Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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408. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which her Department remains in contact with child support services in the Health Service Executive with a view to determination of the best practice to be pursued in cases of children at risk that have been brought to the attention of the HSE and or her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [48300/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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My Department maintains an oversight role in relation to all aspects of policy and practice in the HSE, which has the legislative responsibility for the delivery of such services.

This oversight function is exercised through a range of interactions with colleagues in the HSE. These interactions are often formal and structured at a number of levels but there is also a good level of informal contact between the Department and the HSE on a daily basis relating to services.

Among the more formal engagements are regular meetings between myself and the National Director for Children and Family Services along with our respective senior management teams. Officials from my Department also meet formally on a quarterly basis with their counterparts in the HSE to discuss Performance Indicators and to seek in general to maintain and where possible improve the service provided by the HSE to the wider public.

The Department is not involved in the day to day running of services. However the HSE is also proactive in providing information to me when policy issues arise. There are also occasions when information not routinely reported is provided to my Department following a specific request for same. A recent example of this would be the legislative amendment required in respect of interim care orders.