There may be tough times ahead but at least we're scoping

NEWTON'S OPTIC:WHAT ARE "scoping papers"? According to political sources, Green Party Minister of State Mary White has commissioned "scoping papers, which could be done by external people" on the work of the Equality Authority, the Equality Tribunal, the Human Rights Commission and the Office for Social Inclusion.

This will “set the parameters for the review of the structures, which will follow soon after the papers are complete”. Last year’s “Bord Snip Nua” report might seem to have covered exactly the same ground but apparently the commissioning of scoping papers is “different”.

So what makes scoping papers different? What is the unique property known as “scoping”? Can it be applied to other areas of public service delivery, transforming schools into scoping schools or hospitals into scoping hospitals, for example? Will the President go on TV and say “There are tough times ahead, but at least we’re scoping”?

Whatever its properties, scoping appears to be a highly specialised skill within the private sector. The “Bord Snip Nua” report was also commissioned from “external people” yet even it did not provide the requisite level of scoping. External consultants are regularly brought in by Government departments to prepare papers, set parameters and review structures but somehow commissioning scoping papers is even better than bringing in consultants. It is alarming that the Civil Service itself lacks internal scoping capacity. Of course there is a limit to how much specialist knowledge can ever be available within an administrative system. But what happens if a minister rushes into the office and says “I need this scoped by Friday”? Should they have to wait for months while urgent scoping is subcontracted to outside scopers? Is there a case, perhaps, for setting up some sort of cross-departmental scoping services agency?

A search of the Government’s website shows scoping is under way at the Department of the Environment, the Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport, the Arts Council, Teagasc, the Law Reform Commission, the Commission for Energy Regulation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Seanad, the National Roads Authority, the Dublin Transportation Office, Galway City Council and Westmeath, Leitrim and Cork county councils. The Heritage Council has discussed using “the Landscape Circle concept” as a “scoping tool”, as using a spade might be considered racist.

White’s scoping papers will focus on the socially excluded, which could be called “Skobie-scoping”, if that was not also considered racist.

So it is clear that many Government activities are scopeable, although it is unclear if this should actually be spelled “scopible”. It is also unclear if the same applies to dealings with the Government. “An Bord Snip Nua” recommended €5.3 billion of savings. If a member of the public receives a tax demand, can they wait a year, then tell the Revenue Commissioners that they are preparing scoping papers on the condition of their finances? If not, why not? As a member of the Green Party, there is the final question of how White recycles her scoping papers. Does she have three bins in the kitchen marked Glass, Plastic and Scoping Papers? Or does she just ask John Gormley to quietly burn them in the garden? The matter requires very close examination, or “microscoping”, to use the official term.