Results 1,101-1,120 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services (13 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: The Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015 was signed into law in December of last year. The legislation imposes a statutory duty on Tusla, the Child and Family Agency to prepare an aftercare plan for an eligible child or eligible adult. Specifications relating to the age at which aftercare planning will begin are set out under section 7 of the Act. In relation to a child, who is aged 16 or...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (14 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: In Budget 2016, my Department announced a significant expansion to pre-school provision under the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. This measure, which will be introduced from September 2016, means that children will be eligible to start free pre-school when they reach the age of 3, and continue to avail of free pre-school until they start primary school (once the child is...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: City and County Child Care Committees (14 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: The role of the City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs) and how they are funded for their role is a matter my Department continues to consider. At present my Department has no budget available to reverse the reduction in the allocation to the CCCs that occurred a few years ago, but it is something which is likely to be reviewed in the future. I recognise and appreciate the valuable work...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Charitable and Voluntary Organisations (19 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: The Department of Children and Youth Affairs provides funding directly to a wide range of community, voluntary and other organisations that are engaged in the provision of specific services to children and young people. The most significant share of the funding, which amounted to €249 million in 2011, €262 million in 2012, €250 million in 2013, €247m in 2014 and...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Funding (19 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I can confirm that my Department does not provide any core funding to Anew. A funding proposal from Anew has recently been received in my Department and is currently under consideration. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency who come under the remit of my Department, has confirmed that it does not provide core funding to this organisation. However, it did make a once off payment of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (19 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Any scheme funded by Government must have a strong governance regime in place to ensure taxpayers' money is spent appropriately. From the inception of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme, services who chose to provide ECCE were required to sign a contract, or ‘Grant Funding Agreement’. The review of the DCYA Childcare Programme ECCE Grant Funding...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Ministerial Advisers Data (19 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: There are five Ministerial appointees working in my Department. Details of their roles and current salaries are set out in tabular format below. All of my Ministerial staff appointments have been made in accordance with Instructions for Ministerial Appointments as published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in June 2016. Name Position Held Current Salary Patricia Ryan...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Proposed Legislation (19 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 919 to 921, inclusive, together. The Au Pair Placement Bill 2016 proposed the establishment of an “Au Pair Accreditation Council” to undertake the accreditation and other regulatory functions assigned to it under the Bill. As the Deputy will be aware, the establishment of such an Agency would result in additional costs to the Exchequer. In...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: North-South Ministerial Council (19 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I participate in the child protection agenda of the Health and Food Safety Sectorial of the North South Ministerial Council. I can confirm that there is no date scheduled as yet for the next sectorial meeting. The Child Protection agenda to date has focussed on the following five agreed workstreams: Agreed Workstream Workstream 1 Knowledge Exchange Forum Workstream 2 Quality and...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Proposed Legislation (19 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: The Government approved drafting of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Billin December 2015. This Bill is intended to facilitate access to adoption information and operates on the basis of a presumption in favour of disclosing information in so far as is legally and constitutionally possible for both domestic and inter-country adoptions. Drafting of the Adoption (Information and Tracing...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Staff Recruitment (19 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I understand that the information on the number of staff who entered the civil service is being replied to by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. No person has entered the public service post 1 January 2011 (other than the civil service) in my Department. It is not clear whether the Deputy's question refers to agencies under the aegis of the Department. However, a number of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Staff Remuneration (19 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I take the Deputy's question as referring to new entrants into my Department and the agencies under my Department who started working in the civil or public service on a permanent basis for the first time post 1 January 2011. My officials estimate that applying a 2%, 4% and 5% pay increase to new entrants in my Department post January 2011 would cost an additional €17,639,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Aftercare Services (20 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Formal planning for a child who is leaving care normally begins when they turn 16 years of age and an aftercare plan is expected to be in place in the run up to their 18th birthday. Ninety-four per cent of children in care who turned 18 years during 2014 and assessed as needing an aftercare service were offered a service. At the end of March 2016, 121 young adults were discharged from care...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Aftercare Services (20 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: At the end of March 2016, there were 1,858 young adults of all ages (i.e., 18 years and upwards, and inclusive of those 25 or older) in receipt of aftercare services. Of the 1,858 young adults, 1,754 (94%) were aged 18-22 years (inclusive). During the first three months of 2016, 121 young adults were discharged from care due to reaching 18 years. 97% of these were eligible for an aftercare...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency (20 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: As this is an operational matter, I have asked Tusla - the Child and Family Agency to respond directly to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (20 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: It is estimated that the cost of extending the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme to the number of weeks specified by the Deputy, assuming 60% of children will attend higher rate services and 40% of children will attend standard rate services, would be as follows: No of Weeks Estimated Cost 40 Weeks €17,520,704 41 weeks €26,987,295 42 weeks...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Funding (20 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Significant extra resources have been allocated to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency for 2016. The gross funding allocation for Tusla in 2016 is €676 million. This represents an increase of €38 million over the 2015 allocation and includes extra provision of €36.9 in revenue funding and €1.1m in capital funding. In accordance with the Agency's...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Area Based Childhood Programme (20 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: The Area Based Childhood (ABC) Programme is a joint prevention and early intervention initiative led by my Department and The Atlantic Philanthropies. It is a time bound co-funding arrangement with resources of €29.7m from 2013 to 2017. The aim of the ABC Programme is to test and evaluate prevention and early intervention approaches to improve outcomes for children and families...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Titles (20 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I can inform the Deputy that the title of my Department remains unchanged and there are no plans to utilise Section 6(1) of Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment) Act 1939 to change same.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Protection Services Provision (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I agree that ICT is critical to providing effective social work services for vulnerable children and families. Since its establishment in 2014, Tusla has been engaged in an extensive programme of reform which includes the ongoing development of an ICT system to support social workers in their work. Currently, each of the 17 Tusla administrative areas has its own referral system. I want...