Fennell, Managing Director, GFC Consulting Ltd
• Mr. David Hearn, Consulting Partner in Charge, Deloitte
• Ms. Anne O’Keeffe, Former Director, Office of Local Authority Management 

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