Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 June 2014
698. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the cost of administrative overheads for the compilation and development of the Better Outcomes: Brighter Futures national policy framework for children and young persons 2014-2020. [26616/14]
View answerBetter Outcomes: Brighter Futures: the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2014 - 2020 builds on Our Children — Their Lives, the first National Children's Strategy (2000). It is a whole-of-Government approach to policies for children and young people. The development of a new policy framework meets one of the key recommendations of the implementation plan for the Ryan Report.
This Framework is based on a clear vision of what we want for children and young people in Ireland. This vision is for:
Ireland to be one of the best small countries in which to grow up. Where the rights of all children and young people are respected, protected and fulfilled; where their voices are heard and where they are supported to realise their maximum potential now and in the future.
The Policy Framework comprehends the continuum from infancy through early and middle childhood to adolescence and early adulthood. It provides the overarching framework for the development and implementation of policy and services for children and young people. The Framework brings together key policies instanced in the Programme for Government including those relating to prevention and early intervention initiatives, early childhood education, breaking the cycle of disadvantage, through area based approaches to address child poverty, aftercare provision and addressing issues around anti-social behaviour.
The Policy Framework provides a means for cross departmental collaboration to promote the well-being of children and young people and a fresh impetus to a whole-of-government approach to current and emerging issues, including childhood obesity, healthy lifestyles, the impact of media and new technologies, the sexualisation of children and promoting pro-social behaviour. It accommodates a number of constituent strategies which focus in greater detail on the areas of Participation, Early Years, and Youth, which be developed in 2014.
The views of a wide range of interests including children themselves have shaped the development of the Policy Framework and it was informed by the following inputs:
- the results of a consultation in 2011, which focussed on children and young people, in which almost 67,000 people throughout the country participated and the results of the analysis of the consultation were published last November;
- a public consultation of the general public conducted during in 2012. Over 1,000 submissions were received as part of that consultation. An analysis of the submissions was completed in April 2013 and
- the advice of the National Children’s Advisory Council which represented a range of statutory and non-statutory organisations working with children and young people.
Since 2011 €431,246.70 has been spent on the development and publication of Better Outcomes: Brighter Futures: the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2014 -2020. This expenditure includes the cost of the public consultation, the children and young people consultation and the publication of the Policy Framework.
