Vol. 513 No. 5
18 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the report, if any, received on the progress of the four pilot projects on integrated services; the conclusions, if any, drawn from the work of the projects to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2742/00]
One of the Government's key social inclusion priorities continues to be the need to ensure a more focused and better co-ordinated response by the statutory authorities in addressing the needs of severely disadvantaged urban communities.
In this context, the interdepartmental policy committee on local development, which was chaired by my colleague and former Minister of State, Deputy Flood, was given a mandate to oversee a pilot integrated services process, with the ultimate aim of improving the quality of life in our most deprived urban areas, as a basis for a model of best practice. A national steering committee oversees the ISP on behalf of the interdepartmental policy committee.
In July 1999 the national steering committee brought the first interim progress report to the Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion. The recommendations in the report were fully endorsed by the Cabinet committee.
The report sets out the priorities that have been identified in agreement with local communities in the four pilot areas, of which early school leaving emerged as the most important. Participating Departments and agencies have been asked by the Taoiseach to address the issues contained in the interim report as a matter of urgency.
PricewaterhouseCoopers has been appointed as external evaluators for the process. It produced a historical review of the ISP in November 1999 and are currently preparing its first interim report on the ISP which should be completed by March 2000.
It is intended to use the evaluators findings as the basis for the second progress report to the Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion, in April-May 2000.
