I welcome the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, Mr. Jim Breslin, Secretary General, Ms Moira O'Mara, Mr. Gerard Hughes and Mr. Gerard Banville. The sole purpose of the meeting is to discuss the Revised Estimates and the supplementary performance information regarding the outputs and impacts of programme expenditure. A draft timetable has been circulated. Is the timetable agreed? Agreed. We will begin with the Minister's opening statement and this will be followed by opening statements from the main Opposition spokespersons. The Minister has ten minutes.
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised)
I take this opportunity to thank the Chairman and members for the work they are doing and the hearings they are conducting - which I have been following - in respect of the Children First legislation.
I wish to thank the committee for its consideration today of the Revised Estimate for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs - Vote 40 - for the current year. As members are aware, my Department has already been allocated gross funding of almost €427 million for 2012. This includes €418.6 million in current funding and €8.35 million in capital funding. When appropriations-in-aid receipts of just over €12.2 million are taken into account, my Department's net current funding in 2012 is some €406.4 million. The December Estimates provided for a gross allocation under Vote 40 of €408 million. This amount has increased in the Revised Estimate to almost €427 million, due to the inclusion of funding for the children's detention schools under the Irish Youth Justice Service, responsibility for which transferred to my Department in January of this year.
The Revised Estimate accurately reflects both the 2012 allocations for the Department and the corresponding 2011 provisional outturns of expenditure for these programmes. Members will recall that there was a degree of complexity attaching to the financial provision for these programmes last year, consequent on the setting up of the new Department. This saw the retirement midway through the year of the Vote of the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and the transfer of funding from a range of other Votes in line with the remit of the newly expanded Department. The transfer of responsibilities is fully captured in today's Estimate. The most recent transfers include the allocation of responsibility and funding for the family mediation service to the Department of Justice and Equality and, as mentioned, funding for the children's detention schools operated by the Irish Youth Justice Service, which, since 1 January this year, are now overseen by my Department. Completion of these transfers and the full-year comparison contained in the Estimate allows for a more like-for-like presentation of expenditure trends.
It is important to note that the move to performance accounting has resulted in significant further changes to the subhead structure. The process of integrating more information on outputs under each programme has been commenced - this can be seen from the way in which the Estimate is presented - and, in line with the Government's public service reform plan, will be further developed in subsequent years. The Estimate is clearly presented in a more meaningful way and contemplates services and expected outcomes. One example in the context of how the information is laid out is that which relates to the budget for the early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme.
My Department's total gross allocation in 2012 of almost €427 million compares to a provisional outturn figure for 2011 of approximately €419 million. The 2012 current funding allocation to my Department of €418.6 million compares favourably to the provisional outturn figure for 2011 of €408.7 million. The committee will be aware of the exceptionally difficult situation that prevails with regard to the public finances. This necessitates difficult decisions across all areas of public expenditure. My approach has been to emphasise the enhanced priority and mandate for children's services which underpinned the Government's decision to establish a dedicated Department, while promoting reforms that deliver more effective and streamlined use of scarce resources. The challenge for all of those working in the public service today or whose activities are funded from the public purse is to maximise policy outcomes and service delivery. My Department has a key role to play in driving a public service reform agenda which delivers benefits for children and families.
There are severe economic constraints facing all Departments. However, I am satisfied that the provision set out in the Estimate allows for delivery of key policy outcomes including the continued provision of the free preschool year in early childhood care and education; the holding of a constitutional referendum on children's rights; preparation for the establishment of a new child and family support agency; an enhanced role for the children's detention schools in respect of 16 year old boys who were heretofore detained in St.Patrick's Institution; the review of educational welfare interventions, particularly the school completion programme; the reform of youth programmes; and the delivery of key policy reforms including a new children and young people's policy framework and legislative reforms in the areas of child welfare and protection and adoption. Members can see, under the various subheads and sections, where we have outlined the various provisions planned for this year in respect of legislation and the other areas to which I refer.
Not only is the free preschool year being maintained but additional funding of €12 million has been allocated to my Department to meet the cost pressures arising for the programme as a result of the increased birth rate in recent years. The programme for Government commits to maintaining the ECCE programme and to developing early childhood care and education as resources allow. Demographic factors mean there will be an expected increase of some 3,000 in the number of children participating in the programme this year. This is provided for under programme B of the Estimate and will amount to almost €176 million this year. The expected output for the year is the provision of free places for 67,000 children or 95% of those eligible. The other child care schemes operated by my Department are the community child care subvention, CCS, scheme, and the community education and training support, CETS, programme. Both of these are being maintained. As announced in the budget, some reductions are being made to the capitation fees under the ECCE programme and the child care schemes in order to contribute towards the overall increase in costs being experienced in this area. The Estimate also provides for a new capital small grant scheme for renovation or re-equipping by existing providers participating in child care schemes. Some €6 million in funding is being made available in this regard. Approximately 2,300 applications are currently being assessed and the value of these stands at approximately €60 million.
