Written Answers Nos. 763 - 776
763. Deputy Jonathan O'Brien asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the separation policy in place in Oberstown detention centre; the number of times inmates were placed in isolation in each month of 2014, 2015 and to date in 2016. [37194/16]
View answerA copy of the separation policy has been forwarded to the Deputy directly. The separation policy and the other policies for children detention schools are available on the website of the Irish Youth Justice Service and can be accessed at the following web address: www.iyjs.ie/en/IYJS/Pages/WP12000013.
The Oberstown Children Detention Campus is responsible for collating information on the use of single separation; I have therefore referred the Deputy's request for information in that regard to the Director of Oberstown for direct reply to the Deputy.
764. Deputy Pat Buckley asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her attention has been drawn to concerns that the records of the victims of a mother and baby home (details supplied) in Cork are not being stored safely; if there are plans to digitise the records; and if so, when this will be completed. [37312/16]
View answerTusla has advised me that all records held by the Tusla adoption service in Cork, including those related to the Sisters of the Sacred Heart, Bessborough, are stored in fire proof cabinets in a dry and secure location. Access to records is by Tusla staff only due to the highly confidential nature of the records. Tusla has begun the process of centralising all adoption records held by the Agency to one secure location and it anticipates this will be completed by August 2017.
The Adoption Information and Tracing Bill which was published last Friday provides that the Adoption Authority of Ireland will have overall responsibility for the safeguarding of adoption records, including information relating to informal adoptions and persons whose birth was incorrectly registered. All adoption records, which are currently held in a number of locations, are to be transferred to the custody of the Authority. The Bill provides that the records are to be indexed and a searchable electronic database of the records is to be created.
A working group has been established with representation from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, the Adoption Authority of Ireland and Tusla in preparation for the commencement of the legislation to consider long term plans for the storage, archiving and scanning of all historical adoption and adoption related records.
765. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the amount of funding that has been allocated to youth services for 2017; the amount of funding that has been allocated to Foróige, the National Youth Development Organisation for 2017; and if she will compare it against the funding allocated in 2014, 2015 and 2016 to the sector and the organisation. [36864/16]
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 and involve approximately 1,400 youth work staff in 477 projects and 40,000 volunteers working in youth work services and communities throughout the country.
As the Deputy is aware, Budget 2017 has provided an additional €5.5m in current funding to my Department to support the provision of youth services. This will bring the total youth funding in 2017 to €57.4m. This additional funding will be used for programmes that target disadvantaged young people and to assist national youth organisations in their work to support local voluntary youth services. Following the Budget 2017 announcement, my Department commenced the process with national organisations, including Foróige, and local services to identify service development needs for 2017 and to agree the 2017 allocations. Every effort will be made to complete this process as soon as possible.
The funding allocated by my Department in respect of the schemes indicated in the Deputy's question is set out in the following table.
|
- |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
|
Youth Service Grant Scheme |
€9.949m |
€9.901m |
€10.149m |
|
Special Projects for Youth |
€14.4m |
€14.4m |
€14.762m |
|
Young Peoples Facilities and Services Fund (Round 1 and 2) |
€18.397m |
€18.397m |
€18.857m |
|
Local Youth Club Grant Scheme |
€1.035m |
€1.035m |
€1.065m |
|
Youth Information Centres |
€1.234m |
€1.234m |
€1.265m |
|
Local Drug Task Force projects |
€1.151m |
€1.151m |
€1.180m |
|
Foróige |
€2.038m |
€2.552m |
€2.616m |
|
% of total Youth Funding to Foróige |
4.23% |
5.24% |
5.24% |
In 2015, Foróige also received €55,000 additional end of year funding to assist towards the long term sustainability of the Mayo centre and NFTE Programme.
766. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of staff from her Department currently seconded to other Departments or agencies in the Civil Service per annum from 2010 to date in 2016, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36960/16]
View answer767. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of staff from her Department who have appealed against secondment per annum from 2010 to date in 2016, in tabular form; the appeals mechanism involved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36976/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 766 and 767 together.
