James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise for delaying the start of this committee but the heavy traffic is a sign of a recovering economy.

I welcome the opportunity to appear before the select sub-committee to outline particulars relating to the Supplementary Estimate, Vote 40, in respect of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. The committee will be aware that the Supplementary Estimate is for €15 million and relates, in the main, to meeting increased costs arising under the operational remit of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, in the areas of sleepover payments and private residential care.

An industrial relations settlement relating to twilight hours, or sleepover payments, was not provided for in 2015 as no agreement had been reached at the time of making 2015 allocations. The cost pressures experienced in the areas of private residential care and private foster care payments are driven by factors in demographics such as an increase in the numbers of children in care due to the fact that children are staying in care longer overall and the complexity of the challenges facing the children coming into these care placements. Savings targeted for 2015 will not be achieved owing to the need to protect, in so far as possible, front line service delivery. There are also legal cost pressures which continue to arise. In the main, these pressures relate to increasing GAL costs and third party costs over which Tusla has no control but which are paid through it.

It will be possible this year to offset some of the required additionality in these areas from savings in other areas of the Tusla subhead, including payroll and capital. The remaining portion of the required Supplementary Estimate is of a technical nature in which the reduced intake of receipts into the Department's Vote is to be offset against a corresponding reduction in expenditure on subhead B8 relating to the intervention programme for children.

The request for a Supplementary Estimate for Tusla for 2015 must be seen in the context of the favourable budget outcome for 2016. As a result of this budgetary outcome, I have been able to allocate significant additional resources to Tusla next year. I thank my Government colleagues for that too. The case I made to Government colleagues around this funding was predicated on the management of risk. This became most apparent in the area of unallocated cases with which members will be very familiar. What followed was the preparation by Tusla of a business case for investment in children and family services. This document, Survival to Sustainability, set out the many challenges being faced. It detailed and quantified the additional resources which will be required over the coming years to address these matters. It was also clear from both the business case and discussions between Tusla and officials from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs that some of these pressures are being felt in the current year. This is a contributory factor to the need for this Supplementary Estimate.

My appearance today also provides me with a valuable opportunity to briefly reflect on the progress made to date by Tusla since its establishment at the start of 2014. The agency was established to provide a one-stop-shop for children, by bringing together key services for children from the HSE children and family services, the National Education and Welfare Board, the Family Support Agency and a number of other services, including psychological services and domestic and sexual violence support services. The establishment of Tusla was a key priority for the Government.

The intervening two years has seen Tusla make good progress in the reform and delivery of services to vulnerable children and families at a time of particular budgetary restraint. In this regard, the committee will be particularly conscious of the issues highlighted by the agency itself and by HIQA that arose in some parts of the country, including counties Laois, Offaly, Louth and Meath. Tusla has worked intensively to address these matters, both in dealing with the areas of immediate concern and by putting in place special measures to support good practice in the future.

The committee will also be aware that for some time, I have been very concerned about the number of cases awaiting a dedicated social work service. I know this has been a serious concern for the committee also. At my request, Tusla carried out an audit of these cases which formed an important part of my Estimates bid for 2016. Action on this area, grounded in a significant and challenging recruitment programme, together with work on developing caseload management, standard business practices and a quality assurance strategy will help Tusla address the demands on the service to enable it to meet the needs of all vulnerable children in the right way, at the right time.

In accordance with legislative requirements, Tusla has developed its first three year corporate plan for 2015-17 in response to my Department’s performance framework. The plan includes the agency’s key objectives, outputs and related strategies and sets out the agency’s medium-term strategy for service delivery and reform. This corporate plan underpins the agency’s annual business plan, which is prepared in response to my annual performance statement. I issued the performance statement for 2016 to the agency last month and the 2016 business plan is currently being prepared by Tusla in response.

The next step for the Child and Family Agency in its start-up phase, having gained a clear understanding of where gaps and solutions lie, is to commence implementing new structures to better resource and to drive service delivery and reform. Every child who is the subject of a child protection or welfare concern is entitled to expect a timely response.

Through 2014 and 2015 Tusla has continued to develop its services and to address a number of key concerns regarding child welfare and protection services. As Minister, I am fully supportive of the agency’s implementation of a wide-ranging programme in this area. The increased funding available to Tusla in 2016 will allow it to build on these initiatives and the further necessary reform of services will continue to be a high priority. There is more work to do and Tusla would be the first to say so. However, it is important to say that in its annual overview earlier in 2015, HIQA noted evidence of improving services and good practice in children’s social care in many regions. It is now important that we all build on the progress to date to further improve service delivery to children and families.

I seek the select sub-committee’s approval for the Supplementary Estimate, Vote 40, and in doing so, I will be happy to hear any comments and to take questions from members.