Deputies are aware of our plans to hold a constitutional referendum on children's rights and a funding allocation has been made in respect of this. A considerable amount of work has been done in respect of the establishment of the child and family support agency. Provision has been made in respect of the start-up costs associated with this. I expect to introduced legislation on the matter, which, I am sure, will be considered by this committee, later in the year. The new agency will assume the responsibilities of the Family Support Agency. The 2012 provision for the Family Support Agency is €26 million. While this represents a reduction on the 2011 outturn, the greater co-ordination of the Family Support Agency activities, with others transferring to the new child and family support agency, will provide great opportunity to improve efficiency and effectiveness. I have engaged in many meetings with the staff of the family resource centres and I am of the view that they will play an enhanced role under the child and family support agency. This will mean that there will be a more effective delivery of services to children and families.
As members can see, some €16.8 million is allocated in respect of the children's detention schools under programme A of the Estimate. In April, I announced a major €50 million capital investment in children's detention schools. This money will be provided during the period 2013 to 2015, with design, tendering and contracting to be completed this year. This project will see the replacement of existing facilities at Oberstown and the introduction of sufficient capacity to accommodate 16 and 17 year old boys who heretofore have been sent to St.Patrick's Institution. This reform is long overdue and there has been a very wide welcome from many groups in respect of Government support and funding for this initiative.
Educational welfare also comes under my Department's remit. The Estimate contains a provision of €9.6 million in respect of the National Education Welfare Board, NEWB. This money will provide for the costs relating to educational welfare officers following up on school attendance issues throughout the country. My Department is liaising with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on the replacement of key vacancies in order to assist in tackling those issues. We are aware of the importance of school attendance and of how critical it is to work with children and families where failure to attend school is an issue. Early intervention is very important in this regard. We are reviewing the role of the NEWB in the context of the establishment of the new child and family support agency. It is my opinion that there is potential for better linkages between those working in the area of educational welfare and the new child and family support agency and other agencies. This is an important area in the context of good inter-agency co-operation.
Some €57 million is being provided for youth services under programme B. I attended the Council of Youth Ministers in Brussels on Friday last and I am in a position to state that this allocation is impressive by international standards. Many organisations are being supported by the Department in order that we can give good quality supports to young people. It is substantial funding. We are looking at reforming this area as well but it supports a range of services at present varying from local drugs task force projects to youth information centres to local youth club grant schemes. We are reviewing the funding schemes and there is a need for reform in this area. The sector, generally, welcomes this and considers it is long overdue.
Approximately 130 whole-time equivalent staff are employed in my Department. They are responsible for the operation of the various funding schemes I outlined in areas such as child care, youth programmes and the management of the Irish Youth Justice Service. They are also responsible for the conduct of the normal parliamentary, public and corporate responsibilities of a Department and, in addition, this year we have a major job in regard to the reform agenda for children's services. I mentioned constitutional reform and the operational reform associated with the establishment of a new Department. I pay tribute to all the staff who have come together from various Departments to form this new Department. It has involved change for them and I thank them for the way that they have dealt with this and helped me in establishing the Department during the past year.
We also have a big change agenda and reform under way in regard to child protection legislation, as the committee well knows. We have a very important research programme in regard to children, on children's participation. There is an increasing focus in Ireland and internationally on listening to the voice of the child, hearing the young person's experience and incorporating that into policy work, research work and into the programmes which we deliver. The Department is at the cutting edge in regard to that both in Ireland and internationally. We are doing a considerable amount of research in regard to that.
The Department was formally established in June of last year. The work undertaken in the short space of time since then is now bearing significant fruit. The reform of children's policies and services will become further evident in the months ahead. I look forward to continuing to work with the committee on this reform agenda. I thank the members for giving of their time today.
I welcome the Minister and her colleagues. I wish to restate my commendation of the Government for the establishment of a full Ministry for children. I pay tribute again to the Minister's commitment to a referendum that would enshrine children's rights in the Constitution, the efforts being employed to reform care and child protection systems and the commitment she has demonstrated to the practice of having children sent for detention in St. Patrick's Institution brought to an end. I support her on all those matters. I have no doubt the frustration experienced in this respect is not unique to Opposition voices and that it may also be experienced by the Minister in terms of the slowness towards which we move to the realisation of these shared goals. I am an open and declared supporter of all these measures and I hope my comments will be seen in that context.
As a spokesperson for children, it would be remiss of me not to reflect on the measures contained in budget 2012. We are dealing now with the Estimate for the Minister's Department but with regard to the measures contained in budget 2012 and how they have impacted on children, we cannot divorce her Department and her good intent and work from the reality. A detailed examination of Government economic policy in terms of its impact on children shows it is not child friendly, let alone child-centred. We must face up to that. The people who are shouldering the greatest burden of the economic mess in which we find ourselves are the poorest parents of the children who live in this State. Children are paying for the mistakes of adults who played property poker with the life chances of those children at stake. That is the reality and that needs to be made very clear to those responsible for all of this. The stakes with which they played were the life chances of children who, in many cases, have known only generational poverty and generational denial of the chance to reach their full potential as human beings in their lifetime.
