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Culture, Collaboration and Cohesion
Organisational Capability Review –
Implementation Plan
January 2020
Contents
Message from the Secretary General ........................................................................................................... 3
Role and Responsibilities of the Department ............................................................................................... 6
Organisational Development Initiatives ....................................................................................................... 8
Findings from the OCR – our strengths as a Department ............................................................................. 9
Our commitment to improve- response to the OCR .................................................................................. 11
Theme 1 – Strategy and Evidence-based Decisions .................................................................................... 13
Theme 2 – Culture, Identity and Structure ................................................................................................. 15
Theme 3 – Engagement .............................................................................................................................. 17
Theme 4 – Strategic HR for a better Department ....................................................................................... 20
Theme 5 – Departmental Enablers to support Delivery ............................................................................. 22
Oversight on progressing the Implementation Plan 2020-2021................................................................. 24
Additional detail
Message from the Secretary General
The Organisation Capability Review (OCR) has
been an important process for the Department
of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht,
highlighting the strong commitment of our staff
across the country, our strong partnerships with
agencies under our aegis, and our proactive
approach to organisational development. It has
also signalled areas where we can improve, both
in terms of our structures and activity, as well as
emphasising the particular challenges faced by
the Department in terms of establishing a single
Departmental identity and ensuring access to
appropriate capacity and resources.
The review process itself was also important,
further embedding our internal communications
through our regular town halls across the
country, as well as by the valuable participation
in OCR meetings and workshops by staff across
all divisions and functions. I wish to sincerely
thank the OCR review team and colleagues
across the Department for their engagement
with and commitment to the process. I would
also like to thank the External Review Panel for
their insights into the final report and, most
particularly, into how we can embed a single
identity for the Department as a custodian for
our culture, language and heritage. I think the
final report is a fair and honest view of the
Department and one which we can use as a
stepping stone to further improve how we
deliver on our statutory functions.
The OCR provides opportunities for change, for
building on our strengths and examining how we
can work better. It is an opportunity to look at
the Department as a whole, to establish a clear
identity and core values for the Department, and
to think about how we work together and how
we can identify and leverage synergies across all
our diverse functions. The OCR has given us a
platform to look at how we can be more than the
sum of our parts.
This implementation plan is our response to the
OCR report. It is based on the outputs of the
team discussions which took place in the latter
half of 2019 and contributions by the
Department’s senior management team. The
commitment of all staff to this implementation
plan will be essential for its delivery. The
implementation process must be dynamic,
allowing us to respond in real time to new and
emerging opportunities as well as to a changing
political and operating environment. To that
end, the implementation plan will be supported
by a number of projects which we will monitor
and review as we go through the
implementation process. The Senior
Management Team will play an important role in
delivering and monitoring implementation and
will have the full support of the Management
Board. We are a unique Department with an
incredibly interesting remit. Our work touches
the lives of people in every corner of the country,
and is an essential part of our national identity.
It serves to enhance the wellbeing of people
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throughout Ireland and in many ways represents
the national and international shop-front for
everything we value and represent. I, like many
of our valuable team, feel privileged for the
opportunity to work here and I look forward to
building on our strengths and enhancing the
service we provide.
Katherine Licken
Secretary General
January 2020
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Role and Responsibilities of the Department
The Department of Culture, Heritage and the
Gaeltacht plays a central role in protecting,
preserving and promoting Ireland’s cultural,
linguistic, built and natural heritage. Its work in
these areas serves to enhance the fabric of
society and the economy in Ireland, by creating
opportunities to participate in and enjoy our rich
cultural and creative heritage, by enhancing the
places that people live and play in, by protecting
our biodiversity and unique landscape, historical
structures and landscape, and by supporting the
creative sectors and employment in Gaeltacht
regions.
