Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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287. To ask the Minister for Social Protection the proposed changes in the Money Advice and Budgeting Service locally and nationally; the number of cases dealt with annually by location; the cost of delivery of this service at each such location; the reason for the proposed changes; the changes proposed for County Louth and east County Meath; if she will respond to the issues raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15818/15]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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At the outset, I wish to assure the Deputy that the Government is totally committed to maintaining and strengthening MABS and its local delivery of services. While work is underway exploring how to optimise resources and governance arrangements to the greatest extent possible, I can also assure the Deputy that there will be no diminution of locally-provided services to the public, no closure of service locations, and no staff redundancies. In fact, the aim of this exploration is to ensure that any efficiencies and savings achieved in governance arrangements can be used to expand and enhance local service delivery.

The Citizens Information Board (CIB) is the statutory body responsible for providing information, advice (including money and budgeting advice service) and advocacy services on a wide range of public and social services. CIB delivers on this remit through a network of delivery partners which includes 51 local Money Advice and Budgeting Services (MABS) and 42 local Citizens Information Services (CIS). In 2014, €15.073m was allocated to the 51 local MABS companies, which had an active client caseload of some 20,000. A breakdown of cases handled by the 51 local companies and the allocation for each company is included in the Appendix. In 2015 the CIB has been allocated a budget of €46m of which some €17.9 million is allocated to the MABS network of companies.

There are over 600 permanent staff, approximately 200 scheme workers and an estimated 2,000 volunteers working for the 93 independent companies in the network (51 MABS and 42 CISs). Each of these companies has a separate voluntary Board of Management, comprising an average of 9.2 members per Board resulting in a governance structure of over 800 people. The maintenance of such an unwieldy company and Board structure is no longer sustainable from an organisational or governance perspective and the resource effort required could otherwise be directed towards improved service delivery to citizens. Therefore, as part of the implementation of its Strategic Plan 2012-2015, CIB commissioned a feasibility study to identify options for dealing with this issue through greater organisational consolidation and/or integration of its delivery partners. This work was carried out by a company called Pathfinder and overseen by a Steering Group, comprising national representatives from MABS staff and Boards, Citizens Information Services staff and Boards, and staff from the Citizens Information Board. The work included extensive and comprehensive consultation with all stakeholders, including representatives of CIB's delivery partner services (MABS and CIS) at local level. It identified a number of options for consideration. Following on from this, the Board of CIB agreed to the establishment of a Design Group tasked with outlining and recommending possible new structural models. The Design Group includes members of the voluntary boards and staff of a number of the MABS and CIS services, together with representation from CIB management. Submissions were sought by CIB from the representatives of Boards and staff of MABS and CIS, to inform the deliberations of the Design Group.

The Design Group recently furnished a progress report on its deliberations to the CIB executive, which in turn communicated an update to its network of service delivery partners. The Design Group has identified, as an option for consideration by the Board of CIB in due course, that the 51 Boards of MABS companies and the 42 Boards of CIS services could be consolidated across six (6) regions, resulting in six (6) independent MABS companies and Boards, and six (6) independent CIS companies and Boards, all reporting to the board of CIB. However, it is important to note that any such consolidation would be at the Board level only. All existing MABS offices would remain unaffected. Local service delivery and personnel would not be impacted and would continue as before. It may be possible to take any savings that arise and use them for enhancing local service delivery or indeed offering additional services. It is also important to note that neither this option nor any alternative has yet been considered by the Board of CIB. Accordingly, no decisions have been made by the Board and no proposal has been formally made to my Department for consideration. Therefore, it is not possible at this juncture to speculate on what changes may occur in the governance of any of the services in any location. It is expected that the Design Group proposal, when further developed, will be formally submitted to the Board of CIB for its consideration.

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