The Department's figures demonstrate that 19.5% of children are living at risk of poverty. When we examine some of the measures signalled and the impact of those, some of which have been rolled out and some of which have not been rolled out, we note that child benefit has been cut for three of more children, the back to school allowance has been cut and the one-parent family payment has been changed to reduce the upper age limit to seven years of age. These cuts have been made by other Departments but they have a very real impact on the working credibility of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. We cannot have Departments acting as independent islands from the rest of Cabinet responsibility. In terms of the policies being pursued particularly in the Department of Social Protection, which has such a direct impact on the daily life condition of many of these families, it is wrong that it works independently and somewhat in isolation from other Departments and particularly the Minister's. The need for joined-up thinking and joined-up full consideration is very self-evident.
The children who are shouldering the burden of these cuts are the same children who will be taking cases to the Officer of the Ombudsman for Children regarding denial of services to which they are as of right entitled. They are the children who are at a higher risk of leaving school early but whose schools have had the budget for their early school leaver projects cut.
The Deputy is half way through his allotted time.
I thank the Chair for that. These are the children who must live with a 5% cut in the budget to the Family Support Agency. In budget 2012 there was a 20% cut to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs policy and legislation budget which, as the Children's Rights Alliance has pointed out, clearly has an impact upon the speed at which legislative change can be introduced which will help children. That is already in evidence.
I have documented my view many times as to how all of this can be better addressed. I am very much opposed to these austerity measures. We cannot look at the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in isolation from the impact of all of this. We have a Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, for whom I have the highest regard and respect and whose sincerity or integrity on these matters I would never question, but austerity is what is governing the reality of the lives of children in Ireland today. That is a sad situation.
Regarding care and child protection services, the establishment of the new child and family support agency simply cannot happen soon enough. I strongly encourage that. We have read the reports on the litany of the failures of the State to protect children. We are very aware of it. We have read the Ryan report. What is very clear from all these reports is that child care services must be resourced according to need and social workers must not be overburdened. That would be clearly counter-productive. We have seen 45 HSE employees, who are classified within the social work grades, across all care groups retire since 1 January 2012 and the Minister gave a response on this only the other day on the floor of the Dáil. Other voices - not mine - have majored in this area over some months. It cannot be denied that there is a real basis for concern. The HSE has also said that it has approved the recruitment of 57 replacement social work staff across all care group areas since January 2012 but we have no clear notion of such recruitment. I have watched the interaction between the Minister and another spokesperson on children. There are still concerns that we have no clear notion of what stages those recruitment processes are at. We need more information on the funding structure of the proposed Child and Family Support Agency to which these social workers will be transferred. That is my understanding and I ask that it be clarified to confirm that is the case.
I am aware that time is of the essence but I want to reflect, and welcome, the Government's promise to end the detention of 16 and 17 year olds in St. Patrick's Institution. It is a wholly unacceptable arrangement. This change is long overdue. However, it is essential that we are told exactly how much money is ring-fenced for youth justice, and specifically child detention centres, in the next few years. What are the projections? There can be no roll-back on this progressive move, and I do not for a moment believe the Minister would countenance it. Article 37 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child specifically states that children who are detained by the State must be separated from adults, and it is a scandal that this is continuing.
I would have liked to have made a number of other points. The Department provides a range of funding schemes, programmes and supports to the youth sector but in addition to that it must consult, using an appropriate forum or mechanism, with young people to ensure they are directly involved and have an input into the structuring and out-working of the services being funded for them. I have no doubt there has been an impact in the reduction in the budget for youth services. That is in evidence. Those that one meets, both on a constituency basis and those who come to this institution to lobby members and present their reality, outline a situation of ever-deepening difficulties. Heaven forbid that I would use the word "crisis". The former Minister present would lambaste me if I dared use such a word.
We will not revisit that.
The Chairman will quickly hit the bell, but we want to avoid that. We are not at that in this situation. I believe it is reflected in the former address we had here today but now is the time to try to stave off anything that, God forbid, would have a further deleterious impact on the lives of those most at risk in our society. They are the young people of the least well off and the least able to provide families that we know.
I thank the Minister for her presentation. I am sure the past 12 months have been very challenging in establishing the new Department and getting it up and running. The Minister must be complimented because some of the major issues around children and children's services have come a long way in the past 12 months when one considers that a new Department had to be established.
On Deputy Ó Caoláin's point about youth services, we are all concerned about the scale of funding cuts that have taken place and the projected spending cuts in this area. We all accept that in terms of the services youth organisations provide, they pick up young people who have fallen through the established system and ensure they contribute to society rather than end up in some of the detention facilities to which, sadly, additional resources had to be allocated. The Minister might revert to the committee with an outline of that. We have the headline figures on the allocations to the various youth projects for 2011 but what are the projected figures for those specific funds for 2012?
