Written Answers Nos. 1297-1311
1306. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the estimated capital cost of providing 1,200, 1,450 and 1,700 additional day service places for school leavers and graduates of rehabilitative training, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17912/23]
View answer1307. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the current cost, including staff and operating cost, of providing 1,200, 1,450 and 1,700 additional day service places for school leavers and graduates of rehabilitative training, respectively; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17913/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 1306 and 1307 together.
Adult day services are HSE funded programmes to provide day service supports to people, age 18 and over, with intellectual disabilities, autism, or people with complex physical disabilities. These services are demand led and the number of new places in any year reflects the number of applications from young people leaving school. Additional funding of €8.5m in 2023 will support approximately 1,400 people with disabilities who are leaving school to transition into adult day services from September, with a full year cost of €27m in 2024. Once vacancies are taken into account, and in the light of demographic change, approximately 1,200 new places are needed in 2023 to ensure all eligible school leavers can get a day service place.
There were no significant capital costs allocated in Budget 2023 associated with the delivery of day services to school leavers. The new developments allocation includes non pay costs to prepare buildings for new intake and for the lease/rent of new buildings to facilitate new intake.
The majority of young people due to leave school in a given year that require a HSE funded day service have been profiled by the end of the previous year to establish their support needs. Once needs are identified, referrals are made to the service provider of choice, funding is committed and negotiations are concluded with providers by end of May to confirm placements to young people and their families. In many instances young people due to leave school at end of June are introduced to their day services for trialling purposes during April, May and June so there is a natural transition into day services in September.
1308. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will provide details of the HSE Funding for Transitions to Adult Supports for Autistic People; if he will provide more information about how funds are allocated between different CHOs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17950/23]
View answerHSE-funded day programmes for people with intellectual disabilities, autism, or complex physical disabilities include a range of centre-based and community-based activities. Access to services is based on an individual’s needs rather than on their diagnosis. The focus is on supporting people to participate in the mainstream activities and in the life of their community, in line with their wishes and needs.
Day services are a vital support for adult with disabilities to participate in the life of their community and to realise their own ambitions and desires. The majority of young people due to leave school in a given year that require a HSE funded day service have been profiled by the end of the previous year to establish their support needs. Once needs are identified, referrals are made to the service provider of choice, funding is committed and negotiations are concluded with providers by end of May to confirm placements to young people and their families. In many instances young people due to leave school at end of June are introduced to their day services for trialling purposes during April, May and June so there is a natural transition into day services in September.
New development funding of €8.5m will support approximately 1,400 people with disabilities who are leaving school to transition into adult day services in 2023, with a full year cost of €27m in 2024.
1309. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will outline his engagement with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment concerning the provision of grants to employers to facilitate the employment of individuals with a disability. [17951/23]
View answerAs Minister of State with Responsibility for Disability, I am committed to removing the barriers faced by people with disabilities in accessing employment. My Department plays a significant coordination role in this regard through the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities (CES).
The CES is the primary disability employment policy initiative in Ireland. It is a cross-government approach, bringing together actions by Government Departments and Agencies to address the barriers and challenges to employment of persons with disabilities. The CES’s strategic priorities are to build skills, capacity and independence, to provide bridges and supports into work, to make work pay, to promote job retention and re-entry to work, to provide coordinated and seamless supports and to engage employers.
Under the CES framework, my Department plays a coordination role in ensuring that disability measures are coherent and integrated, with specific actions continuing to be the responsibility of the relevant Departments and agencies. This includes engagement with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment on a number of actions assigned to it under the CES.
In terms of specific employment supports and grants provided by Government to promote and facilitate the employment of people with disabilities, the Department of Social Protection, through the Reasonable Accommodation Fund, supports jobseekers, existing employees with disabilities, and private sector employers seeking to hire or retain a person with a disability.
The Reasonable Accommodation Fund is being reviewed, as per commitments under the CES. The review aims to improve the effectiveness of the support provided, identify gaps in provision, and improve application and payment processes. In Budget 2023, an additional €1 million in funding was announced by the Minister for Social Protection, Heather Humphreys T.D., to expand the provision made under the Reasonable Accommodation Fund and to support the recommendations from the forthcoming review.
In addition to this and whilst not directly targeted at persons with disabilities, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment also provides supports to employers, including self-employed people, through their network of Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs).
My officials will continue to work and engage with counterparts in the Departments of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Social Protection, through the CES and bilaterally, to explore how the State can continue to support people with disabilities who seek to enter into the workforce. For more specific details on the supports referenced, I would encourage the Deputy to reach out to the relevant Ministers.
1310. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the steps he has taken in response to a report (details supplied), including any actions to ensure immediate reforms within the organisation. [17952/23]
View answerSince the publication of Dr. Shannon’s report on March 16th 2023, officials from my Department have engaged with SJAI around assurances related to current child protection and vetting practices at SJAI. Tusla established a helpline that continues to operate in normal business hours from Monday to Friday. Any affected person may make reports of abuse or suspected abuse concerning persons connected with St John Ambulance via the helpline or to their local social work office.
My Officials particularly sought assurances that there is no unvetted member working with minors/cadets within the SJAI organisation. SJAI stated in their response document to the report that the organisation is using a new IT system to ensure that current Garda vetting is in place for each of its members and the relevant information is available to managers responsible for on- duty members. SJAI further assured officials that any adult member without current up to date vetting is automatically stood down from active service. My officials understand that no new applications for membership of SJAI will be considered without completed vetting applications in place and all cadets will be required to complete renewed vetting on reaching the age of 18 years. My Officials further understand that all adult members of SJAI who work with minors /cadets have current in date Garda vetting. All have completed Tusla’s online Children First training and have also completed an SJAI child protection training programme. Garda vetting will only be processed when these training programmes are completed.
As noted in Dr Shannon’s report SJAI’s child protection policy was in draft form during the review process. SJAI has assured my officials and Tusla that these policies are no longer in draft form and have been published in full on the SJAI website. Tusla does not have a role in inspecting or assessing the child protection policies of individual organisations.
The Tusla Child Safeguarding Statement Compliance Unit reviewed the St John Ambulance Safeguarding Statement in March 2022 and it was deemed compliant. The Safeguarding Statement is also published on the website.
Child protection concerns relating to current members of the organisation should be referred to Tusla and An Garda Síochána. An assurance was given by SJAI to my officials that all child protection concerns have been fully reported to Tusla.
1311. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will clarify whether a State body (details supplied) will engage in a public consultation process in the development of a code of conduct concerning the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17953/23]
View answerPart 4 of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 provides for the preparation of a Code of Practice for the purpose of practical guidance to employers and employees on the rights to request remote working and flexible working as introduced in Parts 2A and 3 of the Act.
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment will, in consultation with myself, ask the Workplace Relations Commission to prepare and submit a draft Code of Practice. The WRC will invite representations from trade unions, employer representative bodies and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, which will be taken into consideration before the submission of the draft code. Once approved, the Code of Practice will be published on the WRC website.
