Results 2,941-2,960 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Staff Data (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The information sought by the Deputy is set out as follows, correct as of 31 August 2017. In the interest of clarity, the post of Director has been included. Grade Men Women Secretary General 1 0 Second Secretary 0 0 Deputy Secretary 0 0 Assistant Secretary 1 2 Director 0 1 Principal Officer 7 13 Assistant Principal 21 24

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Family Resource Centres (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency provides funding to support the work of a large number of Family Resource Centres throughout the country. This funding is provided under an annual Service Level Agreement, and is by way of a contribution towards the running costs of the centres. Family Resource Centres are independent companies limited by guarantee and are managed by a Voluntary Board...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Childcare Scheme (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1643, 1644, 1650, 1651, 1656 and 1664 together. As the Deputies will be aware, the factors impacting on the costs across delivery of services in any sector are complex and multifaceted. The cost to childcare providers is affected by many factors such as rates, rent, labour costs, and insurance amongst other things. The cost to parents to access that childcare...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Family Resource Centres (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: There are over 100 Family Resource Centres currently in receipt of funding from Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. Tusla provides funding to the centres under an annual Service Level Agreement. This funding is provided by way of a contribution towards the running costs of the centres. The 2017 Tusla allocation to Family Resource Centres is €13.512 million. Family Resource...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Banking (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The costs my Department incurred in each of the past five years due to credit and debit payment services and banking fees can be seen in table 1 and table 2. Table 1: Credit Cards, 2012-2016: 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Bank of Ireland €381.63 €352.66 €395.38 €534.38 €707.43 Table 2: Bank Accounts, 2012-2016: 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Bank of Ireland...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Childcare Scheme (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1647 and 1648 together. On 11 April I made an announcement that the Affordable Childcare Scheme would not commence this September but that a range of measures would be introduced in September by my Department to make childcare more affordable for thousands of families throughout Ireland. This honours a key commitment in the Programme for Government. ...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Domestic Violence Services Funding (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I have requested information from Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. I will forward the reply to the Deputy once I have been furnished with this information.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: As the Deputy will be aware, the Early Childhood and Education (ECCE) Programme was expanded from September 2016 so that children may start free pre-school from age 3, and can continue in free pre-school once the child is not older than 5 years and 6 months at the end of the relevant pre-school year. Three different points in the year - September, January and April – are in place...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Regulation (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Under Circular 13/2014, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) outline the responsibilities for both Grantors (the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) in this case) and Grantees (Childcare Providers in this case) in relation to expenditure of public funds by way of disbursement of grant funding to all bodies, including agencies, companies, committees, advisory...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: HIQA Reports (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: As part of its 2017 Monitoring Programme, the Health Information Quality Authority (HIQA) are conducting thematic inspections of Tusla's Foster Care Services. These inspections are announced in advance and cover eight standards in the National Standards for Foster Care, relating to the recruitment, assessment, approval, supervision and review of foster carers. The inspection report...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am aware that concerns have been raised in the community in question regarding a proposed Children’s Residential Centre and I understand that Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, and the organisation in question have been in contact with local residents to discuss these concerns. Under the Child and Family Agency Act 2013, Tusla is charged with offering care and protection for...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Years Sector (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Learner Fund was established to provide access to appropriate programmes of learning for Early Years sector workers. The initial phases of funding released (Learner Funds 1, 2 and 3) focussed on those Early Years sector workers who lacked a qualification relevant to Early Childhood Care and Education or lacked a qualification in that area which was placed at, or equivalent to, Level 5 on...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Expenditure (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I can inform the Deputy that the information below is a breakdown of funding by the ABC Programme showing each county as requested. ABC is a four year time bound prevention and early intervention initiative which is co-funded between my Department and the Atlantic Philanthropies for the period of 2013-2017. ABC Programme ABC Grant to 31/12/17 Development Funding Total County Youngballymun...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Guardians Ad Litem (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: As stated in my response to Deputy Anne Rabbitte on 25 July 2017, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has informed me that the total amount paid to guardians ad litemwas €8,189,175 in2015 and €6,569,115 in 2016. Supplementary information has now been received from Tusla, confirming the total amount paid to guardians ad litem for 2017, as of the end of July, to be...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Expenditure (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Deputy might note that my Department provides funding under a range of programmes and schemes including Early Years, Early Childhood Care and Education, Youth Affairs and Participation. Details of funding provided directly by my Department to counties Cavan, Monaghan and Meath in the specified period are set out in the table. As some programmes issue funding by way of an annual grant,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Information and Communications Technology (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: My Department collects and disseminates a wide range of data in relation to children and young people. From 2011-2016 the National Strategy for Research and Data on Children’s Lives (NSRDCL) guided and supported my Department’s approach to the development of data relating to children’s lives. The final implementation report on this strategy will be published later this...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Social Workers Recruitment (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I wish to inform the Deputy that I am advised by Tusla that their best practise planning allows for 16 weeks recruitment timeline. However, I am informed that individual campaigns may be completed in 8-20 weeks depending on outside factors, such as the candidate release dates and required documentation.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Childcare Scheme Implementation (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: An information campaign to raise awareness among parents of the range of measures available to make childcare more affordable has been underway since late May. An additional €19m was secured as part of Budget 2017 and officials from my department and Pobal have worked hard to ensure that this money can have a positive impact by lowering the cost of childcare for Irish families from...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Community Childcare Subvention Programme (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am committed to ensuring that childcare is affordable, accessible and of a high quality. The increase in supports I have provided from this month for the next programme year represents a major step towards accessible affordable quality childcare after decades of neglect and under-investment by successive Governments. There are two supports being rolled out under the Community...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Community Childcare Subvention Programme (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that as of 7 September, 2,792 services are in contract to provide Community Childcare Scheme Plus (CCS Plus). The Universal Provision along with the targeted provisions are provided under this arm of the Community Childcare Scheme. This represents over 75% of eligible providers, based on the numbers of providers who have previously contracted with the...