We all welcome that the detention of 16 and 17 year olds in St. Patrick's Institution will cease. That is a welcome development on which the Minister must be commended.
Regarding the output targets, the output for last year was 52 places for the first nine months of the year, 44 places at the end of that year. The objective for 2012 is 52 places for the full year but does that include the additional capacity for St. Patrick's Institution? Are we talking about a net reduction in the overall numbers? I ask the Minister to clarify that.
The early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme has been extremely successful. I have first-hand experience of it, and school teachers say it has been a tremendous success. However, last year's figures indicate that 6% of young people are not availing of the scheme, and they are probably the 6% who need it. What is happening about that 6%? Why are they not availing of the ECCE scheme and what is being done to ensure there is 100% uptake? Young children entering the education system are at a disadvantage but with the dramatic increase in class sizes they are at an even bigger disadvantage.
The final point I raise is on the child care subvention programme and its funding issues. My children attend a community child care facility and I am aware that trying to make ends meet, in terms of the management structure, is very difficult. The level of subvention will be cut back this year. The level of eligibility will be cut back from September and the reality is that the parents who are paying the full fees will have to carry the cost of that. Many of those parents are working and struggling to meet mortgage repayments, pay water charges, household taxes and so forth and they will now have to further subvent the community child care facilities but it may not be financially viable for them to do that.
The plan is that the eligibility criteria will change in that one must be in receipt of social welfare and a medical card also. Until now, people in receipt of a GP card would have been eligible. In the context of the delays this committee has experienced regarding the issue of medical cards, what will happen if someone is eligible for a medical card but because of the lack of efficiency in the PCRS system it may take time for that application to be processed? Will the community child care facility be left without the funding because of delays in operating the scheme in Finglas?
The major difficulty for people regarding the medical card is not just the medical card and one's entitlement to health services. It is the ancillary services that are putting massive financial pressure on many people in receipt of social welfare or on low incomes. The Minister might outline the numbers that availed of the community child care subvention programme in 2011 and the projected reduction for 2012. I ask the same question on the child care training and education support programme in terms of the contrast between the outturn for 2011 and the projection for 2012.
We will now deal with the individual subheads in Vote 40, Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, subheads and programmes. Subheads A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2 will be taken together. Are there any comments or questions?
Could the Chairman assist me?
Yes.
I have just been handed a second part 2 to something I saw for the first time this morning. Again, I apologise to the Minister but-----
We are on Vote 40, subheads A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2 which are grouped under the headings "Administration - Pay" and "Administration - Non-pay".
I appreciate that the Department is in transition. We had great difficulty with the figures of the Minister for Health earlier. What is occurring is inappropriate, as we are not getting all the information we require. The Department of Health is not in transition. However, as the Department of Children and Youth Affairs is newly established, I presume some of the increases pertain to the assuming of specific responsibilities. The obvious questions pertain to an 88% increase in the subhead for travel and subsistence and an increase of 267% in training, development and incidental expenses. In asking questions I am not trying to be challenging but to obtain an explanation for some of the more obvious and significant increases as they appear to us, given that we may not have all the information, as was evident in the exchange with the Minister for Health.
Shall I address the point made previously?
The Minister should address the specific points made on the Estimates. In her concluding remarks she may address what was said in the opening statements.
As Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin knows, my Department was established legislatively mid-way through last year. The figures are for a full year and have been extracted from those for the Department of Health which formerly dealt with these issues. Clearly, it was a Department in transition. Relative to other Departments, ours is probably doing things in a cost-effective way. There is a need in a new Department to develop a training programme on governance, human resources and performance management issues. While the process started last year, it is just beginning and we are allowing for this. There may be a slight over-allocation that may not be used fully by the end of the year. The allocation allows for dealing with the new issues satisfactorily. The main point, as the Deputy suggested, is that the Department is new. It is, therefore, a question of allowing for development, including training, as required.
With regard to the range of areas we have been discussing, the Department is more operational than it was last year. There has been much development.
To assist members of the sub-committee, the secretariat provided another breakdown this morning. The spreadsheet is available if they are looking for it. Subhead A3 concerns the Family Support Agency.
On the allocation for the Family Support Agency, we want to see the new agency in situ as early as possible. Will the Minister comment on this issue? Am I correct in stating almost €28.5 million is being provided? When will we see the agency in situ? Can we expect the allocation to be utilised in the course of a single year of the agency's work, or is it likely to be only a part of the overall outlay? It is impossible for us, removed from all the information available to the Minister, to have a real sense of the outlay involved. Perhaps the Minister might elaborate a little on the issue for us.
The allocation should cover the full expenditure. The Deputy may be referring to the new agency, the Child and Family Support Agency.
I beg the Minister's pardon.