The Department’s overarching mission is to
promote, nurture and develop Ireland’s arts,
culture and heritage; to support and promote the
use of the Irish language; and to facilitate the
development of the Gaeltacht and Islands. To
achieve this mission, the Department has
responsibility for the following functions:
- To provide policy and funding support for
the development of the arts, culture and
creativity;
- To support cultural infrastructure
development;
- To protect and preserve Ireland’s built and
natural heritage as a support to sustainable
economic development and in line with
national and EU legislation;
- To support the Irish language across the
Island;
- To strengthen the use of Irish as the
principal community language of the
Gaeltacht;
- To assist in the sustainable development of
island communities; and
- To promote North-South co-operation
through the work of Waterways Ireland and
An Foras Teanga.
The Department’s mission and functions are set
out its in Statement of Strategy, 2018-2020. The
Statement of Strategy guides the work of the
Department identifying the high-level strategies
needed to deliver on each of its functions
supported by a comprehensive policy
framework. This policy framework is currently
being expanded to include significant new
policies in all three Departmental areas including
Culture 2025, a policy for the sustainable
development of the Islands, and the finalisation
of Heritage Ireland 2030 and a new Islands
Policy.
The work of the Department is underpinned by a
focus on robust corporate governance and a
strong commitment to partnership with agencies
under its aegis (set out in table 1). The
Department works with and through the
National Cultural Institutions and Agencies to
deliver on its overarching mission.
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Table 1
Agencies
An Coimisinéir Teanga
Arts Council
Foras na Gaeilge
Heritage Council
Screen Ireland
Údarás na Gaeltachta
Waterways Ireland
National Cultural Institutions
Chester Beatty Library
Crawford Art Gallery
Irish Museum of Modern Art
National Concert Hall
National Gallery of Ireland
National Library of Ireland
National Museum of Ireland
Increasingly, the Department finds its work at
the heart of Government policy and action,
working collaboratively with Departments and
agencies across the public service to support our
culture, enhance creativity, protect our
biodiversity and unique landscapes, and
promote our language. Additionally, we work
with others to deliver on a number of flagship
cross-Government initiatives and actions
including:
- Project Ireland 2040 – the National Planning
Framework and National Development Plan
which enhance our cultural infrastructure
and protect our built and natural heritage
for better, more sustainable development;
and
- Climate and biodiversity – The Department
plays a lead role in protecting and
preserving biodiversity through research,
management and enforcement action.
Increasingly, there is recognition that work
to protect nature contributes positively to
addressing climate change including by
managing natural carbon sinks like native
bogland;
- Brexit - two of the North-South bodies
established under the Good Friday
Agreement (Waterways Ireland and An
Foras Teanga) fall within the aegis of the
Department. The Department also plays a
key role in supporting Gaeltacht
communities vulnerable to negative
impacts from Brexit through its work with
Údarás na Gaeltachta. There will also be an
impact on the Department’s work in
support of the Creative Industries Work
Sector of the British Irish Council;
- Global Ireland 2025 which identifies an
important role for the Department in
promoting Ireland’s culture, heritage and
language internationally; and
- Realising our Rural Potential – the action
plan for rural development which sets
ambitious targets for job creation,
connectivity, culture, tourism and town and
village improvements. The Department’s
work on Creative Communities, built
heritage supports, regional arts and culture
infrastructure, sustaining Gaeltacht and
Island communities and community gain
through peatlands and other biodiversity
initiatives all contribute to meeting these
targets.
Organisational Development Initiatives
The OCR recognises the positive steps that the
Department is already taking to enhance
engagement across the Department, strengthen
the corporate function to provide better support
to business units and improve internal and
external communications. These efforts are part
of a wider process of organisational
development which has continued since the
completion of the OCR. Key initiatives under this
process are:
- Corporate strategy development – the
Department has commenced the
development of three core corporate
strategies – Communications, HR/People
and ICT. These will be developed in
consultation with staff across the
Department.
