Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 May 2015
280. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will audit the current spending on universal services, early intervention, and late intervention for children, and allocate a defined level of funding from all department budgets to facilitate early intervention; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17707/15]
View answerThe importance of promoting prevention and early intervention for the Government is demonstrated by Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures: The National Policy Framework for Children and Young People (2014-2020) which was launched in 2014. The Framework is the first overarching national policy framework for the development and implementation of policies for children and young people. Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures puts the everyday lives of children and young people at its centre and requires Government Departments and State agencies to work together in an integrated way along with non-government organisations to achieve better outcomes for children and young people.
One of the commitments in Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures relates to ‘exploring the development of cross-Government estimates for expenditure on children and young people’. My Department is in the process of progressing this work so as to identify expenditure on children across Government departments.
The theme of prevention and early intervention is a core element of Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures. As part of the process of structuring a work plan for 2015, 'sponsor' Departments were each requested to identify a cross-sectoral priority. My Department has identified 'prevention and early intervention' as our key cross-sectoral priority and, in collaboration with the Advisory Council for Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, is now in the process of operationalising this key cross-sectoral priority to ensure that activities in this domain are focused on ensuring the optimum outcomes for children and young people.