The figure pertains to the existing agency which is fully functioning and will be transferred to the new child and family support agency. The budget of the new agency will obviously be the budget we have extracted in the subhead. The Vote has not yet been dealt with in my Estimates because it has not been transferred. It still comes under the Department of Health. Effectively, I am working on it. The budget is the one that will be transferred to create the new agency. The Family Support Agency which was established under the Family Support Agency Act 2001 will form part of the new agency, the budget of which will effectively be the budget under Vote 40, namely, €515 million. I have a task force working on it and I am expecting a report from it in June. It will consider issues such as governance, the agency's services and the various transfer issues. I expect to have legislation this year to establish the new agency. As the Deputy stated, it is far preferable to have a clear focus, separate from that of the HSE, on child and family support services. The target date is January 2013.
Will the confusion between the HSE and the Department of Health be dispelled? Will there be kingdom building? There is a fear that, independent of the Minister and her officials, there is a kingdom building exercise on the part of one set of people to retain ownership. There is a genuine fear which I have noted having spoken to child care employees.
A detailed reform agenda is being pursued by Mr. Gordon Jeyes, national director of child and family services in the HSE. There is a new management structure being put in place, with far smaller lines of accountability to Mr. Jeyes for services. That is extremely helpful. There is a recruitment process under way for the new management team that will run the agency. Detailed discussions are taking place with the HSE on the budget. There are areas in which there will be discussions and, perhaps, disagreement on what falls into each area, but I am satisfied, for the most part, that the discussions are progressing well. There is goodwill towards the new agency and people want to see the services working effectively. However, I take the Deputy's point that this is a time of change for the staff. My experience, having met staff around the country, is that they are looking forward to the change and believe it will support their work. However, any change is challenging. My Secretary General, Mr. Jim Breslin, has been involved in some of the discussions and might like to comment on the question raised.
Mr. Jim Breslin
With regard to our strategy, it takes time to set up a new agency, as it includes legislation, etc. During the course of this year we have, on an administrative basis, tried to establish within the HSE an agency in embryo in order that in January 2013 we will be able to place it in the new agency. Rather than leaving everything dispersed around the HSE and then trying to proceed from scratch next January, we have put a programme in place, led by Mr. Gordon Jeyes. One of its features is evident in Vote 40 for the HSE. For the first time we have a subhead dedicated to child and family services which used always to be included with other services at a geographic level. There is transparency. I am not saying the figure is 100% accurate because we must engage in a due diligence exercise. The figure could increase or decrease, but, at least, we have a clear starting point. These are the tactics being used.
We are now seeing a national approach to these issues. Heretofore, the approach was more regional, which led to difficulty in comparing like with like, nationally and regionally. If one wishes to plan services properly, one must be able to compare what is happening in different parts of the country in the knowledge one is comparing like with like. Moreover, it is important to have a national approach to policy in respect of the range of issues that come under the Department, and this has been, sadly, lacking.
Are there questions on subhead A4? What of subhead A5?
The Minister might comment on the school completion programme. The 100% eradication of the allocation for visiting teacher services for Travellers appears as a footnote to the outline of details. While the provision in 2011 was €199,000, it is zero in 2012. The Minister might comment on this in the context of the school completion programme.
This decision was taken-----
I note someone has a mobile telephone switched on. I do not know whose it is but I ask for it to be switched off.
As the Deputy is aware, this decision was taken before I took office. The approach has been to integrate the work that formerly was done in this regard. I believe the budget for such teacher services was approximately €200,000 last year and the decision has been taken to integrate the work. The critical objective is that it does not get lost within the more mainstream approach.
Subhead A6 was discussed with subhead A3. Subhead A7 pertains to youth justice, children's detention centres.
Does the Minister have anything further to say in this regard? Members have a clear view and she should indicate whether there is anything further she wishes to share with us in respect of the provision for 2012.
It is no longer the case that 16 year olds are being referred to St. Patrick's Institution. A number of referrals of 16 year olds have been made by the courts in recent weeks and they have been placed in Oberstown rather than in St. Patrick's Institution. This reflects a clear change in policy and in decision-making in respect of this group. The capital funding required for the new situation and the changes in the development of Oberstown will come primarily between 2013 and 2015. As is evident from the figures to hand, the allocation this year does not include much of the work that will be necessary. It pertains primarily to work on the tender and the planning that will be conducted this year. I will meet the Office of Public Works shortly, which will be responsible for the project. There are some planning issues to be dealt with and I seek to ensure the project will be hastened as quickly as possible. A clear series of steps must be taken, but already 16 year olds no longer are going to St. Patrick's Institution.
As the Deputy is aware, I have received approval to provide capital funding of €51 million to enable the project to proceed. The project's objective is to increase capacity on the campus and to replace the existing residential accommodation which undoubtedly is substandard. I also make the point that plans are well advanced to agree new staff rosters that will allow all 52 places to be utilised. This will assist in managing 16 year olds and further capacity will be required and will be delivered with the €50 million capital investment. It is necessary to get the support of the staff at Oberstown and to get them to work together effectively because three separate schools have operated at the site. What is needed is single management and a lot of co-operation between the three different schools and all the staff there. I am pleased to note this has been secured.