- Civil Service Renewal (CSR) – The
Department has a dedicated unit which is
working to deliver on key initiatives under
CSR, including the Civil Service Employee
Engagement Survey Action Plan. The work
of the unit is underpinned by open
communication and a commitment to
consultation. It organises town hall
meetings in the Department’s main
locations, supports an internal consultative
architecture to consider key elements of the
Department’s CSEES Action plan, and
presents CSR actions for Management
Board decision. The internal consultative
architecture currently includes seven
working groups; HR Civil Service Renewal,
Internal Communications, Diversity and
Inclusion, Social Media, Staff Wellbeing,
Mobility and Records Management and
Data Protection.
- Staff networks – the Department currently
has grade networks representing POs,
APOs, HEO/AOs, and the recently launched
Industrial and EO networks. The
Department is currently looking at
opportunities to expand these networks to
other staff groups, as well as examining the
operation of the networks with a view to
strengthening their contribution to the
work of the Department.
- Wellbeing – the Department is actively
looking to enhance the wellbeing of staff
and has commenced a programme of
‘wellbeing initiatives’ to promote wellbeing
and foster a positive working environment.
- Specialised supports – the Department has taken steps to enhance key functions within the Department by appointing HR specialists, accountants, policy analysts, economists and communications experts. These professional functions serve to enhance the work of the Department and to provide day-to-day support to business units.
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Findings from the OCR – our strengths as a
Department
The OCR is very positive about the Department’s
work, and particularly recognised the
organisational development initiatives already in
train. The report explicitly recognises that the
Department performs well, despite the
challenges of a very broad remit, a dispersed and
diverse staff, Departmental reconfigurations and
resource challenges.
In broad terms, the Department’s strengths are
summarised below:
- The commitment and expertise of staff
across the whole Department is a key
strength of the Department.
- The Department has good management
capacity within its Management Board team
comprising a broad mix of backgrounds and
skills.
- The Department has strong capability in
cross-sector and cross-Government
working, with a policy framework that
engages key stakeholders. The Department
is viewed positively by external
stakeholders.
- There is a positive policy development
focus and process within the Department,
particularly in relation to comprehensive
consultation as part of the Department’s
policy development process and the
inclusion of implementation arrangements
as part of any new policy.
- The Department has a demonstrated
capability in delivering complex
programmes e.g. the Decade of
Centenaries’ programme.
- The Department has been successful in
securing significant capital funding across
its programme under Project Ireland 2040,
and the establishment of a programme
office to support this delivery is seen as an
important action.
- The Department has a strong governance
model in place for its agencies and NCIs.
- The Department’s support for grade
networks was also commended, as well as
its commitment to exploring and expanding
opportunities to work cross-divisionally.
- The Department has been proactive in
implementing reform initiatives and
structural improvements, particularly in
terms of corporate enablers.
- The new approach to Strategic HR, although
at an early stage of operation, is a
favourable step towards addressing some of
the structural and capacity challenges for
the Department by bringing a more analytic
approach to HR and the
allocation/deployment of staff.
- The Department’s response to the CSEES
findings demonstrates best practice in
promoting staff engagement including in
relation to the town hall series, CSEES Action
Plan, and internal consultative architecture.
- The establishment of a Communications
and Press Office is a positive first step in
taking a more proactive and modern
approach to communications across a range
of platforms. Although at an early stage of
development, its impact is already being
seen on Departmental reach.
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Our commitment to improve- response to
the OCR
The OCR identifies a range of challenges and risks
to the Department and makes recommendations
as to how the Department can improve its
capability in leadership, policy development and
delivery, and corporate functioning.
Importantly, the OCR recognises that many of
these challenges are already being examined
and/or addressed as part of the Department’s
organisational development initiatives.
The first recommendation recognises the need
for the Department to continue to expand its
staff cohort in the coming years. The
Department has, in recent years, secured
additional resources in its administrative budget
to support this expansion and intends to
continue to address emerging priorities and key
staff gaps. The implementation of this
recommendation will, in large part, be addressed
as part of the annual Estimates process, however
the Department is committed to using all
opportunities to enhance our capability.
