Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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854. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Questions No. 248 and 250 of 3 April 2014 and No. 650 of 24 June 2014, if he is concerned that 1,215 applications for assessment of need under the Disability Act 2005 were overdue for completion according to a report developed by the Health Service Executive for quarter one of 2014 and that only 30% of the assessments in the quarter were completed on time; the way improvements will be made in carrying out assessments of need in a more timely manner [33268/14]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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855. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Questions No. 248 and 250 of 3 April 2014 and No. 650 of 24 June 2014, if additional resources will be allocated in order to cater for the increased demands placed on staff carrying out assessments of need under the Disability Act 2005 due to the extension of the eligibility for assessment in terms of age following a ruling of the High Court in 2009 such that all children born after 1 June 2002 are eligible to apply for an assessment at any time regardless of their age [33269/14]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 854 and 855 together.

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. However, in light of legal advice following a High Court ruling, children born after 1^stJune 2002 are being treated by the HSE as eligible to apply for an assessment under the Act. Part 2 of the 2005 Act 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.

Although the HSE recognises that it faces significant challenges in respect of meeting the statutory time-frames which apply to the Assessment of Need (AON) process, given the number and complexity of cases, it has taken a number of measures to address the issue. It 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. 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.

In 2011, the Department of Health and the HSE jointly commissioned the National Disability Authority (NDA) to review the operation of the Assessment of Need (AON) process in the HSE. This report was published by the NDA and can be accessed atwww.nda.ie.The NDA research has found that that there was no one single solution to remove all of the challenges to operating a statutory assessment of need. It also found that where integrated children's disability teams have already been established under the HSE’s Progressing Disability Services for Children and Young People Programme, the AON process has worked more smoothly. In light of the NDA’s findings, an additional emphasis is currently being placed on re-configuring children's disability services into integrated multi-disciplinary geographically-based early-intervention and school-aged teams, as part of the HSE's Progressing Disability Services Programme. The aim of this Programme is to bring about equity and consistency, with a clear pathway for children with disabilities and their families to services, regardless of where they live, what school they go to or the nature of their difficulty. The Programme is a key priority for the HSE in 2014, with an additional €4m allocated to assist in its implementation.

As the allocation of resources is an operational matter for the HSE, I have referred the Deputy's query regarding the allocation of additional resources to the Executive for direct reply to him.