Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 209: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will investigate the reason the Health Service Executive has not furnished to this Deputy the information sought in Questions Nos. 101, 102, 105 and 106 of 31 January 2008 concerning children at risk as promised by her on that date; if the HSE is required to furnish to her on a monthly basis the information sought in these questions pursuant to the National Service Plan; and if in the absence of such information she is able to monitor the quality and efficiency of child care services and ensure that children at risk are provided with the protection to which they are entitled. [13236/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I have been in touch with the Health Service Executive. I have asked it to expedite the provision of the information requested by the Deputy. As regards the provision of monthly information, the Deputy will be aware that under section 31 of the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive must prepare and submit to the Minister its National Service Plan (NSP) including amongst other things, an indication of 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 on planned service outputs for the inputs/resources being used. The NSP is monitored through a series of Performance Monitoring Reports submitted to the Department by the HSE. The quarterly performance monitoring reports detail progress on all actions/deliverables that are included in 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 child care information system project. In addition to the formal written reporting methodology outlined above, high level quarterly service plan meetings are also held between Department and HSE management teams to discuss progress on the implementation of the NSP and to raise and resolve significant issues. Furthermore, there is ongoing contact and dialogue between the relevant areas in the Department and the directorates in the HSE.