Written Answers Nos. 279-289
279. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the recourse and complaints process available to small businesses for outstanding payments due to them; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16540/16]
View answerPrompt Payment of invoices is critical to the effective working of any economy and is an issue on which this Government places great emphasis. Late payment is particularly damaging for small and medium-sized businesses, where any disruption to cash flow can mean the difference between solvency and bankruptcy.
My Department promotes improved payment practices and monitors on a quarterly basis the operation of the Prompt Payment of Accounts Act, 1997 and the Late Payment in Commercial Transactions Regulation, 2012.
In addition to legislating for prompt payments, since 2009, Central Government Departments have been improving their respective payment times and are now obliged to pay their suppliers within 15 days of receipt of a valid invoice. This 15 day prompt payment rule, introduced by Government on a voluntary basis, was extended to the wider Public Sector in March, 2011.
Departments are required to report quarterly to my Department on their performance in meeting this target, ensuring that Ministers can monitor the performance of the bodies under their aegis and address any issue with those bodies who are not meeting obligations in respect of prompt payments.
Other initiatives introduced at national and EU level to combat this issue include:
- Launch of the Prompt Payment Code (PPC) portal in March of 2015. The PPC, which is hosted through an online portal – www.promptpayment.ie – is a new initiative aimed encouraging and promoting best practice between businesses and their suppliers, improving cash flow between businesses and driving a change in payment culture.
- Introduction in late 2015 of the Payments Forum. The role of the Forum is to support the delivery of the Prompt Payment Code (PPC) and also examine further initiatives to sustain a responsible payment culture in Ireland.
In Ireland, the PPC has specifically been developed by business for business. By signing up to the PPC companies are sending out a real signal that they will stick to their payment terms. For those with no pre-agreed payment terms, the PPC works to combat this. For suppliers, this means they can build stronger relationships with their customers, confident that they will be paid on time.
For the PPC to be successful, we need businesses to sign up. I would, therefore, urge all business, big and small, to support this important initiative and sign up to the PPC.
These initiatives, together with the late payment legislation, demonstrate the Government’s continuing drive and commitment to encourage a prompt payment culture in Ireland.
280. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the funding she has allocated, by regional jobs action plan, in each of the years 2016 to 2020, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16541/16]
View answerIn launching the Action Plan for Jobs Regional initiative in 2015, the Government announced that all eight regional Action Plans will be supported by investment of up to €250 million over the period to 2020, including €150 million for a property investment programme by IDA Ireland.
A further sum of up to €100 million will be made available over the period through three competitive calls to be administered by Enterprise Ireland.
In this context, on 22 January last, a €3m Regional Accelerator Scheme was launched, which aims ultimately to create more accelerator spaces in the regions where start-ups can locate their businesses and access supports. It is targeted that a further €3m will be leveraged with additional private sector investment to support this entrepreneurship initiative. This Regional Accelerator Scheme was the first competitive initiative to be launched under the €40m competitive regional jobs fund announced by the Government on 15 January.
More recently, on June 1st last, I announced an initial allocation of €5m in competitive funding for 48 local and regional initiatives under two of these calls: the LEO Competitive Fund and the Community Enterprise Initiative. This €5m allocation will support ‘bottom up’ projects where:
- The Local Enterprise Offices will group together to create collaborative projects in their region (€2m) and
- Community organisations will partner with other regional organisations to deliver new job creation projects (€3m).
Further competitive regional funding calls will be rolled out on a phased basis.
In the case of all competitive funding calls, a collaborative approach, tangible jobs impact, enterprise start-up and scaling are amongst the criteria against which applications will be measured. Accordingly, it is not intended to ringfence funding at county level.
281. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the annual budget she has allocated to the Low Pay Commission; the number of staff directly working for it; if it is sufficiently resourced to carry out its independent evidence-based work; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16542/16]
View answerThe budget for the Low Pay Commission is €474,000 for 2016. This is broken down into pay and non-pay elements. The pay budget is €244,000 and covers salaries for the secretariat and members’ fees. The non-pay budget of €230,000 covers research and administration costs.
The secretariat currently has its full designated staffing complement (three staff are assigned to the Commission on a full-time basis, at Principal Officer, Administrative Officer and Clerical Officer levels). I believe that the budget allocation is sufficient to deliver the Commission’s work programme for 2016.
282. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the properties her Department and agencies under its remit leased; the number they leased on upward-only rents and the number of the lessors who were involved with the National Asset Management Agency or with any of the State banks; and the details of each lease. [16603/16]
View answerAccommodation for my Department is provided by the Office of Public Works (OPW) in buildings which are either State owned or leased by OPW on our behalf. Therefore, my Department does not directly own or lease any property.
Any property that is leased by Agencies of my Department is a matter for the individual Agencies concerned for which I have no direct function. However, I have asked all Agencies under the aegis of my Department to provide the information sought by the Deputy and I will communicate that information to the Deputy as soon as it is available.
