Results 4,441-4,460 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education Staff (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: My Department provides standard capitation of €64.50 per week and higher capitation of €75.00 per week for childcare places under the ECCE Scheme. Given that it is a matter for each individual employer to determine the allocation of staff, resources and ratios (subject to the governing provisions with regard to ratios) from this capitation rate, it is not possible to estimate...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Childcare Scheme Expenditure (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1442 to 1450, inclusive, together. The detailed information sought by the Deputy is not currently available in the format requested. Officials in my Department are compiling this information, which will be supplied to the Deputy in no later than 10 working days.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Mental Health Services Funding (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: My Department does not directly fund mental health supports for children and young persons. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, which is funded by my Department, provides specific funding for mental health supports for children and young persons. I have referred the question to Tusla for direct response to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Childcare Scheme (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: As indicated in my previous reply to the Deputy, the subsidy-rates proposed for the Affordable Childcare Scheme reflect the current cost of delivering childcare, including current wage rates. If wage rates were to rise, my Department would have to examine the possible need for subsidy rates to rise to reflect the higher cost of delivery for childcare providers. Subsidy rates are a matter...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Social Workers Recruitment (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla has advised that the estimated full year cost of recruiting 500 new social workers and 1,000 new social workers, costed as Professionally Qualified Social Workers is as follows: # 500 1000 PQSW PQSW Basic Pay 24,703,289 49,406,578 ER PRSI 2,655,604 5,311,208 Total Pay Cost 27,358,893 54,717,786 Overhead @25 % of BP 6,175,822 12,351,644 Total Cost 33,534,715 67,067,430

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Psychological Assessments (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: A standard protocol for the provision of psychological assessment to every child who comes into or lives in the care of the State has not been developed. In most cases a protocol of this nature would be unnecessary and inappropriate. When a child is taken into care they are assigned to a social worker, who undertakes a detailed assessment, prior to developing a tailored care plan. Any...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Employment Initiative (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Last year, I announced the Youth Employability Initiative which is funded under the Dormant Accounts scheme. 28 youth projects have received grants under this Initiative to support programmes that target disadvantaged young people who are most at risk of unemployment and who are not in education, employment or training. The programmes assisted over 1,000 young people aged 15 to 24 years...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The funding provided by the Department has always been intended to be sufficient to cater for all of the costs associated with the childcare schemes funded, including administrative or "non-contact" work, or to fund this pro-rata where the Department's contribution is a part of the total cost of care provided. Notwithstanding this, to take account of the additional administrative burden...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Data (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I would like to bring it to the Deputy's attention that there is no professional registry for early years professionals. Data on the number of staff working in the childcare sector is gathered annually through the Early Years Sector Profile. This is a survey which is administered by Pobal in conjunction with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs with the aim of providing a national...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Funding (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: My Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes that enable services to be provided on behalf of my Department. The following information provides an account of each body or organisation that is scheduled to receive in excess of €1 million in 2017. - Pobal’s service costs for the implementation of my Department’s Early Years’ Programmes...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Expenditure (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The following amounts were paid to private providers for the Early Childhood Care and Education Programme (ECCE), the Community Childcare Subvention Programmes (CCS/P) and the Training and Education Childcare Programmes (TEC) - €13,788,619 in 2015 (not including ECCE – see note below) - €100,051,282 in 2016 - €137,277,614 in 2017 to date. These sums cover payments...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Costs (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I would like to inform the Deputy that the maximum parental contributions, under the TEC schemes, have not changed from 2016/2017 to 2017/2018. The rates are as follows: Childcare Education and Training Support (CETS) After-School Childcare (ASCC) Community Employment Childcare Pre-School (CEC PS) Community Employment Childcare After-school (CEC AS) Full Day €25pw ASCC €15pw...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Supports (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Foster Care Allowance is currently €325 per week per child under 12 years of age and €352 per week per child aged 12 and over. It is an allowance in respect of the child and is provided in order to allow foster carers to meet all of the child's daily living needs including food, clothing, basic travel, education costs and hobbies and sporting activities. The allowance is...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Family Resource Centres (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency administers the Family Resource Centre (FRC) Programme. Under the Programme, Tusla provides financial support towards the running costs of Family Resource Centres nationwide. This typically covers the employment of two to three members of staff and some overhead costs. FRCs provide a range of universal and targeted services and development opportunities...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I appreciate the distress involved in situations such as the one referred to by the Deputy, however it is not appropriate for me to comment on an individual case. This is an operational matter for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. The Deputy will be aware that there are other independent statutory mechanisms through which the management of cases such as this can be reviewed. These...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Budgets (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The gross funding allocation for my Department in 2017 amounts to €1.311 billion. Expenditure outlays at the end of June were under profile by €47m or 7% of profile. The current resource provision is under profile by €39m or 6% of profile. The variation in principally due to the variable nature of expenditure across programmes and the timing of the associated...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Funding (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I believe that the first report on Sexual Abuse and Violence in Ireland (SAVI 1) made a valuable contribution to our understanding of the area. As I stated in my PQ response of 11th May, I am supportive, in principle, of an appropriate follow-up study, and I will pursue this further with the Minister for Justice and Equality, who leads on this area.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Staff Data (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: None of the staff in my Department are suspended from work on full pay.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Budgets (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The gross funding allocation for my Department in 2017 amounts to €1.311 billion. Expenditure outlays at the end of June were under profile by €47m or 7% of profile. The current resource provision is under profile by €39m or 6% of profile. The variation in principally due to the variable nature of expenditure across programmes and the timing of the associated...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Protected Disclosures Data (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: My Department is committed to fostering an appropriate environment for dealing with protected disclosures under the 2014 Act. In this regard, my Department has adopted the guidelines provided by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in processing any protected disclosure received. My Department has developed a draft set of guidelines for guidance in these matters and staff are...