· No reduction in any services as a result of the temporary unpaid leave measure
· A guarantee of “no impact on the length and structure of the school year or class contact” and an additional working hour by every teacher each week
· Explicit agreement on the redeployment of civil and public servants within and between organisations to ensure better delivery of priority services as budgets and staffing declined
· A process to deliver an extended 8-8 working day in the health services, leading to longer opening hours
· The introduction of new rosters in health - including the introduction of new nursing rosters by January 2011 – leading to more flexible services and a further reduced overtime budget
· Ongoing reductions in the number of in-patient beds and increases in day care, outpatient and diagnostic capacity, in order to provide faster access to services at lower cost
· A greater range of health services in community settings so that more patients could receive treatment at home
· Reviews of health service staffing ratios and skills mixes to help improve patient care at minimal cost
· New value-for money and waste elimination programmes
· The introduction of shared services in health, local authorities, education and the civil services – in areas like finance, procurement, human resources and payroll.
· The introduction of evidence-based performance measurement in health
· The extension of competitive and merit-based promotions at all levels throughout the public services
· Multi-disciplinary working and reporting arrangements in health
· The supervision and substitution scheme for post primary teacher to be made more flexible
· New procedures for redeploying surplus teachers
· A review of the teaching contract to remove impediments to teaching and learning
· A comprehensive review and revision of special needs assistant employment terms and conditions to identify and remove any impediments to efficient and effective support for students with special care needs
· Cooperation with the restructuring and rationalisation of the VEC sector
· Cooperation with rationalisation of state agencies in the local government sector
· Better management and standardisation of annual and sick leave arrangements
· Changes to civil service opening and closing times and attendance arrangements
· The further development of on-line and e-services.
The deal would also have included a new ‘transformation commission’ with independent leadership, charged with ensuring the implementation of the package.
Temporary savings measures – necessary because the transformation programme would not have delivered the required permanent savings in 2010 - were also on the table to ensure the necessary payroll savings in 2010. The savings would have come from an agreed progressive valuation of 12 days unpaid leave.
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