Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 292: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which the number and location of social workers is adequate to meet ongoing child support requirements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40706/11]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Government is committed to a series of measures designed to significantly strengthen the existing legislative, policy and practice framework in the area of child protection. The intention is to ensure that child abuse in Ireland is strongly and decisively tackled and that children are properly safeguarded. A number of significant structural and legislative changes are being progressed in this context. These include the establishment of a new agency with dedicated responsibility for the delivery of child welfare and protection services, separate from the HSE and reporting directly to my Department. Work on the establishment of the agency is under way and includes the preparation of primary legislation to provide for its establishment. I believe the establishment of the Child and Family Support Agency in 2013 and associated reforms will represent a decisive shift towards achieving nationally consistent standards across all child protection services including better development of available resources in line with identified need.

The HSE compiles a monthly census of employment in the public health and social care sector; the latest data available are in respect of October 2011. These show that the total number of social workers employed in the HSE and in directly funded agencies across all care groups at that time was 2,416 whole time equivalents (WTEs). The number of social workers has increased from 2,189 at the end of 2009.

The employment census also provides a breakdown of staffing levels by care group. In the case of social workers employed in the Children and Families area. The figures indicate that there were 1,207 WTEs employed at the end of October 2011. It should be noted that the classification by care group is viewed by the HSE and the Department as provisional and is subject to ongoing revision/refinement as part of the process of disaggregating the children and families resource base from the HSE prior to the establishment of the new Children and Family Support Agency.

The policy goal, in line with the Implementation Plan, published in 2009 in response to the Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (Ryan Report), is to achieve an overall increase of 270 social workers. In this context, it should be noted that the HSE has made provision for the recruitment of additional social workers this year, to build on the recruitment of over 200 additional social workers in 2010. The recruitment process is being managed by the HSE National Recruitment Service (NRS). The latest available information from the HSE indicates that 53 posts have been either filled or accepted, while a further 5 posts are being offered to candidates this week. An additional 4 posts are due to be filled by individuals returning from career break. The HSE is attaching a high priority to the completion of the recruitment process by the end of the year. My Department will continue to closely monitor the position with regard to the recruitment of the additional personnel.

The additional social workers will be targeted at priority areas of the service having regard to an overall assessment of workload undertaken by the National Director and his team. The recruitment of the additional social workers is one element of a wider change agenda within the HSE, through which I believe we can deliver better outcomes for children and families.

It should also be emphasised that the grade of social worker is currently exempt from the moratorium on recruitment and filling of vacancies. The HSE is therefore free to fill social worker vacancies as they arise and within available resources.