Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 438: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will outline in detail the budget was for children and families within the Health Service Executive for 2009, 2010, 2011, and to date in 2012; and if she will assure all concerned that the HSE is not now engaged in reducing the budget and resources for children and families in advance of the establishment of the new agency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33595/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Revised Estimates for Public Services 2012 indicates, for the first time, a dedicated sub-head budget provision of €550.7 million for children and family services. The equivalent budget figure for 2011 is estimated at €529.7 million. Reliable data for 2009 and 2010 is not available on a comparable basis in the absence of a standardised national reporting system which accurately captures expenditure across all children and family services.

In preparation for the establishment of the new Child and Family Support Agency work is under way on disaggregating the Children and Families budget from within the overall HSE financial determination. This necessary work will be completed in the latter half of 2012 in preparation for the planned establishment of the new agency early in 2013. This process is likely to lead to some further revision of the above figures having regard to the detailed service composition of the care group.

It is my intention and that of the National Director, Gordon Jeyes as the Chief Executive Officer designate for the new Agency, to ensure that there is full transparency with regard to the composition of the budget for the new Agency when established.