Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Cabinet committee on social policy met on six occasions this year, namely 11 February, 12 February, 15 April, 24 June, 22 July and 30 September. It is due to meet again on 25 November, this month.

The Deputy may well ask the role of the Cabinet committee on social policy. It provides a basis for cross-departmental co-ordination in the areas of social inclusion, poverty reduction and service delivery. There is a sense of coherence across various Departments in that they are not all individual entities. The committee has the key task of driving social policy commitments in the programme for Government. Essentially, the committee focuses on the fairness objectives and the social policy priorities in Government for National Recovery 2011–2016. It assesses and presents Government options or alternative measures to achieve better outcomes and to address barriers to achieving social policy priorities. It guides the development and management of cross-departmental activities and prioritises service delivery in a range of areas.

Through the social policy committee recommendations, the Government has protected the primary weekly social welfare rates, put in place a proactive approach for people who are unemployed through the provision of a radically transformed system for employment services, Intreo. This amalgamates staffs from community welfare offices, social welfare offices and FÁS. If one visits any of the services - in Dundalk or Sligo or in the others to follow - one will note a remarkable transformation in the way people on the live register are engaged with, both individually and as groups. A social inclusion clause is now required for so many capital works approved to take people off the live register who are capable of doing a very good job. This is demonstrated by a drop, over 16 consecutive months, in the number on the live register, which is now below 400,000.

There was analysis in the run-in to the referendum on children's rights. Child protection was strengthened through the National Vetting Bureau (Children and Vulnerable Persons) Act 2012 and the Criminal Justice (Withholding of Information on Offences against Children and Vulnerable Adults) Act 2012. That was processed through the social policy committee. It published the national implementation framework of the value for money and policy review of the disability services programme. It committed €2.5 million through its recommendation to fund a new area-based approach to child poverty. It completed 43 surveys on school patronage, launched new junior cycle reforms and increased time spent on literacy and numeracy in all primary schools. It launched a comprehensive action plan on bullying and ended the practice of sending 16-year-olds to St. Patrick's institution. It was behind a new combined community service programme and commenced a strategic review of penal policy. Eighty-one citizenship ceremonies were held, at which 42,275 applicants were granted a certificate of naturalisation. People will recall that a person who qualified for naturalisation used to have to attend at the District Court or Circuit Court and could have had his or her application processed in the middle of cases taken for various misdemeanours. That has all changed. The committee published National Positive Ageing Strategy, a very important document given the ageing population. It published the national disability strategy implementation plan and announced a package of measures to address alcohol misuse arising from the report of the substance misuse strategy group. That report will be debated in the Dáil on Friday. The present discussion-----

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