SKILL PROGRAMME:A FRESH investigation has been opened by the Health Service Executive into how nearly €1 million in "partnership funding" which was paid into a bank account linked to the trade union Siptu was spent.
There are already several investigations under way into €2.3 million paid by the HSE into the account known as the Siptu National Health and Local Authority Levy as part of funding for the Skill programme for training staff in the health service.
However, a report by Comptroller and Auditor General John Buckley reveals that an additional €876,000 was paid into this account by the HSE between 2004 and 2008. The money was paid through the Health Service National Partnership Forum, a body set up to foster co-operation between management and unions.
The comptroller’s report, on the accounts of the public services for 2009, was published yesterday.
Siptu has said the account was not one of its authorised accounts. However, it said last night the union had now secured control of the account and an investigation by its trustees would be complete within weeks.
HSE sources said last night this “partnership” money was earmarked for training and people-management purposes and the intention was that some of the funding would be dispersed to other health service trade unions.
In a statement last night the HSE said it had commended a separate internal audit in relation to how this money was spent.
Separately, the comptroller’s report found that some of the controversial foreign trips and study visits abroad associated with the Skill training scheme were not integral to the programme.
It says in some cases the only connection to the programme was the fact that the costs were met out of funding provided out of the Skill budget. The Skill programme received €47 million in State funding between 2004 and 2009.
The comptroller has strongly criticised breaches of financial and procurement rules associated with the programme as well as the controversial arrangements for foreign travel. The report says that while tenders were sought for the provision of training services there was no evidence available as to how these tenders were evaluated and selected.
It finds that in some cases HSE procurement policies were breached and existing HSE contracts were not used. It says consultancy services to the value of nearly €430,000 had not been tendered for, including a €72,873 consultancy contract which went to a member of the Skill steering group. It highlights a €12,700 bill for taxis including for journeys between hotels, restaurants and pubs after business hours.
The report confirms an earlier HSE audit that study visits were financed out of grants paid into the Siptu National Health and Local Authority Levy fund.
The HSE audit found there had been 31 foreign trips associated with the Skill programme. These included visits to Australia, the US, Hong Kong and the UK. The HSE audit suggested that the study visits, including travel and accommodation arrangements were organised by a Siptu official who was a member of the steering group. The comptroller’s report says the Siptu official has suggested that trips to the UK were funded from the reimbursement claims submitted to the Skill programme while the long-haul trips were partnership visits and paid for from “partnership monies”.
The report says that so far the HSE has been unable to satisfy itself that all of the amounts paid “represented expenditure properly incurred for the purpose of the Skill programme”.
The report says Department of Health staff who served on the Skill steering group contended that foreign travel was not undertaken under the aegis of the body or at its behest. “In general, feedback from the department officials who were members of the steering group and others aware of the study visits is that the visits were not at the time specifically seen as being associated with Skill and had their basis in wider efforts under partnership to improve industrial relations and develop a shared understanding of the scope for change and reform in the health service,” the report states.