Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 10 November 2004
94 Mr. Neville asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the way in which he has co-ordinated with other Departments and agencies in the development of a strong infrastructure of rights and entitlements in the context of the NAPS; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28143/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe office for social inclusion in my Department is responsible for co-ordinating and overseeing the implementation of the national anti-poverty strategy, NAPS. The revised NAPS, Building an Inclusive Society, 2002, contains a commitment to move towards a more formal expression of entitlements across the range of public services and to set standards and guidelines regarding the standard of service delivery which can be expected by the customer.
The Department of the Taoiseach has led developments on this issue. The customer charter initiative, launched by the Taoiseach in December 2002, requires Departments and offices to formalise their commitments to service provision and delivery by describing in a public charter the level of service a customer can expect from a Department or office. This initiative on service standards, by assisting the development of formal expressions of entitlements across a range of public services, recognises that citizenship rights encompass not only the core civil and political rights and obligations but also social, economic and cultural rights and obligations.
As a support to Departments and offices in preparing their charters, the Government approved a detailed set of guidelines in September 2003 that provide a framework for Departments and offices in preparing and reporting on their charters. Charters are based around a four step cycle of consultation, commitment, evaluation and reporting. The guidelines recommend that, in their consultation phase, Departments and offices should consult with all customer groups, including "representatives of groups experiencing, or vulnerable to, poverty and social exclusion as identified by the national anti-poverty strategy and to those covered by equality legislation — gender, marital status, family status, age, disability, sexual orientation, race, religion and membership of the Traveller Community".
As of October 2004, 19 customer charters have been published and the remainder will be published before the end of this year. Departments and offices will report on the implementation of the service standards included in their charters in their 2004 annual reports. The office for social inclusion will continue to co-operate with all relevant Departments in monitoring progress. The first annual report of the office is currently being finalised and will contain an account of progress during the first year of the plan under a number of different policy headings, including access to resources, rights goods and services.
95 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the measures he intends to put in place to ensure the poverty proofing of all Government policies. [28177/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraPoverty is a key concern of this Government and its substantial reduction and eventual elimination is the major objective of the national anti-poverty strategy. The causes of poverty are multi-faceted and require a multi-policy response across virtually all areas of Government.
Implementation of the Government's anti-poverty strategy requires that Departments take into account the possible implications for poverty when developing or revising policies or legislation. This is especially important for policies that do not have an explicit poverty aspect. Departments are obliged to "poverty proof" their policies and must ensure that major policy proposals indicate clearly their impact on groups in poverty or at risk of falling into poverty.
Poverty proofing is an important tool in helping to achieve the goals contained in the national anti-poverty strategy, NAPS, and the national action plan against poverty and social exclusion. Following the launch of the NAPS in 1997, it was agreed that a system of proofing policies for their impact on poverty be developed. In 1999, my Department introduced proofing guidelines for use by Departments and State agencies. The National Economic and Social Council carried out a comprehensive review of the poverty proofing process in late 2001 and an undertaking was given in the revised national anti-poverty strategy in 2002 to develop a more effective proofing process, taking into account the findings and recommendations of the NESC.
An evaluation of the second national action plan against poverty and social exclusion, which incorporates the commitments in the revised national anti-poverty strategy, is due to be completed by June of next year for submission to the EU. This will be based on the annual report on implementation of the first year of the plan which is due to be published shortly. It is considered appropriate to initiate the review of the proofing process in the context of this evaluation, which will commence from the beginning of next year.
