Results 31,321-31,340 of 33,581 for speaker:Catherine Connolly
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Has it not been done yet?
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: I welcome the legislation in terms of the presumption on the part of the judge being put on a statutory footing. What I do not welcome – the Chair has touched on this – is the two-stage procedure where there will be a private service provider and then a statutory body. Why can we not do away with the first one and go straight for the second, namely, a public body with...
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: It would probably be premature to disagree. I would have the most serious concerns about that policy. I think that Dr. Lynch is caught in a crisis and that he is reacting. There was the most serious publicity in yesterday's paper, the Committee of Public Accounts today, the report from the Comptroller and Auditor General, and his own internal analysis. I think that he is reacting in a...
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Why has it not been sought? For instance, with the crisis, the Government directed the county registers that in each case of possession that came before them, they were to identify whether it was the family home. That policy direction was issued very quickly. Why has a policy direction not gone to the courts system requesting it to advise exactly how many guardians have been appointed?
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Why not?
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Has the Department asked for it? Has the Government by way of a policy direction? Has the Department brought it to the attention of the Government? It is the same as the matter of orders for possession. Directions were very quickly given to the county register to come up with the data. Was it a family home that was being repossessed?
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: I am raising it and I think that it should be done. If we can do it in the cases, which was right, we should certainly have the information here. Finally, there is the matter of the cost. There is no competitive tendering for the legal service. There is no panel. I understand that the guardianad litempicks the solicitor. Barnardos is the biggest employer of guardians ad litem. Dr. Lynch...
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: I will come back to my last question on the Children's Act Advisory Board and why it was abolished. Dr. Lynch has no sense of something, which tells me that either he is under-resourced or under pressure and reacting to a very serious situation where we have an unregulated guardian ad litemservice. We are taking the narrative from Barnardos.
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: On Dr. Lynch's proposal going forward to have an in-house-----
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Does he envisage that in-house solicitor going to court, or just giving advice?
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Would also go to court.
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: My final question concerns the Children Acts Advisory Board. As with the independent monitoring group that was set up to monitor mental health and which was abolished, the Children Acts Advisory Board was abolished in 2011.
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: Looking back, it seems to have been a very bad decision, because the Children Act advisory board at least brought in regulations. There was no statutory basis to it, but at least they were there with an advisory role to monitor. It seems to me a very bad decision to abolish that. When the Department was set up it was not in a position to take action. It was 2011 when Dr. Lynch's...
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: There was a big gap before any work was taken. In 2014-15 the consultation process started. I believe that the Government of the day made a very bad decision.
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: I do not wish to end on a bad note, but I do not entirely accept that. It has been under examination since 2011, and Dr. Lynch is still telling us that it is better to go the route of a private service provider because of the time it would take. What he is telling me is that we have been looking at this since 2011, which is six years ago.
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: I have a difficulty with that but I do welcome that Dr. Lynch is putting his hands up and going forward.
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: It was not an argument.
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: I do.
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: I think the Chairman is slightly confused about the words "public" and "private". All the cases we are referring to are in camera. They are not in public.
- Public Accounts Committee: Report of the Accounts of the Public Services 2015
Chapter 11 - Guardian Ad Litem Service (19 Jan 2017) Catherine Connolly: "Public" means the involvement of-----