503 Deputy Olwyn Enright asked the Minister for Finance the criteria applied by his Department in considering the grant or refusal of an exemption by the Health Service Executive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33521/10]

505 Deputy Olwyn Enright asked the Minister for Finance if he will provide a breakdown of the exemptions sought by the Health Service Executive, including job and grade, to the recruitment embargo outlining which exemptions were granted and which exemptions were refused in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33520/10]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 503 and 505 together.

The Employment Control Framework 2010-2012 for the Health Sector (Department of Health & Children, HSE and Voluntary Bodies) provides for an annual reduction of 1,520 whole time equivalents in the numbers employed. It allows the HSE to fill vacancies in specific exempted grades in key front line services and to create a limited number of new posts in those exempted grades. The exempted grades are:

Medical consultants;

Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist and Physiotherapist;

Clinical Psychologist and Counsellor;

Social Worker;

Emergency Medical Technician;

Psychiatric Nurses;

Public Health Nurse and Nurse Sponsorship Scheme;

National Cancer Control Programme specialist grades.

Provided that it is making satisfactory progress with its employment control framework targets, the HSE also has discretion to fill a limited number of posts on exceptional grounds to support the development of integrated health care and its transformation programme. There must be suppression of posts of equivalent value in non-frontline areas for each new exempted posts or each exception made.

Prior to the Employment Control Framework 2010-2012, the HSE required the specific approval of the Department of Health & Children in the first instance and then my Department to any exceptions. Details of exceptions requested and granted by my Department prior to the 2010-2012 framework were included in my response to PQ ref no: 21792/10 on Tuesday 25th May last and for your convenience are set out in the following table.