Written Answers Nos. 824-843
824. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the financial support that his Department provides to an organisation (details supplied); if he will ensure that annual operational financial support is allocated to this important centre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39777/23]
View answerAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
825. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will liaise with an organisation (details supplied) to assist in their endeavours to source a larger premises in order to meet the growing demand for its important services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39778/23]
View answerAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
826. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he is aware of the demands put forward by an organisation (details supplied); if he supports these demands; if he will ensure that they are implemented in Budget 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39780/23]
View answerIn respect of the current rate of the foster care allowance, I am conscious that this payment was last increased in 2009 and I am aware of the disappointment among foster carers that no increase to the foster care allowance was secured in Budget 2023. I can assure the Deputy that it is a priority of mine to seek to secure an increase to the foster care allowance in the upcoming budget.
In relation to travel expenses incurred by foster carers, I am aware that some foster carers can incur significant costs in relation to travel in respect of foster children that are not currently capable of being recouped. I can advise the Deputy that my officials and I are engaging with Tusla in respect of seeking to improve the financial support foster carers can avail of when they incur such expenses.
Further, I am also aware of issues raised by foster carers in respect of supports which fall under the remit of the Department of Social Protection. These include the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance and the issue of State Pension contributions for foster carers. I have spoken about these matters with the Minister for Social Protection and engagement between our Departments on these issues is ongoing.
In the upcoming Budget and in the future, I will continue to work closely with relevant stakeholders, including colleagues in Government and representative organisations, seeking to review and improve the suite of supports foster carers can avail of.
827. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when appropriate supports will be provided to the son of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39790/23]
View answerAs this refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
828. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will outline the support dog services currently available to children with autism; if he has any plans to review the current support systems in place, with a view to widening same to ensure more children can avail of autism support dog services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39797/23]
View answerAs this refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
829. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when he expects to publish one or more of the general schemes for the referendum Bills; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39819/23]
View answer830. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide an update on the work of the inter-departmental group tasked with progressing the Referendum on Article 41. [39823/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 829 and 830 together.
On 8 March 2023, the Taoiseach and I announced that a referendum will be held to amend the Constitution as recommended by the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality and the Special Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality.
An Inter-Departmental Group (IDG), involving all Government Departments and chaired by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, was subsequently established to further examine and progress work on these recommendations. The work of the IDG is well advanced and policy proposals, to include Heads of Bills, will be brought forward to Government for decision. It is important to clarify that decisions on the wording of any proposed Constitutional amendments and the publication of any related draft legislation are a matter for Government, which is supported in its work by the IDG.
831. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he plans to increase the foster care allowance in Budget 2024; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the allowance has not been increased since 2009; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39879/23]
View answerFoster carers are paid a weekly allowance, which is a payment to meet the needs of the child in their care. The foster care allowance is currently €325 per week for a child under 12 years of age and €352 per week for a child aged 12 years and over. The allowance is not considered as means for social welfare purposes, and is not subject to tax.
I am conscious of the disappointment expressed by foster carers that there has been no increase to the foster care allowance since 2009. I can inform the Deputy that a priority of mine is to seek to secure an increase to the foster care allowance in Budget 2024.
I can assure the Deputy that I will continue to work with Tusla, with my Government colleagues, and with any other relevant stakeholders going forward, seeking to review and improve the suite of supports available to foster carers.
832. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when an AON report will be sent to CAMHS for a child (details supplied) in county Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39963/23]
View answerAs this refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
833. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his plans to address the unacceptable level of vacancies for key positions in the Children's Disability Network Teams in Donegal; and if he is aware of the serious impact this is having on the children affected and their families. [39980/23]
View answerI am conscious of the fact that the HSE and Lead Agencies are operating in a very competitive global market for healthcare talent, in Donegal as well as in other parts of the country. I am acutely aware of the impact the vacancies have on the CDNTs and, most importantly, the impact that is felt by families through the lack of services provide.
These challenges are acknowledged and work is underway by the HSE to increase access to services, with a range of measures being actively pursued across the country to enhance recruitment, support retention and build CDNT capacity.
For further details on the specific measures being pursued in the Donegal area, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
834. Deputy Joan Collins asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth what percentage of tracing applications made under the Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022 have been allocated to a social worker by the Adoption Authority of Ireland and Tusla – the Child and Family Agency respectively (with the percentage provided for each body). [39992/23]
View answerAs the subject matter of the Deputy’s question relates to an operational matter for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, and the Adoption Authority of Ireland, I have referred the matter to them for a direct reply.
835. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his Department received the recent business case from a school (details supplied); and if his officials have examined the business case contained therein. [40004/23]
View answerI can confirm that my Department has received written correspondence dated 14th July, 2023 from St. Ultan's together with a Business Case as referred to by the Deputy. Officials in my Department have examined the business case and have also discussed this with St. Ultan's Senior Management.
836. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will report on progress to establish a minimum of six regional assessment of needs units; and the contingencies put in place to present a backlog building on the list of assessments of need. [40010/23]
View answerAs this refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
837. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the funding that has been allocated to each CHO area for the supply of assistive technology in 2020, 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023, in tabular form; if the HSE in each CHO area carries out its own assessments of those applying for assistive technology or if applicants are referred to other organisations for these assessments. [40108/23]
View answer838. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of applications in each CHO for assistive technology in 2020, 2021, 2022 and to date in 2023; and the number of applications in each CHO in each of these years that were unsuccessful, in tabular form. [40109/23]
View answer839. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if it is standard practice for the HSE to supply a person who is unsuccessful in their application for assistive technology with the reasons they were unsuccessful. [40110/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 837 to 839, inclusive, together.
As this refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
840. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the reason a child (details supplied) is waiting on speech and language therapy in County Cavan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40150/23]
View answerAs this refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
841. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his attention has been drawn to a report (details supplied); his views on the challenges affecting the sustainability of the early years' sector outlined in the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40156/23]
View answerFINANCIAL VIABILITY
Ensuring the financial stability of early learning and childcare services is a priority of Government. This is demonstrated by the significant State supports provided to the sector.
Core Funding - worth €259 million in Year 1 and €287 million in Year 2 - contributes to services’ sustainability and significantly increases income for the overwhelming majority of services and provides greater funding stability.
Fees charged to parents remain high and I am committed to reducing costs for parents through National Childcare Scheme (NCS) subsidies and fee management introduced in September 2022 through Core Funding. Maintaining the fee freeze is entirely appropriate given the substantial additional investment in the sector being made through Core Funding.
Through ECCE capitation and Core Funding combined, services will receive a minimum weekly capitation of €79.20 per child and a maximum of €95.85 per child, with additional funding for graduate lead educators, graduate managers and for sessional services. There is no clear evidence supporting an increase in capitation to €120 per week, at an overall cost of €210m.
I appointed Frontier Economics to undertake an independent financial review of sessional services. The review began in Q1 2023 and while the final report is due in Q4 2023, interim information received by the Department is inconclusive and sector-wide findings are not possible given the small number of services who engaged with the review. Nonetheless, I announced targeted measures worth an additional €7.22 million through Core Funding year 2, to support smaller and sessional services.
I do not want any services to be faced with financial sustainability issues and I am fully committed to working with any such service to support them in delivering early learning and childcare for the public good. There are supports, financial and otherwise, available to services who need them.
Sustainability funding is available to Partner Services, community and private, who are experiencing financial difficulty. Partner Services can be assisted through the case management route to ensure their services remain sustainable under Together for Better.
I strongly encourage services which are experiencing financial difficulty, and would like support to contact their City/County Childcare Committee (CCC) to access case management supports. Services can be assisted on an individual basis through this route.
CLOSURES
Services are required by law to register with Tusla, the independent statutory regulator for early learning and childcare services. Registered childcare providers are required to notify Tusla in writing of the closure of a service not later than 28 days after the closure. The register is updated monthly.
Data on verified closures from Tusla published on 25th August 2023 (Childcare service closures at lowest level for five years – new data confirms) shows that the number of closures is at its lowest level for five years and that the overall number of early learning and care (ELC) and standalone School-Aged Childcare (SAC) services is now increasing. This provides further evidence that Core Funding is working as intended to support the sector as well as children and parents.
The latest data on service closures and new service registrations has been provided from Tusla to the Department and shows that 18 ELC services ceased operation in August 2023 while 25 ELC services opened in August. 6 Standalone SAC services closed in August 2023 while 60 Standalone SAC services opened. This most recent data provided by Tusla on new registrations and ceased services until end August 2023 shows:
• a five-year low in the number of net ELC services closures, such as crèches and preschools (i.e. 20 net closures January-August 2023 compared to 80 net closures in 2022, 62 net closures in 2021, 77 net closures in 2020 and 77 net closures in 2019 for the same time period)
• a net increase of 126 standalone SAC services (after-school childcare) year to date;
• a net increase of 106 in the overall number of ELC and standalone SAC services year to date.
STAFFING CHALLENGES
Many early learning and childcare services report difficulties in staff recruitment and retention. Staffing pressures are caused by high levels of staff turnover, linked to pay and conditions. The primary means of improving staff recruitment and retention in the early learning and childcare sector is through improvement in wages.
In September 2022, through the work of the JLC, Employment Regulation Orders (EROs) for the sector came into force, setting new minimum hourly rates of pay for different roles in the sector as follows:
• €13 for Early Years Educators/ School-Age Childcare practitioners;
• €14 for Early Years Lead Educators / School-Age Childcare co-ordinators;
• €15.50 Graduate Early Years Lead Educators / School-Age Childcare co-ordinators
• €15.70 for Deputy Managers;
• €16.50 for Managers; and
• €17.25 for Graduate Managers.