283. Deputy Jan O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs why Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has issued a directive stating that the monitoring of school attendance is no longer deemed to be part of the school completion programme and responsibility has now transferred to the school itself; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16405/16]
View answerTusla, the Child & Family Agency, have advised that the guidance issued to Projects in April 2016 is to the effect that effort to improve attendance should be through supports that encourage and support attendance. Tusla emphasised that the School Completion Programme continues to monitor school attendance in order to identify young people in need of an intervention.
Tusla further advised that the collection of information on pupil attendance is a matter for the school and always has been, whereas the further use of this information for the purpose of attendance tracking of children at risk of early school leaving is a matter for the School Completion Project.
Tusla issued guidance to projects in relation to attendance tracking following the realisation that some Projects were employing staff on behalf of individual schools to take the school attendance. Tusla advised that School Completion Funding should be used as a follow up to schools’ own attendance monitoring and to focus on activities to improve the attendance, participation and retention of children and young people in schools.
The School Completion Programme aims to retain young people in the formal education system to completion of senior cycle and to generally improve the school attendance, participation and retention of children and young people who are at risk of educational disadvantage. The programme is a targeted intervention aimed at school communities identified through the Department of Education and Skills’ DEIS Action Plan for Educational Inclusion. It provides supports annually to approximately 37,000 children.
284. Deputy Noel Rock asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the details of correspondence from Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, on the payment of subsidised crèche places in north-west County Dublin. [16445/16]
View answer286. Deputy Noel Rock asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the correspondence from Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, in north-west County Dublin related to the payment for subsidised crèche places. [16447/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 284 and 286 together.
As this is a service matter, I have asked the Child and Family Agency/Tusla to consider the Deputy’s request, to liaise with the Health Service Executive, if required and to respond directly to the Deputy with the information he requests.
285. Deputy Noel Rock asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of applications she has received on the payment of subsidised crèche places in north-west County Dublin. [16446/16]
View answerMy Department operates a number of programmes that provide subsidised childcare for eligible parents. These programmes primarily support childcare in formal settings such as preschools and crèches, some of which are run by community/not-for profit organisations, and some by private providers. These include:-
- The After-School Childcare (ASCC) programme that provides after-school care for primary school children of eligible parents for a period of 52 weeks. Eligibility for the programme is determined by the Department of Social Protection. The programme contributes €40 per week for an after-school place or €80 per week in situations where the childcare service provides a pick-up service that collects the child from school. The programme also provides a full day care rate of €105 per week, for a maximum of 10 weeks, to cater for school holiday periods. In all cases, the maximum fee payable by parents is €15 per week per child.
- The Community Employment Childcare (CEC) programme, which is targeted specifically at participants in the Community Employment (CE) schemes operated by the Department of Social Protection. Under this programme, €80 per week is provided for pre-school places for children up to the age of 5 and €40 per week for after-school places for primary school children up to the age of 13, with a set charge of €15 per week to the parent in either case. The programme also provides a part time day care rate of €80 per week, for a maximum of 10 weeks, to cater for school holiday periods. Places are approved for 50 weeks. Eligibility for the CEC programme is determined by the Department of Social Protection.
- The Childcare Education and Training Support (CETS) programme, which provides childcare places, including part-time and after-school places, to qualifying Solas or Education and Training Boards (ETB) trainees or students for the duration of their courses. Eligibility for the CETS programme is determined by the Department of Education and Skills.
- The Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme provides funding to childcare services to enable them to provide quality childcare, including after-school care, at reduced rates to disadvantaged and low income working parents.
There were 760 applications received for subsidised childcare places, in the programme year 2015/2016, from the Dublin North West region (identified as Dublin 9 and Dublin 11 postal districts). The following table provides a breakdown of the number of applications received across After-School Childcare (ASCC), Community Employment Childcare (CEC), Childcare Education and Training Support (CETS), Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) and Community Childcare Subvention Private (CCSP), for the programme year 2015/2016.
|
Programme Strand |
Applied (Approved) |
CCS Not Funded |
Applied (Pending Review) |
Grand Total |
|
ASCC 2015 |
12 |
|
|
12 |
|
CEC 2015 (AS) |
7 |
|
|
7 |
|
CEC 2015 (PS) |
48 |
|
1 |
49 |
|
CETS 2015 |
72 |
|
2 |
74 |
|
CCS 2015 |
597 |
18 |
3 |
618 |
|
CCSP 2015 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Grand Total |
736 |
18 |
6 |
760 |
287. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the steps she has taken to improve child protection services, given the findings for Counties Louth and Meath in the Health Information and Quality Authority 2015 children protection and welfare inspection report; her views on the follow-up reports completed regarding these counties; and if she will increase the frequency of inspections from once every three years, particularly when there are significant failures identified in the inspection reports, as in these counties. [16530/16]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, there were a number of significant risks identified by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) following the inspection of Child Welfare & Protection services in the Louth/Meath area in January 2015. It should be noted that HIQA was satisfied with the approach taken by the Child and Family Agency, Tusla and the area management to address the issues at the time of the inspection. Tusla's commitment to addressing the issues in Louth/Meath was also evidenced in the implementation of a rapid improvement programme in the area, in addition to the normal action plan that follows an inspection. Many of the actions listed in the action plan associated with the inspection had been completed before HIQA's report was published in June 2015. I have requested a further update on the ongoing improvements in the area from Tusla, and I will revert to the Deputy when this is to hand.