As my Department was established in June 2011, the information requested by the Deputy is set out in tabular form with effect from that date. The information supplied refers to staff seconded to other Departments, agencies or bodies in the public sector. Currently there are two members of staff on secondment from my Department to such bodies. No member of staff from my Department has appealed against their secondment to date.
|
Year |
Number of staff from my Department seconded to other departments, agencies or bodies at end of year |
|
2011 |
16 |
|
2012 |
16 |
|
2013 |
15 |
|
2014 |
11 |
|
2015 |
2 |
|
2016 |
2 |
768. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of staff from her Department currently seconded to a firm in the private sector per annum from 2010 to date in 2016, in tabular form; the details of the company; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36992/16]
View answer769. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of staff from her Department currently seconded from a firm in the private sector per annum from 2010 to date in 2016, in tabular form; the details of the company; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37008/16]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 768 and 769 together.
Since its establishment in June 2011, my Department has not seconded staff to any private sector organisation. There is currently one person from the Children's Rights Alliance, which is a registered charity, seconded to this Department.
770. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of vacancies currently on each board and State agency under the remit of her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37175/16]
View answerI am responsible for the appointment of members to the boards of the Adoption Authority of Ireland, the Child and Family Agency (Tusla), Gaisce (the President's Award) and the Board of Management for Oberstown Children Detention Campus.
There are currently seven vacant positions on the Gaisce Council, one vacant position on the Board of the Child and Family Agency and one vacant position on the Board of Management for Oberstown Children Detention Campus.
771. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on the sustainability fund; the criteria for inclusion in the interventions to assist community and not-for-profit child care services announced as a consequence of budget 2017; and when it will be rolled out. [37187/16]
View answerIn Budget 2017 provision was made for a fund of €1m to assist in the investigation of sustainability issues being faced by childcare providers, and to develop a policy to guide any future interventions. This initiative is at an early stage and officials will commence work in this regard in early 2017. At present there is no fund in place that would provide additional funding to services beyond the funding to which they are entitled through the various childcare funding programmes operated by my Department.
772. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the new regulations coming on stream in January regarding the use of community employment participants and their education levels in community and not-for-profit child care services will cause difficulties and challenges for the services to stay within the regulations; and her views on the matter. [37188/16]
View answerUnder the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016, registered providers of pre-school services will, from 31st December 2016, be required to ensure that each employee working directly with children attending the service holds at least a major award in Early Childhood Care and Education at Level 5 on the National Qualifications Framework or a qualification deemed by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to be equivalent.
Earlier this year my Department asked Childcare Committees Ireland (CCI) to lead on a national piece of work, with the 30 City and County Childcare Committees, to firstly ascertain whether there were services who would struggle financially when the new regulations came into effect and, secondly, all staff who were treated as part of the staff/child ratios would have to have a Level 5 qualification.
In working with services on this exercise, CCI was asked to explore how challenges could be resolved within existing resources. In any services where difficulties are being experienced, the CCCs are tasked with supporting services to assess the contributing factors and manage any change that may assist the service. This is done initially through the use of of business tools which focus on the finances and overheads of the service. For example, a fee calculation exercise looks at whether the fee being charged by the service is appropriate. There is also a staff ratio calculation applied to look at the numbers of children in the service, when they are booked in, and what ratio needs to be applied. For example, it may be that the service should take two fewer children in the morning, and two more in the afternoon in order to maximise the potential and run a viable service.
This methodology has been found to be very effective in many services across the country, and whilst sometimes unpopular decisions have had to be made in the short term, the medium and long term results should justify these decisions.
