Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 October 2008
95 Deputy Brian O’Shea asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the consultation process that was involved and the person who was consulted in the high level review, value for money and policy review of the Combat Poverty Agency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35240/08]
Amharc ar fhreagra96 Deputy Brian O’Shea asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs when she will bring the recommendations contained in the high level review of the Combat Poverty Agency to Government; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35241/08]
Amharc ar fhreagra97 Deputy Brian O’Shea asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the reason it was necessary to have three reviews of the Combat Poverty Agency carried out in the past two years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35242/08]
Amharc ar fhreagra98 Deputy Brian O’Shea asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the cost of the three reviews carried out in the past two years on the Combat Poverty Agency, including the staff time in the OSI; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35243/08]
Amharc ar fhreagra99 Deputy Brian O’Shea asked the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if, in regard to the review of programmes that facilitated participation of the voluntary and community sector, the consideration is finalised; the action he will take at this juncture; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35244/08]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 95 to 99, inclusive, together.
Over the last two years my Department has coordinated the conduct of three reviews of the Combat Poverty Agency. These included a review of its research programme and a review of its programmes to facilitate the participation of the community and voluntary sector and people experiencing poverty in the policy-making process. The third and most recent review, conducted on an interdepartmental basis, examined the role of the Agency in the light of recent strategic and institutional developments to support social inclusion. It was undertaken by my Department as part of its Value for Money and Policy Review initiative 2006-2008 and completed in September last.
In the course of the review, bilateral meetings took place between sub-groups of respectively, the review Steering Committee and five members of the CPA Board, following which written submissions were made by the Agency. Seven other bilateral consultations were undertaken with a total of thirteen officials from Departments represented on the Steering Committee and with the Chairs and Directors of NESF and NESC. While the Steering Committee did not consider that its terms of reference envisaged a wider external consultation, its findings were informed by extensive stakeholder consultations undertaken by independent consultants in connection with other recent reviews of the CPA, in particular, the review of the CPA's Research programme finalised in March 2008 by Goodbody Economic Consultants and the review of the Agency's 2005-2007 Strategic Plan completed by Eustace Patterson Ltd. in June 2007.
The review, which reported in September, essentially put forward two options — a merger between the Combat Poverty Agency and NESDO or a merger with the Office for Social Inclusion. The review steering committee identified certain imbalances that would have to be overcome if the NESDO option were chosen. For example, the role and focus of NESDO is on the wider strategic economic and social issues which need to be addressed in order to drive the country forward. In this environment, the specific role of addressing issues of poverty and social inclusion, as pursued by the Combat Poverty Agency and the Office for Social Inclusion, could become marginalised. The steering committee recommended the merger with the Office for Social Inclusion as, in their view, it was the most likely to achieve the best outcomes.
I received detailed submissions on the report from the Board of the Combat Poverty agency which I fully and carefully considered.
The Government, having considered the review report, decided to integrate the Combat Poverty Agency with the Office for Social Inclusion. It is not my intention that Combat Poverty will simply be absorbed into the Office for Social Inclusion in its existing form. Rather a new strengthened division will be created which will make the best use of the considerable experience and expertise of the staff of both existing bodies and will seek to address the weaknesses identified by the Review in relation to both. I believe that this new division will provide a stronger voice for those affected by poverty and social inclusion issues.
The work of the new division will be informed by an enhanced role for high quality research, both by utilising the research skills which the staff of the Combat Poverty Agency will bring with them and by commissioning external organisations to carry out projects as appropriate. Other key functions will include providing supports through data availability, communications, poverty impact assessment and the strengthening of implementation at regional and local level.
I am conscious of the concerns about the need for independent scrutiny of public policy that have been expressed by some interest groups. I absolutely agree that independent critique is very important and this move is no way intended to reduce the scope for such work. As the review report notes, the function of independent reporting on poverty is no longer as dependent on Combat Poverty as it was in earlier years. This is due for example to the emergence of other independent data sources such as the statistics on poverty reported by the CSO, and independent analysis by bodies such as the ESRI and NESC and on the international front by the EU and OECD. And of course, Ireland is well-served by the social partners, and a wide range of NGOs and other groups who have a strong voice in public debate about poverty and related issues.
I intend to prioritise putting in place procedures to ensure that the views of these and other stakeholders, including people experiencing poverty, continue to be available to Government in developing and monitoring the social inclusion strategies. The Department is currently finalising proposals as to how this might be achieved.
I am aware that for the staff of the Combat Poverty Agency there has been a period of uncertainty while the review was taking place and this will continue during the transition phase. I can assure Deputies that I and my officials will work with the Board and staff to address any concerns they may have. They can be assured of a warm welcome and a valued place in the Department, as they pursue their continuing role in working to develop and monitor our future strategies to address poverty and social exclusion.
The review of Combat Poverty's Research Programme was carried out by Goodbody Economic Consultants during the period May 2007 to March 2008. The report of the review has been submitted to the CPA Board and to the Department and in addition to the Inter-Departmental Committee will also be considered in the context of the integration of the Agency with the OSI. The direct cost arising from this review is the consultant's fee of €50,561 paid by the Agency.
The review of the CPA's programmes that facilitate the participation of the community and voluntary sector and people experiencing poverty in the policy- making process was progressed over the period 2006 and 2007 by an official of my Department as part of his participation in the IPA's Masters (Policy Analysis) Programme. As some aspects of this review remained to be considered when the review of the overall role of the Agency was commenced it was decided to subsume this work within the broader review of the Agency's work. There were no direct costs involved in this work.
The direct cost arising from the interdepartmental review of the Combat Poverty is the fee of €18,000 which was paid by the Department to the independent Chair of the Steering Committee, Mr. Niall Callan. The Office for Social Inclusion provided secretarial support for the review and was represented on the Steering Committee. However this work was undertaken as part of the normal work of the office and separated costs are not available.
