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Brennan Report - Department of Health and Children

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Appendix 4Ratifying <strong>and</strong> Submitting the Service Plan: The health board’s senior management teamagrees the overall Service Plan <strong>and</strong> presents it to the board’s Finance Sub-Committee. It is thenput before a health board meeting for adoption by the board.When adopted, it is forwarded tothe <strong>Department</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Health</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Children</strong> for Ministerial approval. The Service Plan is generallysubmitted by early/mid January.Once received by the <strong>Department</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Health</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Children</strong>, Service Plans are immediately puton the <strong>Department</strong>’s intranet <strong>and</strong> all line divisions (Secondary Care, Childcare, Services for OlderPeople, Community <strong>Health</strong>, Mental <strong>Health</strong> Division, Services for the Physically <strong>and</strong> IntellectuallyDisabled, Personnel, I.T., Hospital Planning Office etc.) are advised <strong>of</strong> their availability. The financialelement <strong>of</strong> the each health board’s Service Plan is examined by the finance unit to ensure thatit is within determination.The Minister may, within 21 days <strong>of</strong> receipt, direct the health board to make modifications tothe Service Plan.<strong>Health</strong> boards are required to submit a cash pr<strong>of</strong>ile <strong>of</strong> their expected cash drawdown duringthe coming year. This pr<strong>of</strong>ile, the requirement for which is set out in the Letter <strong>of</strong>Determination, must be submitted by the beginning <strong>of</strong> January. The individual health boardfigures are aggregated by the <strong>Department</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Health</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Children</strong>, supplemented by directspending by the <strong>Department</strong>, <strong>and</strong> submitted to the <strong>Department</strong> <strong>of</strong> Finance.IV. SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATESUnder government accounting rules, a <strong>Department</strong> which finds itself faced, during the course <strong>of</strong>a year, with a prospective overrun on its aggregate spending or a shortfall in its income, may -subject to the prior approval <strong>of</strong> the Minister for Finance - apply to the Dáil for aSupplementary Estimate. The norm is that <strong>Department</strong>s must live within their allocated budget<strong>and</strong> the Minister for Finance will only sanction a Supplementary Estimate in exceptionalcircumstances.A specific variant to this regime applies in the case <strong>of</strong> the <strong>Department</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Health</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Children</strong>.The <strong>Health</strong> (Amendment) (No.3) Act, 1996 placed a legal obligation on the chief executive<strong>of</strong>ficers <strong>of</strong> the health boards to live within the annual expenditure budgets determined for eachboard by the Minister for <strong>Health</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Children</strong>; if they fail to do so, the excess is carried forwardto the following financial year as a first charge on that year’s expenditure. While the legislationallows for the Minister for <strong>Health</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Children</strong> to vary a determination, it was agreed with theMinister for Finance in 1997 that increases in voted expenditure supported by SupplementaryEstimates would only be allowed in respect <strong>of</strong> specified areas deemed not to be amenable tomanagement/control by the <strong>Department</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Health</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Children</strong> or the health boards.In the context <strong>of</strong> the 2002 Estimates <strong>and</strong> Budgets, the Government approved a proposal fromthe Minister <strong>of</strong> Finance that, for the future <strong>and</strong> commencing in 2002, resources provided to the<strong>Department</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Health</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Children</strong> would be based on the annual cash allocation asdetermined in the Abridged Estimates Volume augmented by any subsequent Budget Dayprovision. In this context, it was further agreed that no requests for Supplementary Estimateswould be considered, save in the following specific areas that were considered not to beamenable to management by the <strong>Department</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Health</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Children</strong>.167

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