Written Answers Nos. 1148-1166
1148. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if the children first e-learning module has been made available to those working with children in the voluntary and unpaid sector. [34172/17]
View answerThe Children First Act 2015 was signed into law on 19 November 2015. It is intended that the new legislation will operate in tandem with the revised Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children, 2011.
Tusla are currently developing a range of resources which will assist organisations that provide services for children, to meet their obligations under the Children First legislation. This includes a comprehensive Children First e-learning training resource which will assist individuals and organisations identify and comply with their obligations under the Children First Guidance and legislation.
The e-learning module will be available on an e-training platform, which, when finalised will be universally available in September 2017, including to the voluntary and unpaid sectors.
1149. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if Tusla has recruited a full-time data protection officer, as per its 2017 business plan. [34173/17]
View answerI wish to advise that this is an operational matter for Tusla and my officials have requested that they reply directly to the Deputy.
1150. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if Tusla has published a revised child protection and welfare handbook in line with Children First requirements. [34174/17]
View answerThe Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children sets out non statutory obligations in relation to the recognition and reporting of child welfare and protection concerns. The Guidance has been in place since 1999 and was last printed in 2011.
The Child Protection and Welfare Practice Handbook was published in 2011 by the HSE as a practice resource to support best practice in frontline child protection and welfare work. It is based on the Children First National Guidance and sets out the key issues in the areas of recognising abuse, responding to referrals, risk factors, assessment, planning and intervention. It is written primarily for social work practitioners, with Sections 1 and 2 dedicated to allied professionals and volunteers who work with children and their families.
The Children First National Guidance is currently being revised in preparation for the full commencement of the Children First Act 2015, following which Tusla will review and update the Practice Handbook as necessary.
1151. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the amount her department assigned in 2016 and to date in 2017 to the hidden harm programme. [34175/17]
View answerTusla works in close collaboration with the HSE across a range of initiatives and services which actively promote the physical and mental health and wellbeing of children. These initiatives include involvement with the Hidden Harm project and I have requested Tusla to advise the Deputy about the support that the agency provides towards this project.
1152. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she plans to continue the hidden harm and nurture programmes after the withdrawal of an organisation (details supplied). [34177/17]
View answerAs this is an operational matter for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, I have asked that they respond directly to the Deputy with the information requested.
1153. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of the joint protocol between the Garda and Tusla with regard to the Children First guidelines. [34178/17]
View answerTusla and An Garda Síochána are the statutory bodies with primary responsibility for child protection and welfare. Joint working between Tusla and An Garda Síochána forms an integral part of the child protection and welfare service.
Chapter Seven of the Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children 2011 sets out the protocol that is in place for An Garda Síochána/Tusla liaison and details how they cooperate and interact in dealing with child welfare and protection concerns.
My officials are in the process of finalising a revised version of the Children First: National Guidance which, it is anticipated, will be published later this year. In that context the joint protocol between An Garda Síochána and Tusla is also being reviewed by the two Agencies. I understand that this is awaiting clearance through the Legal Unit of An Garda Síochána and, when finalised, will be available on each of their respective websites.
1154. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if an ICT director has been recruited within Tusla. [34179/17]
View answerTusla has confirmed that an ICT Director has been recruited and is currently in post.
1155. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of the implementation of Tusla's ICT strategy. [34180/17]
View answerTusla, the Child and Family Agency developed a draft ICT Strategy in November 2016 that recommended a set of options with regard to ICT delivery models and ICT management structures. In line with these recommendations, the Agency has recently appointed an ICT Director with the responsibility to progress the development and implementation of the Tusla ICT Strategy.
Tusla's ICT Directorate is currently revising its ICT Strategy in order to take advantage of emerging ICT innovations as well as opportunities presented from recent Government digital initiatives such as the ‘Build to Share’ programme. The strategy and associated implementation plan is scheduled to be finalised in the coming months.
Tusla's current ICT focus is on the development of the National Child Care Information System (NCCIS), which will ensure that every social work department has a user-friendly technology solution to record the case history of every child, who is the subject of a child protection or welfare concern, from the point of initial referral to case closure. Significant progress has been made on the development of NCCIS software and roll out to Tusla areas over the past 12 months. Tusla intends to roll out the system nationally between now and mid-2018.
