From Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform
Published on
Last updated on
Check against delivery
Good afternoon everyone and thank you for inviting me today. It’s good to be here with you for this important launch of the new Statement of Strategy for 2021 - 2023 for the National Shared Services Office.
I want to start by commending the staff of the NSSO and the CEO Hilary Murphy Fagan on what you have achieved to date, enhancing standards of governance and assurance, while also pursuing higher standards of service quality across HR, pensions and payroll in the wider public service.
Since becoming Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform I have seen the hard work, commitment and resilience of staff to pivot quickly and adapt their ways of working to meet the challenges of Covid-19 head on. It has been a difficult year and I want to thank you all for the commitment you have shown. Despite the challenges of Covid and working remotely, you have progressed your technology, transformation and service plans to support other Government departments. As a result of this hard work, the NSSO now has stronger connections with Government Departments and their offices, working collaboratively and adding value by providing access to departmental datasets and insights that support better decision making.
This 3 Year strategy sets out the direction and scope for the NSSO to modernise and lead the transformation of public administration. It also shows a vision for process and digital innovation with better use of technology and automation to optimise the user experience and achieve a more digitally enabled Civil Service. It seeks to grow shared services, to ensure best value for money through new developments such as data analytics, and to expand the facilities it offers to more organisations in the wider public service.
The implementation of Financial Management Shared Services will deliver a platform for both cash and accrual accounting with increased automation for reporting for Government accounting. The outcome will be improved financial control with enhanced resource allocation decisions, and its implementation will enable further Government accounting and reporting reforms, consistent with the IMF economic framework for fiscal policymaking. I am very keen to see this programme progress and the set-up of the new Finance shared services operation that will provide support to the finance functions of Government Departments.
Another priority for the NSSO, is to modernise technology, interacting more with Cloud, and to accelerate process and digital reform and innovation for better and more sustainable public administration. This strategy replaces legacy processes and will implement greater integration of systems to deliver secure, scalable data solutions for greater cyber protection and resilience.
By taking a broader view of the systems landscape and putting the right infrastructure in place to connect all of these services together now, there is a significant opportunity to remove inefficiencies through integration, automation and innovation, connecting end-to-end Civil Service processes that in the past used many manual unconnected systems. There has been significant progress made already, and I am pleased that the replacement of the legacy payroll system is well underway.
Of course it’s not all about automation. The strategy also supports ongoing investment in people, learning and career development, building skillsets and the capabilities of staff at all levels - skillsets that are required now and into the future.
Your strategic goals reflect the priorities of the NSSO to embed excellence in its current practices, while preparing a path for future expansion to create and deliver more value. The future of work is upon us, and this strategy will ensure that NSSO staff can maintain a positive work/life balance with effective service delivery, using the latest technology.
This strategy is both ambitious and achievable, and plays a pivotal role in partnership with my Department in many aspects of the progressive reform agenda across the wider public service.
I want to acknowledge the essential role the NSSO has also played over the last year, in assisting with the delivery of Government services and rapid respond to the challenges and changes that Covid-19 brought through increased remote working. The staff of the NSSO ensured that their Civil Service colleagues could continue, not only to get paid, but also have unbroken access to the most essential of their services, so that they, in turn, could continue doing their jobs.
While we are living through a very difficult time there are undoubtedly better days ahead. The Strategy document charts an exciting and dynamic future for the NSSO and I look forward to working alongside you in the delivery of continued enhancement of our public services.
ENDS