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

I thank Deputy Troy for his question in regard to Tusla's child protection and welfare services and I welcome the opportunity to address the issues raised. At the outset, I welcome and support the work of the Health Information and Quality Authority in providing independent evidence on service delivery and challenges. It is essential that there is strong independent oversight of the quality and safety of our children's services.

On Monday last, the authority published its annual overview of the 2014 inspections of children's services in the area of child welfare and protection, children detention schools and HSE residential centres for children with disabilities. Services under the remit of my Department include child welfare and protection services, fostering services, children residential and special care centres and children detention schools.

Children's disability services are provided or funded by the HSE, under the remit of my colleague, the Minister for Health. HIQA inspects all these services on a regular basis and the inspection reports are published on the HIQA website.

On foot of each inspection report, an action plan is drawn up by the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, and agreed by HIQA.

The annual overview reiterates that the inspectors found evidence of good practice and service delivery. The overview highlighted that improvements have been made, and that further reforms are under way. As outlined in the individual reports, the overview refers to staffing pressures being experienced by those delivering these services. It also makes the point that this is only part of the picture of where improvements can be made. HIQA concludes that a unified national approach to key policies, procedures and training is required in order to achieve improved management and supervision across this suite of services.

As part of its reform programme, Tusla has engaged in a wide-ranging quality assurance programme across all 17 of its administrative areas. Improvements brought about by standardised business practices and better monitoring are beginning to take effect. These improvements are reflected in the inspection reports and I expect that they will feature more and more over time. While certain variances are to be expected between services, given the allocation and usage of resources and staff as well as population differences, Tusla is working hard at national, regional, and area level to implement and bed in a new framework of policies and standards.

In respect of staffing issues, my Department is already engaging with Tusla on this matter, and is expecting a submission on staffing and other resource issues as part of the annual Estimates cycle.

As the Deputy will be aware, issues have arisen in the midlands service area, particularly in Laois-Offaly, which were brought to my attention by Tusla. Over the last two months, Tusla has been actively addressing these issues to bring the services in the midlands in line with the national standards for protection and welfare of children. These services will also be subject to a regulatory inspection by HIQA in the coming months.

HIQA has provided a valuable critique of the services provided by Tusla, but it is important to recognise that the overview report also highlights findings of excellent child-centred practice. HIQA noted that children had ready access to information about their rights, that they participated in care planning meetings, and that they were supported in accessing records and making complaints where necessary. There is evidence that children are being listened to and helped and that they are receiving child-centred practices.

HIQA noted the progress Tusla has made, highlighting the bedding down of standardised processes and the introduction of some much-needed policies. HIQA also welcomed the agency's move to a new service model to co-ordinate provision of welfare services. The improvements identified by HIQA are in close alignment with those in Tusla's reform programme. Accordingly, this overview report strongly supports the reform programme which my Department and Tusla are driving forward. HIQA's overview report thus provides a useful benchmark of the ongoing progress and impact of this extensive reform process.

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