Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

This section concerns arrangements with service providers. We have unfortunately heard a lot in recent days about the importance of having good governance of service providers. What is outlined in the Bill in this respect is really good. The agency will have a budget of approximately €545 million, some €100 million of which will go to outsourcing, so we are talking about a considerable revenue. I am talking in broad figures because there are no clear plans or procedures for how this will be outsourced. What outcomes and services are we seeking to put in place? I am concerned that I have not seen any plans, even though I have spoken with organisations that are providing such services.

At the briefing provided by the Minister and her officials before the Bill came to the House, I raised the issue of having a commitment. We often get into the accounting and auditing aspects of Bills, which people rightly have to fulfil, yet we do not state the basics about Children First guidance. As we cannot insert it into the legislation, I am asking the Minister to give a commitment that in any of the contracts we provide, we will ask outsourcing organisations to abide by the Children First guidance, as all the agency's staff will be doing.

At the briefing I was advised that it was not possible to have multi-annual State funding. In fact, however, the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government has a multi-annual funding scheme. That is part of the White Paper on a framework for supporting voluntary activity and for developing the relationship between the State and the community and voluntary sector. Chapter 5 refers to a multi-annual approach being taken to fund the community and voluntary sector. It states that multi-annual funding allows for a more rational approach to planning service delivery and processing funding applications. Adopting this approach does not of itself involve any increase in expenditure. The Government has decided that multi-annual funding commitments should, in appropriate cases, be made available by all funding agencies to organisations providing services or undertaking development activities that are agreed priorities, with the budget for each specific year to which the agreement applies to be reviewed in light of available resources, and taking into account the legal position that the Dáil votes public moneys on a annual basis.

As we know, the Dáil determines the level of taxation and expenditure in any particular year. This may involve decisions to reduce expenditure in particular areas. Multi-annual funding commitments in specific areas will be complemented by explicit understandings on service standards, performance indicators, evaluation and review. For example, in the design of the scheme for national organisations, multi-annual funding has been provided as a provisional commitment. The contracts with organisations only specify the amount in year one, with the remainder based on the financial situation pertaining at a particular time. Such an arrangement would free up the agency to enter a multi-annual contract with organisations so that service level agreements would not have to be re-negotiated each year.

Other Government Departments have found a way to do multi-annual funding. We must hold organisations to account for service standards, performance indicators, evaluations and reviews. That is why I am extremely concerned that no plan has been published on what the new agency will outsource, what needs it will try to meet, and the gaps it cannot provide itself. What provisions will be outsourced? All too often, we build up relationships with such organisations rather than stating what services the State will provide. I believe the State should provide the majority of services but where it cannot do so, it should state which services it requires. In addition, it should publish them and put them out to tender. We should have some system of multi-annual funding once people meet the performance indicators and evaluations, and other safeguards are put in place. That would be a better way of doing it.