department of social and family affairs annual report 2006 - Welfare.ie

Governance and Management of
Resources
> OBJECTIVE 1
Ensure the governance arrangements of the
Department and its agencies are appropriate to
achieve the task which must be undertaken.
The Department’s agencies are:
• The Pensions Board
> DSFA Audit Committee
The DSFA Audit Committee, which operates under
a written charter and whose membership of
six includes three external members (including
the Chairperson), is an integral part of the
Department’s corporate governance processes.
The Committee met on four occasions in 2006
and provided advice and guidance to the
Department in relation to business control,
internal audit, risk management, its relationship
with external audit and other governance issues.
goal 6: the department and its staff
• The Family Support Agency
• Combat Poverty Agency
• Comhairle/Citizens Information Board
• Pensions Ombudsman
See Chapter 1 for details of the functions of these
agencies.
The Department liaises regularly with all its
agencies and participates in the work of various
committees as appropriate. It is represented on
the Pensions Board and on the boards of the other
agencies.
The Pensions Board and the Pensions
Ombudsman submit an annual report to the
Minister; the accounts of all the agencies are
audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General
each year.
> Management Board and subcommittees
The Management Board (formerly known as
the Management Advisory Committee) was
restructured in 2006 as a result of a consultants’
review of its role and functions.
The Board is supported by a number of subcommittees
including the Risk and Operations
Committee and the Policy Committee. In addition,
the Top Management Team of Social Welfare
Services meets on a regular basis.
> OBJECTIVE 2
Ensure the Strategic Management Initiative (SMI)
is implemented in the Department.
Under the Sustaining Progress agreement, the
Department’s Modernisation Action Plan (MAP)
continued until mid-2006. Good progress was
made on implementing the MAP during the year.
Key priorities included:
• New technology and eGovernment:
Considerable progress was made on the
SDM programme, including new releases
for State Pension (Transition), State Pension
(Contributory), Early Childcare Supplement and
other Budget changes. (For more details, see
Goal 4, objective 12, )
• Continuing the programme of process
improvement and localisation of services:
Localisation of the new One Parent Family
Payment claims to local offices was completed
and the localisation of existing claims was
started.
• Maintaining business continuity in the
context of, in particular, preparations for
decentralisation: Progress was in line with the
Department’s decentralisation implementation
plan, and focussed in particular on the
forthcoming moves to Sligo and Carrick-on-
Shannon which are scheduled for early 2007.
(See Objective 6 of this Goal for more details)
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