The Orders are being supported by Core Funding – which has an allocation of €259 million in its first year – to support amongst other things, improvements in staff wages, alongside a commitment to freeze parental fees and sustainability of services. Core Funding allocation will increase by €28 million for year 2 (from September 2023).
The JLC for Early Years Services is continuing to meet to discuss possible changes to the EROs.
In addition, Nurturing Skills (the Workforce Plan for the ELC and SAC sector) includes specific actions to support the move to a graduate-led workforce by 2028, establishing a career framework for staff working in the ELC and SAC sector, including role profiles and qualifications requirements, the strengthening of career pathways, and the promotion of careers in the sector. The Nurturing Skills Monitoring Committee recently published the first Annual Report outlining progress to date on the actions contained in Nurturing Skills.
There is ongoing engagement between the Minister and the representatives of the sector primarily through the Early Learning and Childcare Stakeholder Forum. Issues concerning staff recruitment and retention continue to be kept under review.
ADMINISTRATIVE BURDEN
The Department acknowledges the administrative burden for providers has increased with the introduction of new schemes such as National Childcare Scheme and Core Funding.
In addition to providing €27.2 million for administration under Core Funding, a number of steps are being taken to reduce the administrative workload. This year a Universal Fee Table has been introduced, which will enable services to upload one single fee table that covers all schemes. The Parent Statement has also been refined so that one agreement now covers all schemes and this only has to be signed once between the provider and parent irrespective of fee changes.
STREAMLINING OF REGULATION AND INSPECTION
The Programme for Government commits to “Streamline regulatory requirements whilst continuing to improve quality”. The OECD, in its Country Policy Review of Ireland, made a number of recommendations in relation to Ireland’s systems for quality assurance and development in the early learning and care sector. Building on the existing commitments in the Programme for Government and First 5, the OECD recommendations advise that “streamlining the activities of the range of institutions engaged in inspection and regulatory activity”.
The safety and protection of children remains the first priority of Government in early learning and childcare. Central to achieving this is enforcement of the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016, which have children at the heart of their implementation.
A number of changes are being implemented to reduce the regulatory burden on providers. Firstly, the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016 were recently amended in order to streamline the re-registration process from 2022 onwards. This change reduced the burden attached to renewal of registration for services.
Secondly, the Department is currently working closely with the two inspectorates, the Tusla Early Years Inspectorate and the Department of Education Inspectorate, on streamlining and collaborative work between the two inspectorates in order to reduce the burden on providers, support the quality of services, and support clear communications to the sector.
The Tusla Early Years Inspectorate is the independent statutory regulator for the early learning and childcare sector. Tusla are committed to ensuring that children attending ELC and SAC services are safe, that they receive appropriate care and have a positive experience where they can develop and learn in a quality service.
The Department of Education Inspectorate conducts education-focused inspections of early learning and care services that are funded by DCEDIY. These inspections evaluate the quality of the nature, range and appropriateness of the early educational experiences for children participating in ELC services. They then provide feedback on the quality of educational provision in the setting and advice as to how educational provision in the setting can be developed further or improved.
842. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when it is expected to open applications for the mother and baby institutions payment scheme; the number of staff assigned to administer the scheme, by grade; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40161/23]
View answerI am acutely aware of the sense of urgency surrounding the establishment of the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme and I am focused on delivering the Scheme as soon as possible. To that end, a significant milestone was achieved on 11 July with the enactment of the underpinning legislation - the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023.
This Act allows for the establishment of an Executive Office in my Department to oversee the Scheme and the appointment of the Chief Deciding Officer to head up that office, as well as the staff needed to support the performance of his or her functions.
In terms of staffing for Scheme delivery, following careful consideration of a number of important factors, including the need to open the Scheme as soon as possible and the ability to be responsive and scale up and down to meet Scheme demand, a blended operating model is being developed. This will provide for the Chief Deciding Officer to be supported by a core Executive Office based in my Department and also by experienced third party support. To this end, my Department is currently concluding a tendering process with a preferred bidder that has been identified following a procurement process. All staff in the Executive Office, as well as the third party support team, will operate under the direction and supervision of the Chief Deciding Officer and a comprehensive training programme for all staff involved in Scheme delivery is being developed.
Intensive work is underway to conclude the work on the administrative structures in as timely a manner as possible and to transition to a live Scheme.
843. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his attention has been drawn to correspondence (details supplied) on behalf of a charity; the engagements he has had with this charity in relation to its funding situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40195/23]
View answerFirstly, I wish to acknowledge the importance of the work done by this organisation.
I can confirm that my Department has received correspondence from the organisation in relation to the financial difficulties that it is facing.
The Chief Social Worker from my Department has been engaging with Tusla's CEO and Regional Office General Manager to highlight the concerns raised and to follow up accordingly.
Furthermore, the Chief Social Worker and Social Work Specialist have met with the organisation concerned to discuss the financial situation.
