Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 65: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the procedures in place in her Department to monitor, on an ongoing basis, the number of children who are the subject of reports to the Health Service Executive of either abuse or neglect and to monitor the time frame involved in the commencement of an investigation to assess the validity of such reports; the HSE areas in which such reports have been received and in which to date no investigation or assessment has commenced; the number of children to which such reports relate; and the action proposed by her to address difficulties in this area and to ensure children are properly protected. [2723/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy is aware the management and delivery of health and social services are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Under Section 31 of that Act, the Health Service Executive must prepare and submit to the Minister its Service Plan for the coming year, for approval. The National Service Plan (NSP) must, amongst other things, indicate the type and volume of health and personal services to be provided by the Executive for the resources provided in its Vote.

The NSP is focused on providing quantifiable data for planned service outputs for the inputs/resources being used. The NSP is monitored through a series of monthly and quarterly Performance Monitoring Reports submitted by the HSE which are examined by the Department. The quarterly reports in particular detail progress on all actions/deliverables that are included in the NSP. Expenditure by the HSE is monitored on an ongoing basis by the Department's Finance Unit.

The NSP also embeds more than 30 indicators/measures that can be used to assess the performance of the HSE in relation to the NSP. The 2008 HSE National Service Plan includes performance indicators, which will be reported to the Department quarterly, for each HSE region on;

the number of notifications of child abuse or neglect;

the number of assessments conducted following notifications;

the number of children on waiting lists for assessments following notification of child abuse or neglect; and

the average time spent on a waiting list for assessment following notification of child abuse or neglect.

Reporting against the above measures will be based upon the phased implementation of a standardised business process through the Childcare Information System project.

High level quarterly service plan meetings are held between Department and HSE management teams to discuss progress on the implementation of the NSP and to raise and resolve significant issues. In addition to these formal arrangements there is ongoing contact and dialogue between the various sections in the Department and the directorates in the HSE.