My officials have regular meetings on a monthly and quarterly basis with Tusla management to review the overall level of service provision, including areas in need of improvement. The effect of the rapid improvement programme in the Louth/Meath area is being monitored and I am pleased to note that the figures reported from the area on the numbers of open cases allocated to a dedicated social worker show an increase from 58% in May 2015 to over 90% of cases allocated in March 2016.
Both Tusla and my Department are committed to the ongoing improvement of child protection services, including areas where specific issues have been identified. HIQA, as an independent body, makes its decisions on the timing of inspections using a risk based approach, and it may carry out any further inspections as it considers appropriate. Between May 2013 and May 2016 HIQA has published inspections of the child protection services in 15 of the 17 Tusla administrative areas. Inspection reports on the remaining 2 areas are expected to be published later this year.
For the information of the Deputy, I can advise that HIQA is undertaking a thematic review of the service to children and families through Child Welfare & Protection Services, and that the field work for this thematic review is underway. This process will see the completion of inspections of child welfare and protection service in the remaining two administrative areas during 2016, and a review of the implementation of action taken to address HIQA's inspection findings. This review will also examine the governance arrangements for the provision of Child Welfare & Protection services.
It should also be noted that Tusla is receiving significant additional resources in 2016. Tusla has been provided with additional funding of €38m in Budget 2016, including funding of over €6 million to reduce the number of cases awaiting allocation of a social worker. A significant recruitment programme for additional social workers is underway. As part of its Business Plan for this year, Tusla has committed to a number of key targets to be achieved by the end of 2016. Tusla has made progress in its targets.
288. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the properties her Department and agencies under its remit leased; the number they leased on upward-only rents and the number of the lessors who were involved with the National Asset Management Agency or with any of the State banks; and the details of each lease. [16595/16]
View answerThe Appropriation Account for my Department includes no direct payments in respect of rent/leases. The lease for my Department's building is held by the Office of Public Works.
As regards Tusla, the nature of its leased properties is complex as many of the leased properties are shared with the Health Services Executive. This is as a consequence of the removal of child and family services from the HSE in 2014. Arrangements between Tusla and the HSE for paying rent/rent contributions vary considerably nationally. New leases for shared occupancy with the Health Services Executive have an established rate while some older leases on shared HSE leased properties require a small contribution or no payment contribution at all. The Tusla property portfolio is currently under review. A more complete picture will only be available once this review is complete.
I have requested the Ombudsman for Children's Office to respond to you directly as it is an independent statutory body established under the Ombudsman for Children’s Act, 2002. The Act provides that the Ombudsman for Children is independent in the performance of his functions under the Act and is directly accountable to the Oireachtas in relation to the exercise of his functions.
289. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach and Minister for Defence the properties his Department and agencies under its remit leased; the number they leased on upward-only rents and the number of the lessors who were involved with the National Asset Management Agency or with any of the State banks; and the details of each lease. [16597/16]
View answerThe information requested by the Deputy is set out in the following table. My Department is not aware of any involvement by the leasers of the properties listed with the National Asset Management Agency or the State Banks.
|
Property Rented |
Purpose |
Duration |
Annual Cost |
Upward Only Rent |
|
Unit 2, Rathcorrick, Cavan, Co. Cavan. |
Reserve Defence Forces Unit |
2 years minimum |
€19,680 |
No |
|
Unit 3-4 Cleveragh Business Centre, Sligo. |
Reserve Defence Forces Unit |
2 years minimum |
€ 12,500 |
No |
|
Unit 3 Mullingar Business Park, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath. |
Reserve Defence Forces Unit |
1 year minimum |
€ 30,750 |
No |
|
Unit 4 Rossview Business Park, Port Road, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal. |
Reserve Defence Forces Unit |
2 years minimum |
€ 12,300 |
No |
|
Scoil Phadraig, Mallow, Co. Cork. |
Reserve Defence Forces Unit [part-time] |
1 year minimum. |
€ 2,000 |
No |
|
Land at Gormanson, Co. Meath. |
Mosney Rifle Range |
21 Years |
€ 13,000 |
No |
|
Coillte Lands at Stranahely Wood, Glen of Imaal, Co. Wiclow. |
Used by the Defence Forces for Military Exercises |
5 years |
€ 34,686 |
No. |
