198. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the average time taken to process a pension-increase proposal submitted under Circular 16/2021; the longest period taken to reach a decision on such a proposal; the administrative cost and staff resources required to operate the approval process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66412/26]

199. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the number and percentage of pension-increase proposals submitted by commercial semi-state bodies under Circular 16/2021, since its introduction, that were refused, amended or otherwise changed as a result of the ministerial approval process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66411/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 198 and 199 together.

The Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies addresses the Ministerial approval process for both pension scheme amendments and pension increases proposed by commercial state bodies. The Code of Practice was amended by Department of Public Expenditure and Reform Circular 16/2021 on foot of a Government decision to re-affirm and revise the existing framework of governance procedures applying to commercial state bodies.

Under the terms of the Code of Practice, commercial state bodies must seek Ministerial approval for discretionary pension increases, which comprises the approval of the parent Minister and the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (PER). This process ensures due diligence and that any proposed changes, including pension increases, are sustainable.

It is possible that a business case for Ministerial approval of a pension increase is amended by the parent Department of the relevant commercial state body before it is submitted to my Department. There may also be approval requests that are refused by the parent Minister of a commercial state body and are therefore not submitted for my consent. My Department would not hold information on the number of cases in these categories.

Since the effective date of Circular 16/2021, 30 July 2021, there has been one occurrence in which consent to a pension increase was not granted on the basis of the original business case submitted to my Department. Following the submission of an updated business case by the commercial state body, consent was subsequently provided by the Minister for PER at the time. There were no cases where the quantum of the pension increase was altered following the submission of a consent request to my Department.

The time taken to consider a discretionary pension increase request can vary depending on the circumstances of the individual pension scheme and whether additional information is required during the assessment process. Since the effective date of Circular 16/2021, the longest period between my Department receiving a business case seeking the Minister for PER’s consent and the communication of that consent to the relevant parent Department was 15 weeks. The average processing time was just under three weeks.

The administration of discretionary pension increase consent requests forms part of the normal business of my Department and is managed within existing staffing resources.