Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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536. To ask the Minister for Health if a person (details supplied) in Dublin 6 is entitled to funding from the Health Service Executive. [44438/13]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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The general position regarding funding is set out in the Value for Money (VFM) and Policy Review of Disability Services which I published last year. The VFM Review found that HSE funding is based on an incremental determination process with relevant adjustments made to the previous year's baseline allocation. In recent years, the funding of new places has been made at local level on the basis of providing services to named individuals, but, once allocated, the funding does not remain associated with or follow that individual but is absorbed into the agency's base.

The move towards a model of funding which is linked to individual need, and which by definition will follow that individual, is encompassed by the recommendations in the VFM Review. It is intended that the actions recommended in the VFM Review will lay the groundwork for individualised budgeting once sufficient analysis of the benefits is carried out in the Irish context and adequate financial management, resource allocation and governance structures are in place to ensure its long-term viability. The priority is to further improve current services, while expediting the analysis of the benefits to be gained from a person-centred supports model and developing the administrative and governance infrastructure necessary for a more accountable and individualised service.

With regard to the individual query raised by the Deputy, as it relates to a service matter, I have arranged for the question to be referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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537. To ask the Minister for Health the reason community-based supports for persons with a disability continue to be cut, including personal and home help assistance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44445/13]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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This Government currently provides funding of over €1.5 billion to the Disability Services Programme, through the Health Service Executive's (HSE) National Service Plan for 2013 and is committed to protecting frontline services for people with disabilities to the greatest possible extent. In relation to Home Support Services for older people, I would like to reassure the Deputy that the HSE committed in its National Service Plan for 2013 to maintaining the home help and home care package services at levels planned for 2012.

The HSE as a whole has to operate within the parameters of funding available to it and given the current economic environment, this has become a major challenge for all stakeholders, including the HSE, voluntary service providers, service users and their families. I can assure the Deputy that the HSE will continue to ensure that all of the resources available for specialist disability services are used in the most efficient and effective manner possible.

However, pending the completion of the HSE's National Service Plan for 2014, it is not possible to predict the service levels to be provided next year for the disability sector.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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538. To ask the Minister for Health the reason there are 763 children who still have not received their needs assessment despite waiting six months or more and 65% of them nine months or more; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44446/13]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Part 2 of the Disability Act 2005 was commenced on 1 June 2007 in respect of children aged under 5. In 2008, the then Government decided, in the light of financial circumstances, to defer further implementation of the Disability Act 2005 and the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004.

Part 2 of the Disability Act, inter alia, provides for an assessment of the needs of eligible applicants occasioned by their disability to be commenced within three months of receipt of an application and completed within a further three months.

There has been a very significant rise in overall activity around the assessment process in recent years in respect of the children now encompassed by the process. The number of assessment reports received in 2012 was 3,505 which is over 400 applications more than in 2010. It is worth noting that in the period 2010-2012 over 8,200 reports were completed. While the HSE recognises that it faces significant challenges in respect of meeting the statutory time-frames which apply to the assessment of need process given the number and complexity of cases, it is endeavouring to address the issue from available resources.

While any delay in assessment or intervention for any child is not desirable, the assessment process under the Disability Act can take place in parallel with any intervention which is identified as necessary. The HSE has issued guidance to its staff that where there is a delay in the assessment process, this should not affect the delivery of necessary and appropriate interventions identified for a particular child.

In addition, targeted action plans have been put in place since early 2011. Measures have included: prioritising assessments, holding additional clinics, contracting the private sector to conduct assessments and reconfiguring resources to target areas of greatest need. These plans are monitored on a monthly basis by the HSE centrally.

Following the publication of a report commissioned from the National Disability Authority by the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive, a major emphasis is being placed on reconfiguring disability services for children into geographically-based early-intervention and school-aged teams as part of the Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People Programme which is underway. The NDA report indicated that where integrated teams were operating, the assessment of need process ran more smoothly. It found that there was no one single solution to remove all of the challenges to operating a statutory assessment of need. Officials from my Department are currently engaging with the HSE and the NDA to further consider the findings contained in this Report.