Further recommendations in the OCR are
grouped across five thematic areas:
- Enhancing strategic reflection and
evidence-based decision-making
- Establishing Departmental culture and
identity and improving structures
- Further enhancing internal and external
engagement
- Maximising the use of Strategic HR for a
better Department
- Corporate enablers to support
Departmental activity
Based on the contributions from business units
across the Department since the Review was
conducted, this implementation plan was
prepared. It identifies a broad range of
Departmental responses to each
recommendation. Given the overlapping nature
of some of the recommendations, the responses
are also grouped by these five themes. Initiatives
under each of the themes will be delivered over
the short, medium and long-term. The
implementation arrangements for this plan are
set out at the end of this document.
A number of the initiatives set out in this
implementation plan carry resource
requirements which would need to be met, in
large part, from the Department’s administrative
budget. While every effort will be made to
ensure that all initiatives are fully supported, the
Department recognises the dependence of this
on securing appropriate budgetary funding. As
such, consideration of the budgetary
implications of the implementation plan will
form part of the ongoing monitoring and review
of its implementation.
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Theme 1 – Strategy and Evidence-based
Decisions
Our commitment to improve:
We will foster and support a culture of strategic
planning and evidence-based decision-making
across the Department.
The OCR recognises the strength of the
Department’s policy development process and
output, and particularly our commitment to
ensuring that all policies have robust
implementation and evaluation arrangements.
We are committed to building on this strength
and to enhancing opportunities for strategic
reflection and evidence-based decision making
across the Department. It intends to achieve this
by implementing the following high-level actions
and initiatives:
Fostering Strategic Reflection
The Department’s Management Board will
consider opportunities to enhance the balance
between operational issues and strategic
reflection at its weekly meetings including the
need to set aside time for strategy-focussed
sessions throughout the year.
Allied to this, the Management Board will
examine its engagement across the Department
linked to key outputs e.g. business planning,
strategic reflection, delivery of this Action Plan
and ongoing Civil Service Renewal, and leading
to an annual programme of engagement. It also
intends to engage more regularly with POs and
other staff from business units to consider more
strategic engagement with the agencies under
the aegis of the Department, and to enhance
strategy and policy discussions.
Enhancing Policy and Strategy Development -
Central Policy & Research Function
In the short run, the Management Board will
establish a central policy and research
committee to share information on policy
developments, to review new policy proposals
and research drawing on expertise from across
the Department. Such a structure could also
enhance consistency between policy
approaches, introduce standardisation, and
ensure coherence between stakeholder
engagement and consultation across policy
areas as well as enhancing policy analysis skills
across the Department. Additionally, the
committee will engage cross-divisionally to
examine how national datasets, and other
relevant datasets, may be used or enhanced to
inform policy as well as measure the outputs and
outcomes of the Department’s work. In the
longer term, and pending the outcomes of the
work of the committee, the resourcing of a
permanent unit will be considered.
14
Review and enhance business planning
Responding to the most recent and future
Statements of Strategy, and building on the
recent review of business plans undertaken by
the Department’s internal audit unit, Corporate
Governance will enhance the business planning
process and template, including though greater
engagement with Management Board on key
policy areas within business plans
Delivering on our capital programme
The Project Ireland 2040 programme office will
continue to support and collaborate with
business units to deliver the Project Ireland 2040
investment programme. Key actions will include
the ongoing tracking of activity across divisions
and the preparation and analysis of
management information on the programme.
The programme office will continue to prepare
and disseminate best practice guidance,
templates and other supports in respect of
compliance with the Public Spending Code and
Capital Works Management Framework. The
programme office will examine training and
information sessions with internal and external
stakeholders to enhance compliance, best
practice and effective delivery. A streamlined
decision-flow identifying the decision gates, and
roles and responsibilities for delivery under the
programme will be agreed and disseminated.
These activities will be underpinned by close
engagement with business units to ensure that
they meet the evolving needs of the programme.
Divisional Steering Group are being established
to work in conjunction with the programme
office.
Additionally, the programme office will engage
with business units to assess the demand for the
office to undertake project appraisals directly
(where the Department is the sponsoring
agency). The programme office will continue to
arrange periodic engagements with agencies and
partners delivering parts of the Department’s
capital programme.