Subhead B3 deals with the preschool year programme. I invite Deputy Catherine Byrne to comment.
I thank the Minister for her attendance. While I do not like throwing bouquets at people, Deputy Fitzgerald has taken on a mammoth task by becoming Minister for Children and Youth Affairs because it covers so many areas.
On subhead B3, I wish to report what I am finding on the ground. I acknowledge this point does not relate directly to the funding under discussion, but I find many community playschools and playgroups are encountering great difficulty, both in respect of the allocation of this funding and even in retaining numbers and trying to function. Over the past two days, I have encountered two community playgroups which will close. Although I have not yet ascertained the facts and figures explaining the reason for this, there appears to be something of a conflict about the funding and how it is allocated, especially when dealing with children of different ages. I am not making the point clearly but I wish to highlight to the Minister my concerns regarding community playgroups and exactly what is happening with them on the ground. As I stated, I have learned within the past two days of two that will close. Many such playgroups, which started within the community and have contributed hugely down through the generations, now find they must fold up. While this may not be directly connected with the funding, I raise the issue with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs because something is happening on which I have not yet put my finger.
The Minister might wish to respond in line with the Deputy's comments. While I note a 7.8% increase has been allocated in respect of the early childhood care and education, ECCE, preschool year programme, is this enough?
Yes, this allocation will cover the current year. As the census has revealed, additional young people will avail of the ECCE programme and in its budget negotiations, the Department secured the funding to cover the additional numbers of children who will avail of it. Clearly, a small group of children are not participating in the programme. This is explained to an extent by the fact that children with special needs may be in more specialist settings. Some children may simply be missing out because of their parents moving or families simply not availing of the service. As much information as possible should be gathered about this small group.
As for the broader points about child care, I thank Deputy Byrne for raising the issue and note the situation is changing. Clearly, in some ways there is less demand for child care at present because of the changed jobs situation. While the figure varies throughout the country, there is a vacancy rate of between 15% and 20% and consequently there is no shortage of child care places at present. Much capital funding has been invested and many places have been supplied, but in view of the economic position, demand has changed recently. While issues still exist regarding affordability, this is a different question and I reiterate that places are available.
The Department is funding three different schemes. It is funding the ECCE scheme, that is, the universal free scheme that has been taken up by almost all the three to four year olds in the country and which is working very well. At present, the Department is focusing on questions of standards in this regard. As for closures, it may be there has been an oversupply of child care facilities in some areas over the years. This issue was addressed before a different committee and is a possibility for some areas. In other areas, the cost base for some of the child care services developed has proven to be difficult. However, I refer to the many thousands of services with which the Department deals and for which I will provide figures in a moment. The Department is finding the majority of providers being supported by it are able to maintain their services in a satisfactory way for themselves with the level of funding subvention available. As Deputy Byrne is aware, very high numbers of places are being made available under the childcare education and training support, CETS, programme, as well as the community childcare subvention, CCS, programme. There were minor changes coming up but I do not believe that those changes, in themselves, should lead to any closures. I am absolutely clear about that because the figures involved are not such that they would lead to that situation. The vast majority of providers are able to provide child care places on the levels of subvention which are being given at present to the majority of them.
I might ask the principal officer, Ms Moira O'Mara, to comment on the funding that is being given at present, and the number of places that we have.
Ms Moira O’Mara
At the moment, there are about 4,500 pre-school services in the country. Of those, 4,300 are in the ECCE programme, about 1,000 are in the CCSS - the community services - and another 1,300 are in the SETS programme. Obviously there are a lot of services. Virtually everybody is in the ECCE, but only the community services are in the CCSS, while the SETS is open both to commercial and community services.
The child care sector was the first sector to be really badly hit by the downturn. Since 2010, we have had approximately €250 million per annum going into the sector between the three programmes. That really has been sustaining them. From time to time, however, due perhaps to the profile of the area changing, some services will close down. We monitor that very carefully.
To revert to the take-up figure for ECCE, 94% - which we expect to rise to 95% this year - is a maximum take-up figure for most countries. Generally, it took them about 20 years to get to that, whereas we started off with 94%. We were particularly concerned to target the hard-to-reach parents, so for the first two years a mailshot was sent out to all parents with young children. Parents are availing of that programme across the board.
Subhead B4 deals with child care programmes. Agreed.
Subhead B5 concerns youth organisations and services. Agreed.
I know the Minister may not want to take a comment on each individual subhead, but there is a grouping of them where there is a signal downturn in the provision. It covers child care programmes, youth organisations and services, the early intervention programme and the early child care payment. Rather than taking them individually, perhaps we could take them together, although the Chairman may rule me out of order. Some of the percentages are quite worrying, including child care programmes, youth organisations and services, involving, respectively, 5.6% and 4.3% reductions in provision for the current year. There are also significant cuts in the early intervention programme and early childhood payment. Can the Minister elaborate on these? We have spoken about these matters in our reaction to budgetary measures. I contextualised some of my own remarks earlier, so I would like the Minister to elaborate on any or all of that.