I hope that the support offered to the services can assist them in reforming their services in order to enable them to continue. I will of course be working extremely hard to seek further investment in childcare that will improve affordability for parents but also assist providers in running viable and high quality services. My Department has long-standing relationships with community/not-for-profit childcare providers, and recognises the important role that this sector has to play in childcare provision. I can certainly empathise with the challenges these services face and I continuously commend all early years services, particularly those operating on a not for profit basis, for the work they do.
The CCI review is due to be completed shortly, but preliminary results suggest that some services became over-reliant on unqualified CE participants to be part of core staff ratios over the years. Many services across the country began preparing for the regulations some time ago and have reduced or eliminated their reliance on CE participants as part of the ratios, but I understand that some remain.
In Budget 2017 provision was made for a fund of €1m to assist in the investigation of sustainability issues being faced by childcare providers, and to develop a policy to guide any future interventions. This initiative is at an early stage and officials will commence work in this regard in early 2017.
I believe that the work presently being undertaken by my Department and the CCI will influence policy over the coming months and years as we seek to establish a high quality childcare infrastructure in Ireland. You will also be aware that the Programme for Government contains a commitment to independently evaluate the cost of providing childcare. This report will give us solid evidence which will also inform future policy. Such evidence will be critical to ensuring that whilst we work to make high quality childcare more accessible and affordable for parents, we also invest sufficiently to enable services to operate to high standards and attract new staff and retain their existing valued staff.
773. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the ECCE child care scheme has caused some difficulties for some child care providers especially if they are open 50 weeks a year (details supplied). [37189/16]
View answerOfficials from my Department have sought clarification from the Deputy as to what is meant by CSSF funding, and it is my understanding that the Deputy is referring to the Community Childcare Subvention Programme. Childcare service providers receive grant funding from the Department for the provision of ECCE for a period of 38 weeks, as per the 2016/17 ECCE grant funding agreement. Community/not for profit Childcare services that provide the ECCE Programme may also avail of grant funding for the provision of TEC and CCS for up to a period of 52 weeks per year. Both TEC and CCS will be subsumed into Single Affordable Childcare Scheme from September 2017. The new scheme will provide up to 48 weeks of childcare per year.
Although my Department does not act as employer to childcare it does acknowledge that the sector is under cost pressure, and that staff wages are a large component of cost. To go some way towards addressing this, I have secured additional funding of €14 million in Budget 2017 which will enable ECCE providers to be paid for a 39th week and part of a 40th week (7 ECCE days in total or 1.4 ECCE weeks) where they will have no children present and they will be able to pay staff to concentrate on administrative workload. Services themselves can decide how to use the payment when it is received. For the average ECCE service with 25 children, this will mean an additional annual payment of approximately €2,400 per annum. Part of the additional funding €14m will be given to CCS and TEC providers on a pro-rata basis also to acknowledge their administrative burden also. The Affordable Childcare Scheme when introduced in Sept 17 will replace CCS and TEC and will have recognition of non-contact time built into its cost base. In addition, under Budget 2017 a provision was made for a fund of €1m to assist in the investigation of sustainability issues being faced by childcare providers, and to develop a policy to guide any future interventions. This initiative is at an early stage and officials will commence work in this regard in early 2017.
774. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on whether there is a crisis of sustainability in the child care sector not only in terms of pay and conditions for staff but in terms of the availability of qualified staff to deliver on new standards. [37190/16]
View answerAlthough my Department does not act as employer to childcare it does acknowledge that the sector is under cost pressure, and that staff wages are a large component of cost. To go some way towards addressing this, I have secured additional funding of €14 million in Budget 2017 which will enable ECCE providers to be paid for a 39th week and part of a 40th week (7 ECCE days in total or 1.4 ECCE weeks) where they will have no children present and they will be able to pay staff to concentrate on administrative workload. Services themselves can decide how to use the payment when it is received. For the average ECCE service with 25 children, this will mean an additional annual payment of approximately €2,400 per annum. Part of the additional funding of €14m will be given to CCS and TEC providers on a pro-rata basis also to acknowledge their administrative burden also. The Affordable Childcare Scheme, when introduced in Sept 17, will replace CCS and TEC and will have recognition of non-contact time built into its cost base. In addition, under Budget 2017 a provision was made for a fund of €1m to assist in the investigation of sustainability issues being faced by childcare providers, and to develop a policy to guide any future interventions. This initiative is at an early stage and officials will commence work in this regard in early 2017.