Implementing our policies and strategies
We will continue to enhance the collection and
analysis of implementation data for the policies
and strategies we deliver including for our
Statement of Strategy, Investing in our Culture,
Language and Heritage – 2018 to 2027, Culture
2025 and the Creative Ireland Programme, the
20-year Strategy for the Irish Language and the
5-year Action Plan - Plean Gníomhaíochta 2018-
2022, Heritage Ireland 2030, the National
Biodiversity Action Plan 2017 to 2021, and the
Audiovisual Action Plan. All business units will
have responsibility for this with support from the
central policy and research committee.
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Theme 2 – Culture, Identity and Structure
Our commitment to improve:
We will deliver on our Departmental objectives
by building on our strengths, working together
across units and divisions, and by fostering a
shared identity and values.
We have experienced a number of Departmental
reconfigurations in recent years which have
impacted on the integration between divisions
and have given rise to an absence of a singular
identity for the Department. Additionally, the
OCR has identified some areas where
Departmental structures could be enhanced to
foster better communications and more
effective delivery of Departmental functions. It
is intended to address these issues by
implementing the following actions and
initiatives:
Departmental Identity and Culture
The Management Board will establish a strategic
project involving staff across the Department, to
develop and communicate unifying values for
the Department.
The Management Board and Senior
Management Team intend to lead on this area
by setting the ‘tone from the top’ and ensuring
consistent communication of the Department as
a single entity in policy, strategy and delivery.
Allied to this, we will work to support a culture
of cross-divisional working.
As part of the embedding of a single identity and
culture across the Department, the Senior
Management Team will work to ensure
standardised approaches to the provision of
management information, communications and
other key documents including through the
development of templates, business process
manuals and corporate supports.
Single identity across all Communications
As part of the commitment to develop a
Departmental Communications Strategy, the
Communications and Press Office will review and
harmonise the diversity of communications
across the Department and will actively work to
communicate a single, unified identity for the
Department within the overall Government of
Ireland branding strategy. This new strategy will
also utilise opportunities to engage and
advocate for Irish language capacity across all
Departmental platforms.
Fostering Cross-Divisional Working
The Management Board intends to use its
weekly meetings to examine the opportunities
for fostering cross-divisional collaboration with a
focus on leveraging expertise between Divisions.
Potential areas for cross collaboration include
Irish language aspects of culture and heritage
policy and delivery, natural heritage within
Gaeltacht and cultural policy, creativity and
climate and biodiversity action and cross-cutting
EU initiatives and programmes e.g. Galway 2020.
16
The Senior Management Team will consider
opportunities to work cross-divisionally to
enhance its engagement with stakeholders,
particularly those across a number of policy
areas e.g. local authorities. This could also
involve an examination of information
requirements for grantees and the use of online
applications and information systems for the
management of grants.
Departmental Accommodation
Corporate Division will engage with the OPW to
explore opportunities to enhance the current
Departmental accommodation arrangements
including through a single office location in
Dublin.
NPWS Structure and Leadership
Senior Managers in the Heritage Division will
examine ways to strengthen leadership
mechanisms across the NPWS including by
developing a unified business plan for the NPWS,
acknowledging the shared responsibilities that
exist between business units and the importance
of effective information flows across the service.
An important mechanism to achieve this is the
regularly scheduled meetings at PO level,
chaired by the Assistant Secretary, to discuss
strategic and current issues across the NPWS.
The outputs of these discussions will be fed back
to staff through regular staff meetings and other
communications channels.
Additionally, the NPWS and National
Monuments Service will develop written
business processes for licence and consent
applications, provide in-house training on
standardised approaches and define roles to
better support staff in cross-cutting roles. The
opportunity to provide for central coordination
of Education Services will be considered.
Additionally, the NWPS will review the
development of guidance in relation to key areas
of NPWS, particularly as it relates to the service’s
legislative functions, and, as part of the ICT
strategy, will consider options for e-consent and
e-license services and for the efficient
distribution of guidance.
