David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 103: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her views on the community and voluntary sector advocacy programme funded through the Citizens Information Board; her plans to further extend the programme's coverage and guarantee funding on a long term basis; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18692/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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In 2004 the Citizens Information Board in preparation for forthcoming legislation commissioned research from Goodbody Economic Consultants on, Developing an Advocacy Service for People with Disabilities. The report which was launched in July 2004 proposed a three-stranded approach:

1. The establishment of a Personal Advocacy Service to be provided directly by the Citizens Information Board in line with the forthcoming legislation.

2. A programme of support for community and voluntary sector advocacy.

3. A Community Visitors Programme for people in long–stay residential centres.

In order to expand advocacy provision for people with disabilities the Citizens Information Board began a process in 2004 of engaging the community and voluntary sector in the provision of advocacy services to people with disabilities and also produced advocacy guidelines to inform and guide organisations in the development of advocacy services.

The Community and Voluntary Sector Advocacy programme to-date has developed and funded 47 advocacy projects. The overall focus of the programme is on representative advocacy for people with a disability. The programme includes geographically based projects that cross disability type as well as those focused on a particular disability type. Each of the projects poses different challenges, some requiring more intensive work with smaller caseloads while others have larger caseloads with shorter periods of client contact.

External evaluations are being undertaken on a sample of projects, and it is planned to undertake a full evaluation of the entire programme in 2010. It is not anticipated to grow the programme any further at this time. However, a small number of additional projects may be considered if any significant gaps are identified. The outcome of the evaluation will inform the future direction of the programme.