Going back to some of the macro-economic points the Deputy made, the overall position in public expenditure is that some €13 billion is being borrowed just to pay for day-to-day services. There is a challenge for all areas of public expenditure to be reduced. Overall gross current spending has been reduced by 2% across all areas of Government. My Department has a 2.4% increase, which shows a priority. We also have increased costs, such as we have been discussing, in relation to birth rates, driving increased costs in the ECCE scheme. Those increased costs were over €12 million, so it does require savings to be achieved in areas, including youth services, in order to remain within Government expenditure targets.
The youth organisations would accept, however, that there is also room for reform. We are pulling funding streams together so that we are giving youth organisations more flexibility in how they deal with their funding and priorities. It indicates the urgency of dealing with the overall economic situation, so that we can move on from taking the kind of action I have outlined.
Subhead B6 is the early intervention programme for children. Agreed. Subhead B7 is the early childhood payment. Agreed.
We now move to subhead C, programme C, which is output targets. Agreed.
Subhead C3 concerns miscellaneous legal fees and settlements. Agreed.
We addressed that at the last engagement. There is a significant anticipated increase for legal fees and settlements. Does the Minister wish to offer any elaboration on that? A 154% provision has been signalled for legal fees and settlements.
This is a difficult area to predict, as Deputy Ó Caoláin would know. It is an estimated cost that may arise in this area and we have allowed for it, but it is difficult to predict how much might be needed.
Hopefully, not all of it will be required.
Hopefully, it will not be.
Are subheads C4 to C6, inclusive, agreed? Agreed. Subhead C7, Adoption Authority of Ireland.
I have written to the Minister about opportunities presented for adoption in Kazakhstan. Many people who hope to avail of access to adopting children from this state which is compliant with the Hague Convention, are concerned that we were not represented at the engagement last Friday. Is there any reason the Adoption Authority of Ireland, AAI, or the Irish embassy in Moscow could not have attended that event? Why could the AAI not have represented Irish interests at that engagement last Friday? I welcome the increase in the work of the Adoption Authority of Ireland but it does have a role and responsibility to proactively represent the interests of those who aspire to be adoptive parents now and in the future.
The Irish embassy in Moscow has been in discussion with the ministry of foreign affairs in Kazakhstan concerning the efforts by the Adoption Authority of Ireland to progress the relationship for inter-country adoptions. As regards the information on that meeting, there has not been contact back to the AAI from officials in Kazakhstan. There was some question mark about who precisely was holding that meeting. It was held at short notice and the Moscow embassy was not in a position to send somebody to attend. I assure the Deputy, however, that my Department, the AAI and our ambassador in Moscow will follow this up to ensure that it can be developed.
The AAI is liaising with many countries and complex legal situations are involved. I am pleased to say that we will have a visit by officials from the relevant Vietnamese department in June, as I mentioned earlier. I am pleased that that meeting is going ahead so that we can progress inter-country adoptions with Vietnam, as well as progressing our relationship with them.
It is difficult, however, for the AAI to attend every single meeting that occurs in these countries concerning adoption. It does not reflect any lack of priority for the issue by the AAI, which will be following up on the situation in Kazakhstan. I know that potential adoptive parents are concerned about it.
I thank the Minister for her reply. I corresponded with the Minister last week by e-mail, so I wonder if I could get a written reply as early as possible concerning the information she has shared here. If so, I would be grateful to receive it.
Yes, I will get back to the Deputy on that.
Is subhead C8, Office of the Ombudsman for Children, agreed? Agreed. Subhead C9 relates to costs on the constitutional referendum on children's rights.
We cannot let that go. I see there is a provision of €3 million for the referendum. I hope this is indicative of an expectation that it will take place in this calendar year as the Minister indicated during parliamentary questions on Tuesday. Will she give us further assurances on this as well as updating us on the cross-departmental engagement and ongoing work of the Attorney General on the referendum?
There is very detailed work taking place between my Department and the Attorney General in developing the wording for the referendum. Alongside that, we are preparing the adoption Bill which will accompany the referendum. As I said when I took office, there had not been a previous intention to publish legislation on adoption alongside the referendum. I made the decision that it should be done. Work has progressed on that and the policy has been completed on it.
We have to move on to discussing what will be in the Bill and preparing the heads of the Bill which will accompany the referendum. As I said during the week, it is the Government's intention to hold a stand-alone referendum on children's rights this year but a precise timeframe has not been decided yet.
The committee has received 50 submissions regarding the draft heads of the Bill. We welcome the Minister's commitment to a stand-alone referendum.
As there are no questions about subhead D, appropriations-in-aid, I call on the Minister to make her concluding remarks.
I thank the committee for the opportunity to discuss the work of this new Department which has a wide agenda and serious reforms planned in legislation and services for children.