National Archives
Corporate Division will work with the National
Archives to examine the current operating
relationship, particularly in terms of structures
and corporate supports, with a view to
identifying opportunities to enhance corporate
alignment and support. This work is especially
timely given the increased workload arising from
the introduction of the 20-year rule for archival
releases, the growing focus on records
management across the Civil Service, and the
significant capital investment in a redeveloped
National Archives building under Project Ireland
2040.
17
Theme 3 – Engagement
Our commitment to improve:
We will build a framework for engagement that
fosters horizontal communication cross-
divisional working opportunities and grade
networks, and that enhances vertical
communication through frequent team
meetings, town halls, and opportunities for all
staff to engage with the Senior Management
Team.
We will enhance our external engagement
through our communications and through
dedicated structures to meet and work with our
stakeholders.
The OCR also reflects on the Department’s
internal engagement with staff and external
engagement with key sectoral stakeholders.
Again, the OCR recognises the Department’s
strong culture of positive engagement with
external stakeholders, and the recent positive
work of the Management Board and Civil Service
Renewal team in enhancing engagement
internally. Engagement is also an important
mechanism to support a single Departmental
identity and to foster a positive organisational
culture. To further enhance engagement, the
Department intends to implement the following
actions and initiatives under this plan:
Team Meetings
The Senior Management Team will commit to
increase the number of regular team meetings at
unit and team levels, as appropriate. Part of the
Senior Management Team’s consideration of
this action will be to consider methodologies to
monitor and support these meetings, supported
by HR.
Supporting the Civil Service Employee
Engagement Survey Action Plan
The Management Board and Strategic HR is
supporting the implementation of the CSEES
Action Plan and will use the internal consultative
architecture established by the Civil Service
Renewal initiative to facilitate its
implementation as a core element of its staff
engagement process. The internal consultative
architecture currently includes seven working
groups; HR Civil Service Renewal, Internal
Communications, Diversity and Inclusion, Social
Media, Staff Wellbeing, Mobility and Records
Management and Data Protection. In the short
to medium-term, Civil Service Renewal Unit will
launch an internal communications policy
including Irish language action plan, social media
policy, diversity and inclusion policy and action
plan, staff wellbeing policy and a number of
policies relating to records and data
management. Implementation of this plan and
the Civil Service Employee Engagement Survey
Action Plan will be combined into one overall
action plan for the Department. HR Civil Service
Renewal will, within the lifetime of this action
plan, consider the next phase of actions under
CSEES.
Enhancing the role of Staff Networks
HR will continue to support staff networks
including the new Industrial and EO Grade
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Networks and will facilitate their expansion to
other grades. As part of this, HR will examine
best practice in other Departments including
different approaches to networks in other
Government Departments. All networks will
provide opportunities for staff from
administrative and professional and technical
streams to participate.
HR will lead an engagement with staff networks
with a view to enhancing their contribution to
the work of the Department and ensuring
meaningful and regular access to senior
management. HR will examine opportunities to
mobilise networks and create opportunities for
staff to contribute meaningfully to new
initiatives in the Department to foster a
commitment to the Department as well as
section, service and division.
Meaningful staff engagement in policy and
strategy development
The PO network will meet at least twice a year
with the Management Board in its Senior
Management Team configuration on an agreed
programme of work with a view to enhancing
engagement on the Department’s strategic
direction. These meetings will also act as
opportunities to enhance cross-divisional
engagement and information sharing.
The Senior Management Team will also consider
how it engages with other staff networks both in
terms of enhancing access to senior
management and in establishing a shared work
agenda for networks and the Department. This
initiative should also include examination of
ways for staff to contribute to policy and strategy
development within the Department.
Enhancing staff engagement, sharing expertise
and showcasing our work
HR will, through the CSEES Action Plan
consultative architecture and HR skills analysis,
seek to identify staff and opportunities for
sharing expertise across Divisions. This will
include examining opportunities to share
expertise and showcase our work through
webinars on Roinnfo, lunch and learn sessions,
and through engagement with staff networks
and could include areas of expertise like
procurement and risk management.
