O’Dowd publishes efficiency reports

Education Minister, John O’Dowd, has published reports into potential efficiency savings in key Education and Library Board services.
~ Wednesday, 22 February 2012

The reports, prepared in partnership with the Department of Finance & Personnel’s Performance and Efficiency Delivery Unit (PEDU), focus on potential improvements in efficiency in the delivery of home to school transport and school meals services.

Commenting on the reports, Mr O’Dowd said: “I have made no secret of the fact that we are facing a very challenging budgetary environment in education. Even with the additional funding I announced on 12 January 2012, my Department still faces a real terms reduction of £180million (9.2%) in resource funding by 2014/15, compared to the 2010/11 baseline. I am clear that my top priority is to ensure that as much money as possible goes to frontline services and I have reviewed budget allocations to ensure we direct resources wherever we can to the Aggregated Schools Budget and mitigate the impact of cuts from Westminster.

“The PEDU reports being published today provide an opportunity to examine potential savings in the delivery of two major services – school transport and school meals. The reports have pointed up a significant degree of variation in practice and in costs across the five Education and Library Boards and scope for savings in both the short and the longer term.”

In total 53 recommendations have been made across the two areas. The Education Minister has signalled his intention to pursue all of the recommendations, either immediately or in designing the delivery structures for the new Education and Skills Authority.

The Minister concluded: “These 53 recommendations form a framework for action. In the coming weeks my Department will publish an action plan setting out how the sector will respond to each recommendation. My expectation is that this work will lead to a more efficient and effective delivery of these key services.”

Notes to editors:

1. The review exercise was initiated in July 2010 as part of an agreement that the education and health services would be exempt from in-year budget reductions and on condition that the Ministers for Health and Education agreed to Department of Finance and Personnel, on behalf of the Executive, commissioning PEDU to undertake work into the scope for, and delivery of, significant cost reductions across the two sectors.
2. Following Stage 1 of the PEDU Review which identified broad areas within the education sector where there appeared to be scope for savings, a more detailed Stage 2 Review which focused on home to school transport and school meals was carried out. Copies of the Stage 2 reports are available on the Department of Education’s website.
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