Ms Mary Dunnion:

We are totally focused on new employees at present. The legislative framework has been there for new employees since the start of the year. It has been very worrying to find action has not been taken on it, especially when the process has been so streamlined for it to happen.

Before I hand over to Ms Boyle to discuss some specifics, I will deal with the Chairman's comments on commissioning. We see commissioning as an area of exploration, and the Chairman alluded to it in a service level agreement. That is part of commissioning. The term "commissioning" is sometimes regarded unfavourably because of its record in other jurisdictions and because it has been associated with high costs. However, what we are talking about is an accountability framework. If the State purchases a service - it does not matter whether it purchases child protection services, services for older people or health care services - that service is purchased from the public purse. What we have not seen is the responsibility both for the purchaser and the provider, and we see that as a dual responsibility. If one is handing over millions from the public purse to a body to provide a service, one should check that the service is being provided at a level commensurate with the cost of the purchase. Those controls need to be in place, and that is what we talk about in the context of an accountability framework. It can stretch out much further in the sense that there are cases, which we have identified in our presentation, where there has not been good service planning. That is part of an accountability framework. One begins to question what the needs of foster carers are, how many we anticipate that we will need over the next number of years, how many children we anticipate will require foster care and what our planning is, not only for now, but also for the next number of years. This is all encompassed in an accountability framework, or a commissioning model. Work has been done on this, and we can send papers on commissioning to the committee, although they were not done by HIQA. This is where the service level agreement comes into play because that would become a component of it. For the information of the committee, the HSE has done quite a good piece of work on commissioning. We will do some work with the HSE in that context, particularly on disability and health care. Perhaps Tusla will move in that direction as well - we do not know - but that is what we are talking about.

I now hand over to Ms Boyle to discuss some of the specific questions.