While Tusla currently has a small internal ICT team, it works in conjunction with the Health Service Executive (HSE), which provides the majority of its ICT service requirements. The ICT Directorate has worked closely with the HSE, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) and ICT industry leaders to develop a vision and strategy to transform and position ICT in Tusla. Tusla plans to deliver on the guiding principle of providing services which are secure, integrated, innovative and consistent. The aim throughout is to maintain a high quality ICT system that puts children first and serves the needs of all Tusla stakeholders.
1156. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if it is possible to access Tusla's stored centralised procurement database. [34181/17]
View answerSince the establishment of the Agency in 2014, significant improvements have been made in developing its capacity in order that it can deliver effectively on its remit.
Tusla is reliant on the Health Service Executive (HSE)/Health Business Services (HBS) shared service function, which includes the centralised database for procurement information, contracts and framework agreements. In its 2017 Business Plan, Tusla has included a number of key priorities in the area of Procurement, one of which will enable Tusla to have shared services access to reports and contracts.
1157. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the amount her Department assigned to Tusla for learning and development in 2015 and 2016 and to date in 2017; and the amount of this funding that was spent in each year. [34182/17]
View answerAs this is an operational matter for Tusla, I have asked that they respond directly to the Deputy on this matter.
1158. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of full-time posts in Tusla's employee well-being and welfare unit. [34183/17]
View answerTusla has advised that there are currently two people employed in the Health and Wellbeing unit.
1159. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the average recruitment time for social care workers in 2015 and 2016 and to date in 2017. [34184/17]
View answerI have asked my officials to forward the question to Tusla so that they can correspond with you directly on this matter.
1160. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the amount Department has made available to child care providers for non-contact time since 2011, broken down by year. [34185/17]
View answerThe funding provided by the Department has always been intended to be sufficient to cater for all of the costs associated with the childcare schemes funded, including administrative and "Non-contact" work, or to fund this pro-rata where the Department's contribution is a part of the total cost of care provided. As such, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of funding paid in respect of "non-contact time" prior to 2017.
Notwithstanding the preceding, to take account of the additional administrative burden on childcare providers as the result of significant changes to the childcare schemes in 2016-17, including the expansion of the ECCE scheme to include three intake points, contractual changes and the coming into force of the Childcare Regulations, I provided some €14.5m in 2017 to be drawn down as a "non-contact time" payment for providers, equivalent to seven days' funding. I am also proposing an additional once-off payment of up to €3.5m in December in respect of the More Affordable Childcare measures being implemented by providers from this September .
1161. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of posts on the advisory council for Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures that are filled by members of her Department. [34188/17]
View answer1162. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of times the advisory council for Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures has met since its establishment. [34189/17]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1161 and 1162 together.
The Advisory Council for Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures: the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People (2014-2020) is made up of representatives from the community and voluntary sector, as well as independent experts with experience working with and for children and young people.
The Council is made up of 16 members, and an independent chair. There are no members of my Department on the Council. However, my Department provides administrative support for the Council, and a number of my Officials attend Council meetings.
The Advisory Council was established in November 2014. The Council met six times in 2015, five times in 2016, and has so far met three times in 2017. Minutes of Council meetings are available on my Department’s website.
In addition to these regular meetings of the Council, subgroups of the Council have been meeting with officials from various departments to progress issues in the Advisory Council’s work plan. This includes prevention and early intervention with Officials from my Department, child poverty with Officials from the Department of Social Protection, homelessness with Officials from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government and educational inequality with Officials from the Department of Education and Skills. The Council has also met with me on a number of occasions to discuss the impacts which Brexit will have on children and young people in Ireland.
More details on the Advisory Council’s work can be found in the annual reports on Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures. The first two reports are available on my Department’s website, and the third will be finalised in the coming weeks.
1163. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the estimated full-year cost of paying ECCE workers the living wage of €11.50 per hour; and the estimated cost of paying ECCE workers the living wage of €11.50 per hour for 38, 41 and 44 weeks of the year, respectively. [34215/17]
View answerMy Department provides standard capitation of €64.50 per week and higher capitation of €75.00 per week for childcare places under the ECCE Scheme. Given that it is a matter for each individual employer to determine the allocation of staff, resources and ratios (subject to the governing provisions with regard to ratios) from this capitation rate, it is not possible to estimate the full cost of paying all ECCE workers the living wage of €11.50 per hour for 38, 41 and 44 weeks respectively.
