The Organisational Review Programme (ORP) was established to review the capacities of Government Departments and major Offices in the three key areas of setting strategy, managing service delivery and undertaking evaluations.

Seven reviews have been completed so far:

First round: Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (now Agriculture, Marine and Food); Enterprise, Trade and Employment (now Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation); and Transport (now Transport, Tourism and Sport).

Second round: Department of Health and Children (now two separate Departments); Central Statistics Office; Property Registration Authority; and Office of the Revenue Commissioners.

Reviews of a further four organisations currently under way will be completed shortly:

Third round: Department of the Taoiseach; Department of the Environment, Commuity and Local Government; Department of Education and Skills; and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

The reviews and associated action plans can be viewed at www.orp.ie

It is intended that the programme of reviews of all Departments and major Offices will be completed by the end of 2012.

How are these Reviews undertaken?

The reviews are undertaken by a team of officials, previously based in the Department of the Taoiseach and now in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. The team includes three Principals on secondment.

In conducting the reviews, the ORP team assesses organisational capacities by reference to three criteria:

• How effective is the Department at developing strategy?
• How good is it at managing delivery, especially to customers?
• Does it evaluate what it does and do the findings feed back into new policies?