The Programme for Government commits to conducting and publishing an independent review of the cost of providing quality childcare. This commitment aligns closely with work on the design and development of a new Single Affordable Childcare Scheme and is currently being progressed in that context. Work is well underway on the development of policy proposals for the new Affordable Childcare Scheme. As part of this, Department officials are reviewing previous published research and analysis on the cost of childcare provision, are assessing available data sources and are scoping the precise requirements for the independent review.
Under the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016, registered providers of pre-school services will, from 31st December 2016, be required to ensure that each employee working directly with children attending the service holds at least a major award in Early Childhood Care and Education at Level 5 on the National Qualifications Framework or a qualification deemed by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to be equivalent. The Learner Fund was introduced in 2014 to provide support for existing childcare staff to achieve this minimum requirement. The fund was later expanded to support existing pre-school leaders to up-skill to Level 6 on the National Qualifications Framework, which is now the minimum requirement for pre-school leaders delivering the Early childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme.
Funding of €1.5m will be available in 2017 to continue to Level 6 support in the context of the expansion of the ECCE programme. I also hope to extend the Learner Fund to support childcare staff to achieve higher level qualifications in childcare, i.e. Fetac Level 7 and Level 8. In this regard, my Department, in association with the Department of Education and Skills and Pobal, intends to commence work as soon as possible on the development of an approved panel of Level 7 and Level 8 training providers, and a new Learner Fund application process.
I also hope to be in a position to make some funding available to those childcare staff who have already completed higher level courses entirely at their own expense.
775. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on the measures announced recently in budget 2017 and the way they impact on parents; the way parents will avail of or be identified for the affordable child care scheme; and her views on whether parents should be able to apply online prior to September 2017. [37191/16]
View answerA major policy priority for me is the development of a new Affordable Childcare Scheme, which is a major step in making quality childcare more affordable, and will enable both universal and targeted subsidies for parents towards their childcare costs. Under the new scheme, parents will qualify for a targeted subsidy based on their net income, and the highest levels of support will be offered to those on the lowest incomes.
Budget 2017 allocated funding for the development of an online IT application system that will allow parents to apply for subsidies, via an online application system, by entering their PPS number and other details such as their work or training status. In order to make the application process as easy as possible for parents, it is intended that the means-testing will, in most cases, be carried out through an automatic link with income data held by the Revenue Commissioners and by the Department of Social Protection.
It is envisaged that the scheme will be available from September 2017 and, as such, applications for eligibility from parents will commence prior to September 2017. Detailed development and implementation planning, including relating to the development of new legislation and ICT infrastructure, is currently underway. This is a major project and it will be underpinned by a comprehensive communications strategy which will involve regular updates to the public and to all key stakeholders regarding progress and precise timeframes for implementation.
776. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs when the new non-contact grant for child care services will be rolled out and first instalments paid to the service providers. [37192/16]
View answerI have made €14.5m available to provide an additional payment to childcare providers to recognise the increasing volume of work done outside of direct contact hours with children. This funding will provide an additional payment of 7 days' funding to all ECCE Services - and an equivalent level of payment to CCS and TEC services.
This will enable ECCE providers to be paid for a 39th week and part of a 40th week (7 ECCE days in total or 1.4 ECCE weeks) where they will have no children present and they will be able to pay staff to concentrate on the administrative workload. Services themselves can decide how to use the payment when it is received. For the average ECCE service with 25 children, this will mean an additional annual payment of approximately €2,400.
A decision on when this payment will occur will be made by my Department in due course.
