I propose to take Questions Nos. 904 and 918 together.
The Government has approved the Heads of the Child and Family Support Agency Bill and has also agreed to the priority drafting of this Bill. The necessary legislative and organisational preparations are being prioritised so that the Agency can be established as a priority.
From its establishment the Child and Family Support Agency will have service responsibility for a range of services, including child welfare and protection services currently operated by the HSE; domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services. The functions of the Family Support Agency and the National Educational Welfare Board will transfer into the Child and Family Support Agency upon its establishment.
The Government's consideration of these matters was informed, by the content and recommendations of the Report of the Task Force on the Child and Family Support Agency which I published in July of this year. The Task Force considered that the Agency needs to be as broadly based as possible and should include a range of prevention, early intervention, family support and therapeutic care interventions.
It is my intention that the agency will have a role in supporting families and communities. It will have the benefit in this role of the many Family Resource Centres which have been developed across the country with funding from the Family Support Agency. I can assure the Deputy that the new Agency will build on the excellent work undertaken by the Family Support Agency over the last decade, and that a community based approach will form an integral part of the new Child and Family Support Agency.
The composition of the Board of the Child and Family Support Agency is currently under consideration. While the composition of the Board will reflect the component organisations which are being amalgamated into the Child and Family Support Agency. The criteria for Board membership will be focused on ensuring that Board members have the requisite mix of experience and competencies needed to steer such a large organisation providing a diverse range of personal services.
The establishment of the new Agency and the wider transformation of children's services represents the largest, and most ambitious, area of public sector of reform embarked upon by this Government.
