Written Answers Nos. 88-92
88. Deputy Sandra McLellan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his plans to direct Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, to address the salary inequalities in the family resource centres where staff doing the similar work, at the same grade but in different centres, are paid at different levels due to legacy issues in the development of the structures. [36674/15]
View answerOn its establishment on 1 January, 2014, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency took over responsibility for the Family Resource Centre Programme which was previously operated by the then Family Support Agency.
Tusla is spending €13.09m in 2015 in supporting 109 Family Resource Centres around the country. Funding has been maintained this year at 2014 levels.
Tusla very much values the work of the Family Resource Centres and recognises the positive impact of their work in supporting families and local communities around the country. Family Resource Centres provide a holistic service of child, family and community support and advocacy to children and families in their communities.
Family Resource Centres are independent companies limited by guarantee and are managed by a Voluntary Board of Management which is representative of the local community. While Tusla funds the salaries of staff engaged by Family Resource Centres, each individual Family Resource Centres is responsible for the recruitment of employees and the terms and conditions under which they are employed.
I welcome Tusla's intent to improve and build on the strengths of the Family Resource Centre Programme in meeting its mandate for community-based early intervention and family support.
As the Deputy will be aware, I announced a significant increase in the funding allocation to Tusla for next year. Tusla will have available to it some €676 million in funding, representing an increase of €38 million over 2015.
The precise level of funding to be provided to Family Resource Centres will now be considered by Tusla in developing its Business Plan for 2016, which will be sent to me for consideration.
The Government, since its establishment, has attached particular priority to supporting vulnerable children and families and the significant increase in funding being made available to Tusla next year represents further evidence of our delivery on this ambition.
89. Deputy Dessie Ellis asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs for a breakdown of funding for youth services and supports in west Wicklow from 2011 to 2015 to date; his plans to improve these services by providing, for example, a Garda Síochána diversion programme or outreach services, to address the growing demographic need and recent increased levels of young persons being out of school or engaging in drug and alcohol misuse. [36695/15]
View answerMy Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes to support the provision of youth services to young people throughout the country including those from disadvantaged communities. The funding schemes support national and local youth work provision to some 380,000 young people. It is estimated that the voluntary youth services throughout the country involve approximately 1,400 youth work staff in 477 projects and 40,000 volunteers working in youth work services and communities throughout the country.
The overall allocation for the youth funding schemes in 2015 was €49.930m. I am pleased to tell the Deputy that Budget 2016 has provided an additional €1.1m in current funding for voluntary youth services. The increased funding will support the targeted programmes for young people who are at risk of drugs, alcohol misuse, homelessness, early school leaving and unemployment. It will also assist the national youth organisations to better support the local voluntary youth services. The Deputy may also be interested in the new Youth Employability Initiative, which I announced on the publication of the National Youth Strategy 2015-2020 and which will provide €600,000 in grants to the voluntary youth services for programmes that target disadvantaged young people to improve their employability. The new Youth Employability Initiative is funded under the Dormant Accounts Scheme. Full details of the Youth Employability Initiative, including the application form are available on my Department's website, www.dcya.gov.ie.
The National Youth Strategy 2015-2020 is a strategy for all young people and has a particular focus on young people who are disadvantaged. The Strategy identifies some fifty priority actions to be delivered by Government departments, state agencies and by others, including the voluntary youth services over 2015 to 2017. The roll-out of the National Youth Strategy is the key context within which my Department will implement the recommendations of the Value for Money and Policy Review of Youth Funding Programmes, in order to ensure that young people, particularly those who are vulnerable, have access to quality, effective programmes that respond to their need and are designed to secure good outcomes for them.
Details of the funding provided by my Department to the voluntary youth services in County Wicklow are being compiled and will be forwarded to the Deputy.
I have asked my colleague, the Minister for Justice and Equality, whose Department administers the funding of the Garda Youth Diversion projects to forward to the Deputy the funding details requested.
90. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if the €16 million cost of 800 low-cost child care places announced in budget 2016 is a full-year cost estimate; how this cost was estimated by this Department; and if there is an expectation that all of these places will be filled in September 2016. [36696/15]
View answer91. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if all private providers will be eligible to provide low-cost child care places under the changes announced to the community child care scheme in budget 2016, or only providers in areas with a low coverage of community providers; if the latter, how areas with low coverage will be identified; and if his Department considers the capitation rates, higher and lower, currently provided under the scheme will be sufficient for low-income parents to afford a full, part or sessional care place with a private provider. [36723/15]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 90 and 91 together.
Budget 2016 provides for an additional 8,000 childcare places under the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme which provides affordable childcare for low income families.
Based on current take up and expenditure, it is estimated that the additional €16 million in funding will provide for a further 3,200 full-time equivalent childcare places or about 8,000 children each year. There are no plans to increase the subvention levels that currently apply under the programme.
These new childcare places will be available through private as well as community/not-for-profit childcare providers for the first time. The places will be targeted at private providers in areas with identified need and where no community/not-for-profit providers are available. My Department will be working closely with the local City and County Childcare Committees and Pobal to identify areas of need and it is hoped to have as many as possible of these places available by September 2016.
The CCS programme has been closed to expansion over recent years - no new services could enter the programme, and existing providers could not expand their services. This restriction was recently lifted, providing for up to 5,000 additional CCS places (or 2,000 full-time equivalent places) in 2015. I have been able to release these places with savings achieved in 2015.
Together, these additional 13,000 childcare places delivered through the CCS programme will help keep Ireland's recovery going, helping to bring its benefit to more households.
92. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to indicate, in tabular form, the number of freedom of information requests received by his Department in 2015 to date; the number of these where the period of consideration was completed within four weeks of receipt of the request; and the number where the period of consideration was extended by up to four weeks because the necessary resources to complete the request within the original timeframe were not available. [36743/15]
View answerThe information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following table.
|
Freedom of Information Requests Received in 2015 |
Completed in 4 Weeks |
Completed After 4 Weeks |
Requests Withdrawn |
Cases Currently Pending – Within 4 Weeks |
Cases Currently Pending –Over 4 Weeks |
|
64 |
25 |
23 (3*) |
2 |
11 |
3 (1*) |
* In case of 4 requests statutory time period suspended where applicant requested to pay a deposit/revise scope of request.