I would also note that the determination of wage rates is a matter between each individual childcare provider as the respective employer and their staff.
1164. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her Department will release the necessary capital funding to help sustain a project (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34311/17]
View answerThe service to which the Deputy refers has not made an application for capital funding under the early years capital scheme, 2017. As the deadline for this has now passed, it will not be possible to facilitate an application at this stage. I understand that the service in question is faced with the prospect of closure - I have asked officials to work with the local Childcare Committee and Pobal to establish the position and ascertain if any assistance can be rendered to the service, and/or if alternative accommodation can be made for children impacted, if this service were to close.
1165. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the reason for the delay in delivering the funding to six child care projects in County Cork promised by her Department six months ago. [34312/17]
View answerThe Department has made €1m in funding available to services that identified themselves as potentially being impacted by staff eligibility changes within the 2016 Regulations. This funding will ensure that said regulatory changes do not hinder service delivery or the availability of childcare places.
The principles, procedures and management of funding provided from public money are set out in the Public Spending Code. The Public Spending Code consolidates and updates existing appraisal and evaluation requirements and guidelines, with the aim of promoting value for money and ensuring the optimal use of limited exchequer resources. In keeping with these aims and in order to avail of the funding specified, each of the participating providers was invited to engage in a proscribed and standardised application process. The Department remains committed to assessing all complete applications equally, without prejudice to additional communications or representations made.
As a part of the application process, services were required to furnish the Department with certain documentation and information; allowing for an assessment appropriate to the payment of any public funds. Such documentation was designed so as not to add an administrative burden to the Early Years providers. Additionally, the Department provided a checklist of these requirements in order to provide services with further support and clarity regarding the materials necessary to progress their application. The checklist was distributed by the City/County Childcare Committees (CCCs) to early years providers in their respective areas, in respect of the issue at hand, this checklist was provided to Cork CCC on 4 April 2017.
The speed of the application and payment process remains dependent on the services in question submitting appropriate documentation, as outlined within the checklist of requirements. Furthermore, to ensure the best possible outcome for each service, once the documentation is received it is subsequently reviewed for consistency. At this stage, if an issue arises in terms of the clarity of information provided, additional information may be sought from the individual groups through the respective CCC. Once this has occurred, the Strand B Submission is finalised. To date, six services from across the country have fully returned the necessary documentation and information in respect of their application for CE Sustainability funding, and their Strand B Submissions have been finalised. Of these six services, the Department has approved one and expects to finalise its assessment of the remaining five imminently. However, of the six Cork-based services to have applied for CE sustainability funding, none have fully returned the required information and documentation as at time of writing (11/07/2017). The Department is unable to fairly assess partial applications, and therefore the primary delay in the provision of the payment to these services remains the absence of documentation previously requested.
The Department has delegated the collation of relevant documentation and information in respect of the application process to the local CCCs. Therefore, the first point of contact for any further queries on this matter should be with the Cork City Childcare Committee. However, the Department and the CCCs remain available to provide any assistance they can in respect of the application process, and will be directly in contact with the services in question with regards to re-iterating the requirements of the application process.
The Department views as an ongoing priority both the assessment of completed applications and the subsequent payment of providers who have engaged-with and satisfied this assessment process.
1166. Deputy James Browne asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her Department has considered the ramifications for young persons who will no longer receive counselling services under the school completion programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34414/17]
View answerI am retaining the grant in its current form for the present, pending a decision on alternative approaches.
In 1994 the Department of Social Welfare opened a grant scheme to provide counselling supports to children who had experienced bereavement or loss. This grant scheme then passed to the Family Support Agency (FSA) when it was established in 2003 and subsequently to Tusla on establishment in January 2014.
Up until 2011 applications were invited through an annual public advertisement. The scheme was then closed for financial reasons and no new applications have been accepted since that time. Those who received funding in 2011 have continued to receive an annual grant equivalent to their 2011 grant. This Counselling Grants Scheme is for a total of €245,900 annually and currently there are only 64 grantees nationwide benefitting from it. With over 4,000 schools in Ireland 64 grantees means that less than 2% of schools are in receipt of support from this scheme currently.
I have decided that until an alternative methodology for provision of counselling can be established, the grant should stay in place in its current format. Any increase to Tusla Education Welfare Service will have to be considered in the context of the estimates process for Budget 2018.
