Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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687. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will provide an update on the work of the national youth work advisory committee; the term of office of the current committee; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18866/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I appointed the current National Youth Work Advisory Committee (NYWAC), under the terms of the Youth Work Act, 2001, with effect from 28 January 2013 for a period of one year. This Committee, which comprises representatives of national youth organisations, Government departments, the Education and Training Boards and other statutory agencies involved in youth matters, has a key role in advising my Department on issues to do with how youth work practice and services can advance key desired outcomes for young people.

In line with its terms of reference, the NYWAC has provided advice and opinions to my Department on priority areas. These include, the EU Youth Council Presidency programme, the development of a youth policy framework and youth work provision and its links to related policy areas. The NYWAC assisted my Department is progressing the ambitious EU Youth Presidency Programme in 2013. It played an important role at the high-level event I hosted in June 2013 which explored how the role of youth work can be enhanced in responding to the youth employment challenge and specifically its contribution to youth employability. It has undertaken work on how youth work services can better link with key policy areas within my Department, including how the youth work sector can interface effectively with Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. The NYWAC considered and provided feedback to my Department in the development of the children and young people’s policy framework.

I launched Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, the national children and young people’s policy framework (2014-2020) on 16th April, 2014. The framework aims to coordinate policy for children and young people across Government. It sets out the five national outcomes that we want to achieve for children and young people from birth to age 24 years It sets out the policy goals to be pursued and the actions to be delivered over the next seven years to improve children’s and young people’s lives.

The overarching framework will provide the basis for more detailed strategies, including a new youth strategy that will seek to address the changing needs and challenges facing young people and ensure an effective response to those needs, including through quality youth work services. I have asked the NYWAC to continue its work to contribute to the development of the youth strategy which is due to be completed by my Department at the end of 2014.

The NYWAC has an important contribution to make to the youth strategy, to the implementation of Better Outcomes Brighter Futures- the national policy framework for children and young people 2014-2020 and to development of youth services provision in the future, for example, following the completion of the Value for Money and Policy Review of the funding schemes that target disadvantaged youth, which is underway in my Department. I have asked the NYWAC to consider its role in this regard and how best it can contribute to the implementation framework for Better Outcomes Brighter Futures, in particular, in relation to the proposed new Advisory Council, which will include representatives from the youth sector and relevant experts.