Written answers

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Youth Services Funding

Photo of Jonathan O'BrienJonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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872. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs further to Parliamentary Question No. 698 of 24 June 2014, the level of this funding that went to the Centre for Effective Services for assisting his Department in compiling the document. [29566/14]

Photo of Charles FlanaganCharles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures: the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2014 -2020 (NPF) was published and launched by Government in 2014. The NPF comprehends the continuum from infancy through early and middle childhood to adolescence and early adulthood. It provides the overarching framework for the development and implementation of policy and services for children and young people.

The Framework brings together key policies instanced in the Programme for Government including those relating to prevention and early intervention initiatives, early childhood education, breaking the cycle of disadvantage, through area based approaches to address child poverty, aftercare provision and addressing issues around anti-social behaviour.

The NPF provides a means for cross departmental collaboration to promote the well-being of children and young people and a fresh impetus to a whole-of-government approach to current and emerging issues, including childhood obesity, healthy lifestyles, the impact of media and new technologies, the sexualisation of children and promoting pro-social behaviour. It accommodates a number of constituent strategies which focus in greater detail on the areas of Participation, Early Years, and Youth, which be developed in 2014.

The Centre for Effective Services was invited by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to assist the Department with the NPF.

The amount paid to date to CES for compiling the NPF is €42k.

Photo of Jonathan O'BrienJonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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873. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide details of funding that was allocated to the Centre for Effective Services and the purpose of it during each of the last four years. [29567/14]

Photo of Charles FlanaganCharles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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The funding provided by DCYA to the Centre for Effective Services (CES) for the period in question is as follows: 2011, €225,000; 2012, €755,000; 2013, €594,000; and 2014, €770,000. It should be noted that the figures in respect of 2011 -2013 represent actual payments by DCYA direct to CES while the 2014 figure is an allocated amount. The CES is co-funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies and this funding supports a range of activities including those relevant to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs

The establishment of the Centre for Effective Services (CES) as a charitable organisation in 2008 reflected agreement, including a commitment to joint funding, by Atlantic Philanthropies, the Office for the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs to support an organisation which would improve outcomes for children, young people, families and communities by working with a range of organisations in the not-for-profit sector, including government departments, statutory agencies and community organisations, to connect and support the implementation of effective policy, efficient systems and good practice, using the best available evidence. CES operates on an all-island basis, with offices in Dublin and Belfast.

CES has been a key partner in a number of initiatives led by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs since the Department’s commencement. CES provides research, evaluation and technical expertise in relation to the development of evidence informed policy and practice. DCYA provides CES with an annual grant and agrees an annual work plan.

In addition to its overall role of working to improve the effectiveness of services in Ireland the CES has provided practical and technical expertise to the Department of Children and Youth Affairs over the period in question in areas such as:

- Development and national scaling of Children’s Services Committeeswhich are key local structures for the planning of integrated children's services.

- Identifying and disseminating learning from the Prevention and Early Intervention Programmes delivered in three Dublin communities and a range of other early intervention projects around the country.

- Providing technical assistance in relation to The Area Based Childhood (ABC) programme, jointly funded by DCYA and the Atlantic Philanthropies, which targets investment in evidence-informed interventions to improve the long-term outcomes for children and families living in areas of disadvantage.

- Providing technical support in relation to the Department’s development in the area of Youth Policy. Key recent outputs here relate to research-related publications ‘Mapping the Contribution of Irish Youth Work to Youth Employment’ and the ‘Theory-Practice Tool for Youth Work’ in addition to more general expertise in the Department’s development of evidence informed youth policy and programmes.

- Supporting the DCYA Expert Advisory Group appointed by the Minister in the development of the Early Years Strategyfor Ireland. The objective of CES’ support was to provide evidence and identify key issues and lessons on a number of agreed areas, to inform the work of DCYA, the Expert Advisory Group and other relevant groups in the development of the Early Years Strategy.

The CES continues to support the DCYA in its development of a National Early Years Strategy. The CES contributed to the development of 'Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures - the National Policy Framework for Children and Young People 2014-2020' and is assisting in the implementation of the framework.

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