Results 8,021-8,040 of 20,099 for speaker:Brian Stanley

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: With regard to social workers, I know Mr. Gloster will send us a table. What is the biggest single reason they move from Tusla?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: Is there a category for work stress or stress-related issues?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: With regard to notifications, in 2020 there were 774. I want to deal with this in the context of availability of social workers. In 2019 there were 403. What is the number of children awaiting social work services or social worker provision? In other words, how many are on the books who do not have a social worker?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: When Ms Duggan says 12%, what number does this represent? How many hundred?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: Okay. We are looking at one eighth of this, which is more than 2,000.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: It is quite a high number at 2,500.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: There are 2,500 under Tusla's umbrella at present who do not have a social worker allocated. With regard to the ratio of children per social worker, what is the recommended ratio for services? What should it be?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: Is there an overall figure? I know there are various categories but what is the general accepted figure? There is a figure for occupancy of hospital beds and it is supposed to be approximately 80%. In general, what is-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I have a question for Ms Duggan. My understanding is that the ratio at present, despite Tusla's best efforts, stands at approximately 65 children per social worker. Is this correct?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: Should it be half of this? I am picturing a social worker with 60 to 65 children. Each case is difficult, problematic and challenging. It is a fairly hefty workload. Are we speaking about half this number?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: At present, we have 1,170 social workers. Are we saying that in an ideal world Tusla needs another 1,170 social workers?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I understand Tusla is trying to provide this range of services to deal with various needs. If we are at 60-----

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I would appreciate that. We have about half of what we need. The witnesses may not have the exact information today. What level of shortage of social workers is there in the midlands? Is it more acute in the midlands?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: Are they going to Laois-Offaly?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I wish to focus for a moment on the number of cases received last year. As I understand it, there were 774 notifications received in 2020 in respect of the early years services. That figure was up from 403 in 2019. What was the main driver of that increase? What happened there? It is significant that the number of notifications almost doubled in a year. I refer to crèches and...

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: No, that response concerns the level of activity. I am asking about the 774 notifications of complaints of incidents in 2020. That increased from 403 in 2019. The number of such complaints almost doubled in 2020 in comparison to 2019 from 403 to 774. What is the main driver of that? What happened there? What caused that?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I will move to claims against Tusla. There were 460 claims against Tusla in the most recent five-year period. As I understand it,152 claims were made in 2019, representing the highest number of claims in that period. The average for the five-period was 75 claims per year. Why was the number of claims made in 2019 so high?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I understand that €16.4 million was spent on legal fees in 2020, which is fairly significant. Are any steps being taken to reduce that figure? When Tusla procures legal assistance and representation, does it go through a full procurement process?

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: I thank Mr. Gloster for the clarification.

Public Accounts Committee: 2020 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Tusla, the Child and Family Agency - Financial Statements 2020 (21 Oct 2021)

Brian Stanley: With regard to cases passed or not passed on to the Garda, in September 2019, Sligo-Leitrim-west Cavan had the highest percentage of notifications not passed on. It reached 56% of notifications not referred on. There was a figure for Cork around the same time of 29%. What action has been taken to address that and what percentage of cases are not being passed on at present?