Ken Spratt has been Secretary General at the Department of Transport since July 2020. He previously served in six other Government departments including as Assistant Secretary General for Tourism and Sport and Assistant Secretary General for Energy.
He holds a Master of Science degree from Letterkenny Institute of Technology and Ulster University, Jordanstown and is a graduate of the Institute of Directors, Ireland, and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, UK. He holds third level and professional qualifications in HRM, Employment Law, Economics, Systems Analysis and Corporate Governance.
Under the Public Service Management Act 1997 (No.27 of 1977), the Secretary General of the department has the following responsibilities:
• managing the business generally of the Department;
• implementing Government policies appropriate to the Department;
• monitoring Government policies that affect the Department;
• delivering outputs as determined by the Minister;
• providing policy advice to the Minister on all matters within the remit of the Department;
• preparing Statements of Strategy for submission to the Minister;
• providing progress reports to the Minister on the implementation of the Statement of Strategy;
• ensuring proper use of resources and the provision of cost-effective public services;
• preparing an outline of how specific responsibilities are to be assigned to other officers down through the Department;
• managing matters relating to appointments, performance, discipline and dismissal of civil servants below the grade of Principal or its equivalent.
Section 4(1) of the Public Service Management Act empowers the Secretary General to assign to other officers of the Department (or grade or grades of officer) responsibility for the performance of his or her functions.