Consideration will also be given to annual
sectoral conferences e.g. NPWS, NMS, inviting
attendees and participants from elsewhere in
the Department, as well as regular town hall and
other staff engagements across the
Department’s offices.
Fostering meaningful engagement with
Agencies
The Department divisions will engage with
agencies and NCIs collectively each year with a
composite agenda encompassing corporate
governance and a broad overview of the
Department’s remit. This will further build on the
strategic engagement by the Department with
its agencies, as well as serving to enhance the
opportunities for identifying areas of cross-
functional collaboration. Ensuring engagement
opportunities are available in both Irish and
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English will form part of the overall
arrangements for these sessions.
Allied to this, the Communications and Press
Office will re-establish a group involving the
heads of Communications across the
Department’s agencies and will hold regular
meetings to share learnings, explore synergies
and devise integrated communications plans.
Leveraging Sectoral Expertise
The Department’s divisions will review the
recent experiences of thematic conferences to
assess the future opportunities for such
conferences to engage with and leverage the
expertise of stakeholders beyond agencies under
the Department’s aegis. Particular consideration
will be given to actions to maintain the
momentum of stakeholder engagement in
progressing the Department’s agenda
established by the 2019 Culture Ireland
Conference, 2019 Biodiversity Conference,
Heritage Ireland 2030 Information Session
(2019), and National Monuments Service Public
Archaeology Conference (2019), and in building
similar momentum across other policy areas.
Communications Strategy
As part of the development of the new
Communications Strategy, the Communications
and Press Office will consider how it raises
awareness of Departmental policies and
strategies among staff. The intranet – Roinnfo -
will be an important vehicle for this type of
awareness-raising.
The new strategy will use greater analytics as
part of its consideration of communications
activities.
It will also consider the opportunities for sector
specific campaigns in response to key policy
issues.
20
Theme 4 – Strategic HR for a better
Department
Our commitment to improve:
We introduce a new HR/People Strategy that
will ensure our structure is fit for purpose and
staff are supported to deliver on our
Departmental objectives.
The OCR recognised positively the specialisation
of the HR function (through external
appointments and training) while recognising
that the move to a more strategic HR function
was still at an early stage in its development.
This specialisation within the Department’s HR
function is seen as critical in taking a more
strategic approach to addressing Departmental
challenges like the retirement cliff, as well as
enhancing the processes and supports for
workforce planning, performance management.
To build on this strong foundation, the
Department proposes the following actions and
initiatives:
HR/People Strategy
HR will develop a new HR/People strategy in
consultation with staff across the Department.
This strategy will be evidence-led, based on an
analysis of the business landscape, internal
structures and resources, and using findings
from the Organisational Capability Review, staff
engagement including the CSEES, town halls, and
internal CSEES working groups.
Strategic HR and Business Priorities
HR will engage more strategically with business
units to ensure that workforce planning is
integrated with business needs and will over the
lifetime of the HR Strategy implement a business
partner programme.
Increased Mobility
Part of the strategy development process will
include consideration of the needs of all offices
having regard to diversity of work and the
opportunities for mobility of functions as well as
individuals. It will also consider mobility within
the Department and within particular locations
(including with other Government Departments
and Agencies), linking in with the civil service
mobility policy. The strategy preparation
process will examine the support needs for staff
working on their own.
Enhanced HR Analytics
HR will undertake a review of the Department’s
structures to assess scope for enhancement.
HR will continue to develop its analytics
capability and feed this into succession
planning/skills gap identification.
HR will establish and publish a schedule of
regular visits to regional offices. The Unit will
seek to engage proactively with business units in
relation to emerging issues e.g. retirement cliff
and succession planning.
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Co-ordination of Engagement and
Communications
HR will develop a strategic plan for engagement
across the Department including town hall
meetings, staff networks, team meetings, and
optimisation of technical facilities to ensure
improved communications across all areas of the
Department.