Deputy Ó Caoláin referred to a statement made by the Children Rights Alliance after the budget. This did not take account of some distortions in the underlying figures. For example, there was a lower requirement for the longitudinal study due to the fact that little fieldwork was planned for this year within the study timetable. We also no longer have the Children Acts Advisory Board and, accordingly, there were associated savings with that. The detailed figures are now shown under subhead C of the Estimate and do not show an overall reduction. Many of the policy and legislative headings show an increase.
Savings have to be made with the departmental budget, given the state of the national finances. However, we are pleased the Government's priority for children and youth affairs has shown itself through in an increase in the budget allocation to the Department, an increase in the early childhood education and care, ECEC, scheme's budget and the decision not to allow 16 and 17 year olds to be placed in St. Patrick's Institution.
However, some changes still need to be made. There is a wide reform of children legislation contemplated by the Department this year. There will be a referendum on children's rights which will have accompanying adoption legislation. Legislation for tracing and the establishment of the new child and family support agency will also be introduced. This is a busy legislative programme.
There has been some misunderstanding about social work numbers. Deputy Ó Caoláin said this might be a good opportunity to clarify the figures. The total current number of social workers employed in child and family services is 1,197. This includes almost all of those additional posts which were recommended by the Ryan report. There were 31 early retirements and 57 replacement posts are being advertised by Gordon Jeyes in the Health Service Executive, HSE. The trend for recruiting child and family social workers is upward.
The broader social work numbers cover social workers who work in mental health, disability and probation. In the child protection area, 220 extra social workers have been recruited following the recommendations of the Ryan report. As I explained on Question Time earlier this week, several vacancies have emerged with staff going on maternity leave, 31 early retirements and general retirements. Gordon Jeyes has the discretion to recruit to fill these.
In recent weeks, we appointed a head post for the new assessment team which will work with children in detention and high support. A further ten positions will be recruited in the course of the year. In any workforce of 1,100 people, one will get a 2% turnover.
The 2012 budget allocation for HSE child and family services includes a €21 million increase on last year's. That, along with the recruitment of social workers, demonstrates our commitment to enhanced service delivery.
I thank the Minister and her colleagues for attending the committee.
It is just a fact of life, a sad reality, that child protection and supports do not come cheap. Many of the measures and commitments the Minister has set herself to achieve will have resource requirements. We already have spoken about this in the Dáil Chamber on several occasions. There are real concerns about this but I also understand the Minister has no option but to respond by saying that in current circumstances, etc. The real impact that we would all wish to see in this area will require a significant commitment across the board. Previously I urged departmental officials to ensure the cross-departmental group proactively promotes a realisation in other Departments of the importance of resourcing the Department of Children and Youth Affairs with all that it must undertake. The cohort of young people who will be left behind because of these current economic difficulties will in later life make untoward and increased levels of demands on the limited resources of the State. That is merely the sad reality of it. Investing in young people today can have significant positive impacts down the road in savings under a list of Department responsibilities. The Minister should take on board from her own estimates the impact indicators on children at risk of poverty: in 2009, 18%; in 2010, 18.6%; and in 2011, 19.5%. I cited it in my opening statement following the Minister's address here today. My view is that the ever-increasing number of children at risk of poverty is from where the greatest problems will come in the future, with significant cost implications. The way to avoid that in the future is to invest generously and properly now across the board. It is good economics. It is good housekeeping. It is everything that we would want. I strongly urge the Minister not to be too compliant or accepting of what limited cake her colleagues at the Cabinet table might be prepared to let her have. She should go for it. Now is the time to do it.
I thank the Minister and her officials in assisting the committee with its consideration of the Revised Estimates and programme. As we have now completed our consideration of the Revised Estimate for Vote 40, the clerk to the committee will send a message to that effect to the Clerk of the Dáil in accordance with Standing Order 87. Under Standing Order 86(2), the message is deemed to be the report of the committee.
I thank the Minister and her staff for the valuable work that they have done in a short period of time. This is all despite what has happened heretofore in the Dáil going back to its formation - much lip-service from Members across every party, and some who did not join parties or who would not be allowed into them. This is the first time, historically, that anything of substance has been done on the protection of children.
It is heartening that the Minister restates the key policy initiatives in her contribution to the meeting. She has merely got off to a start. It has been a short period of time. No doubt she will be judged after four years but she is making progress, and I want to acknowledge that.
I apologise to the Minister and the departmental officials for not being here earlier. I will look back over the debate at the committee. I acknowledge the Minister's difficult role at a difficult time and wish her well in her efforts. No doubt my Opposition colleagues and I will monitor and point out anything we think is wrong, but I accept it is a difficult time in terms of finances. I thank the Minister for attending.
That just leaves me to thank the Minister and her officials for being here. The Minister stated it was a small Department but it is an important and pivotal one. The legislative programme the Minister has before her is an extraordinary one, given her commitment as a Minister.