Page 36 - Linkline Spring 2017
P. 36

 Table 1: Indicators for Transport 2016 -2019
    Land Transport 1. Completion of road maintenance and improvement programmes.
     2. Publication of a new Public Transport Policy Statement.
    3. Development of a rail strategy.
    4.
Reduction in the number of fatalities and serious injuries on Irish roads in line with the targets set in the Road Safety Strategy 2013-2020
     5. Ensure penalty points are applied fully to driving licences.
    6. Increased proportion of low-carbon vehicles within the Public Transport Fleet.
     7. Fewer single occupancy vehicles and more commuters walking and cycling.
     Maintaining existing high standards in achieving, and where possible surpassing, ICAO, Aviation 1. European Civil Aviation Conference and EC benchmarks on aviation safety and security in
line with timeframes set by these organisations.
    2.
Actions implemented in line with timeframes set out in the National Aviation Policy and updated as appropriate.
     Maritime 1.
Five Ports of Regional Significance transferred to Local Authority control by the end of 2018.
    2. Ports Performance measurement system in place by the end of 2017.
    3. Independent capacity forecasting for ports introduced by the end of 2018.
     4. International Maritime Conventions Bill prepared for drafting approval by mid-2017.
    5. ISO certification of international maritime regulatory activities achieved by end-2016.
    6.
Ireland’s position on the White List for IMO’s Standards of Training Certification for Seafarers and on White List for the Paris Memorandum on Port State Control maintained.
     7. SafeSeas Ireland web portal system completed development by mid-2017.
    8.
Minimum 90% availability of IRCG Units in boat, cliff and shoreline search teams maintained
    9. Full interoperability of Marine Rescue Coordination introduced by winter 2017/18 to facilitate increased training with one training exercise each carried out per annum.
         *The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport state that, "we will monitor our progress using the indicators".
Some of the measures can be tracked fairly easily, when it comes to reviewing progress. For example, performance measures like “Five ports of regional significance transferred local authority control by the end of 2018” or “Reduction in the number of fatalities and serious injuries on Irish roads in line with the targets set in the Road Safety Strategy 2013-2020” are very specific. In the case of some of the others, however, either they are too general or not easily identifiable in specific output terms. For example, how does an Oireachtas committee decide whether the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has, in fact, achieved success under a target such as “development of a rail strategy”? Admittedly, it is not always easy to identify relevant performance measures for each and every strategy. Nevertheless, each performance measure should be able to tell a story about whether a department is achieving its objectives and if progress is being made towards attaining policy or organisational goals set-out in its Statement of Strategy.
Follow-up
The current strategy statements are the start of a new cycle of reporting. Each department’s progress will continue to be monitored by Oireachtas committees, through the publication of requisite annual reports. It should be clear from such reports whether or not objectives and strategies are being achieved and especially if performance indicators are being met (or not being met). It is important that the performance indicators used are consistent with the indicators used in the Annual Output Statements that are produced separately by departments. As well as indicating areas of improvement, progress reports should set out reasons for targets not being met as well as listing problems encountered. The taxpayers have a right to know the successes and failures in the roll-out of public expenditure.
Tom Ferris is a consultant economist. He was formerly the senior economist at the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.
 36 The Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport
 STATEMENT OF STRATEGY



































































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