Skills Analysis and Essential Training
HR will examine opportunities to undertake data
collection and analysis of key skills across the
Department with a view to optimising the annual
learning and development programme and the
developmental opportunities for staff.
Irish Language Capacity and Capability
As part of the review of Departmental structures
and skills analysis, HR will examine the
availability of Irish language speakers across all
Divisions to facilitate internal and external
stakeholders engaging in Irish, as well as to
promote the use of the Irish language across the
Department. Consideration will also be given to
the opportunities to develop capacity to
communicate technical and scientific matters in
Irish.
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Theme 5 – Departmental Enablers to
support Delivery
Our commitment to improve:
We work to ensure that business units have the
supports they need to effectively do their work.
The OCR gives significant time to considering the
corporate functions of the Department given
their importance in supporting delivery by the
Department’s other divisions. While the report
recognises the strength of the Department’s
corporate enablers, and particularly notes
projects like the ICT Heritage Migration Project,
there is more that the Department can do to
support policy formulation and delivery through
enhanced corporate functions. To that end, the
following actions and initiatives are proposed:
Strategy for Corporate Enablers
The Corporate Division will develop strategic
approaches to training, cross-divisional working
and process improvement (including ICT enabled
processes).
Allied to this, the Corporate Governance Unit will
examine the structure and operation of
corporate-led Departmental groups and
committees to ensure effective cross-divisional
engagement, minimise duplication or overlap, if
any, and to ensure their efficient management
and support.
Enhancing our EU profile
The Management Board will review its overall
engagement with the EU to ensure integration at
a policy level and co-ordination at an
organisational level. The Management Board will
consider how it can ensure proactive
engagement between business units and the EU
Attaché to ensure the Department is better
positioned to influence EU policies and to
leverage further EU funding opportunities. The
Department will enhance the supports it
provides for staff engaging with EU institutions
to ensure that they can participate fully in the
process.
Departmental divisions will examine capacity
and capability to expand the LIFE programme
and to further leverage EU opportunities. The
Heritage division will review capacity to input
effectively into key UN Conventions related to
nature conservation.
Ensuring Robust Corporate Governance
The Management Board, supported by the
Corporate Governance Unit, will continue to
review its risk registers to ensure they are fit for
purpose, consistent and are in line with the
Department’s risk management policy. Risk
management structures are being enhanced to
ensure that risk is fully embedded into
governance processes.
The Corporate Governance Unit will complete
the development of its Records Management
and Data Management policies and will provide
training and guidance to staff on these new
policies and support materials. It will also
complete the development of its records
retention policy. Corporate Governance will
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examine, with the National Archives, a best
practice approach to managing Departmental
archival needs including consideration of
resource requirements to support this.
ICT to facilitate innovation and engagement
ICT Unit will develop a new ICT strategy which
will involve a review of business needs, a
consultation across the Department and
underpinned by the principle of balancing
security and business needs. This strategy will
also consider the operation, governance and
management of internal systems, and it will also
include consideration of support needs across
the Department following the completion of the
ICT Heritage Migration project. It will also
examine the opportunities for ICT tools to
enhance collaborative working.
The new ICT strategy will consider ways of
enhancing existing teleconference and
videoconference supports to ensure that staff
can interact effectively from all locations.
Access to legal services
The Management Board will expand its existing
legal services to build expertise and enhance
supports for business units.
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Oversight on progressing the
Implementation Plan 2020-2021
The Senior Management Team (which comprises
the Management Board, Principal Officers and
Heads of Function) will have primary
responsibility for implementing the priorities
and actions set out in this implementation plan.
It will do this by seeking six-monthly updates on
actions which will then be sent, as a progress
report, to the Senior Management Team for
consideration at a special meeting of the Board.
The report will also be published on the
Department’s intranet.
The implementation plan will be reviewed in
mid-year 2021 with a view to developing a
further version of the implementation plan
addressing new and emerging areas for
organisational development as part of the wider
Civil Service Renewal process.
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