Written answers
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Department of Children and Youth Affairs
Children Services Committees
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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688. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs further to Parliamentary Question No. 598 of 28 May 2013, if she will provide an update on the establishment and development of child services committees; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18867/14]
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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689. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the role she envisages for the child services committees in the implementation of the national policy framework for children and young people; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18868/14]
Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 688 and 689 together.
Children's Services Committees (CSCs) provide a structure at county level which brings together all of the key agencies delivering services to children and young people, so that they work collaboratively in planning for and delivering services which are more effective and achieve better outcomes. Since 2007, 20 Children's Services Committees (CSCs) have been established serving 25 local authority areas. Three of these, Galway, Roscommon and Wexford, have been established this year and it is hoped to establish a further 6 CSCs later this year to achieve full national coverage.
The CSCs will align with Local Government reforms including the new Local Community Development Committees which are being established in each local authority area. This process is being supported by a National Co-ordinator for CSCs who was appointed in June 2013 and works with my Department, the Child and Family Agency Tusla and the other statutory agencies involved in the initiative.
The decision to establish CSCs on a national basis was recently approved by the Government in conjunction with the adoption of the new National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2014-2030: Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures. This is the first overarching national policy framework for children and young people aged from birth to 24 years and will be implemented by my Department in collaboration with all Government departments and key State agencies. I was pleased to be joined at the launch the Policy Framework on 16th April 2014 by An Taoiseach Enda Kenny T.D. and An Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore T.D.
The CSC National Steering Group will form part of the implementation structures for the Policy Framework and will drive implementation of the Framework at local level. It will act as a link between national policy for children and young people and local implementation, as well as contributing to the development of national policy, through shared practice and learning, and its dissemination. The Policy Framework sets out the following commitments which relate directly to the CSCs:
| G2 | Ensure planning and coordination of parenting supports at local level through Children’s Services Committees. |
|---|---|
| G47 | The roll-out nationally of Children’s Services Committees (CSCs) in a coordinated fashion, connecting them with Local Government and Tusla, The Child and Family Agency. |
| G48 | Put in place an agreed resourcing framework for Children’s Services Committees, drawing on existing financial support from Tusla, Local Government and DCYA. |
| G52 | Streamline planning and decision-making structures at local level, including Children’s Services Committees, to be consistent with the Government’s public sector reforms, and specifically the alignment of local Government and Local Community Development Committees. |
| G62 | Deliver the County-level Data Analysis Initiative to support the Children’s Services Committees. |
| G68 | Use the intelligence from Children’s Services Committees in relation to local need and priorities to inform the allocation of national and local funding streams. |
| 3. | Ensure local county-level implementation and monitoring through the Children’s Services Committees (CSCs), which will be formally linked with the new Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs) being established in each Local Authority area under an initiative of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government. |
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