Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 November 2014
35. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his position on extending the remit of the Health Information and Quality Authority to inspecting private child care centres. [43933/14]
View answerCurrently the registration, monitoring and inspection of private residential child care centres are carried out by the Child and Family Agency, and at the end of August 2014 such centres accommodated 152 children (2.3% of children in care) nationally. The Health Information and Quality Authority which was established under the Health Act 2007, is under the aegis of my colleague the Minister for Health. As the Deputy may also be aware, there is a recommendation in the Ryan Commission report that those sections of the Health Act 2007 which would extend the remit of HIQA in this way, should be commenced. A Government decision in 2010 prioritised the inspection regime for child welfare and protection services and indicated that the timeline to extend HIQA's remit was to be the set out by the Minister for Health, in consultation with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.
I would be generally in favour of extending the remit of HIQA, subject to the satisfactory completion of these necessary steps for support its implementation. There are a number of issues, including the drafting of regulations and HIQA national standards, that will require careful planning to ensure that the relevant functions and resources are transferred from the Agency to HIQA. Ideally this would seek to achieve both efficiencies and a structure that underpins a robust inspection regime. In the meantime, I have asked that the Agency take steps to improve the overall quality assurance of the registration, monitoring and inspection process of private residential child care centres, with a view to national consistency and to the publication of their inspection/registration reports.
