Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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282. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 482 to 505 of 16 June 2015, and further to discussing the Health Information and Quality Authority report on child services in the Louth and Meath child protection services on 30 June 2015, if he will provide replies to these parliamentary questions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27525/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I understand that Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has compiled responses to parliamentary question numbers 482 to 505 of 16 June 2015 put by the Deputy and that these have been issued by my office to the Deputy.

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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283. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the measures that have been taken following the Health Information and Quality Authority report on child services in counties Louth and Meath which identified significant risks and required actions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27526/15]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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284. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the measures that have been taken at national level to address staffing and resource issues identified in counties Louth and Meath, further to the Health Information and Quality Authority report on child services in counties Louth and Meath; the engagements that have taken place between Tusla - the Child and Family Agency and the Department of Health; and if he will provide the details around the proposed submission on these matters. [27527/15]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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285. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will elaborate on the way Tusla - the Child and Family Agency has taken direct ownership of action to improve the standards of service delivery, further to the Health Information and Quality Authority report on child services in counties Louth and Meath; the stage these actions are at; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27528/15]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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286. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide details of the special programme of improvement led directly by the chief operations officer (details supplied), further to the Health Information and Quality Authority report on child services in counties Louth and Meath; and the actions that have been undertaken to date. [27529/15]

Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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287. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide details of the project social work team in place, to deal with the backlog, as part of the special programme of improvement, further to the Health Information and Quality Authority report on child services in counties Louth and Meath; the additional resources that have been made available; and the timeframe for completion of this programme. [27530/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 283 to 287, inclusive, together.

The inspection report by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) on the child and welfare services in Louth Meath describes serious concerns regarding the standard of services being provided to children and families in the area. I can assure the Deputy that all significant risks were addressed immediately. In particular, steps were taken to address the information systems being used to formally document cases, and to improve record keeping and the updating or validating of data. HIQA was satisfied with the action plan to address the significant risks that were identified. In fact, most of the actions needed to address HIQA’s immediate concerns were completed prior to the publication of the report. Over half of all actions in the HIQA action plan have been achieved, with the remaining actions on track to be completed within the indicated timescales.

Issues were highlighted around resources and staffing in Louth Meath. This is being addressed at national level as a matter of urgency. Tusla has been preparing a national review of cases waiting allocation of a social worker. I expect that this will be submitted to me shortly and this will inform the overall approach by Tusla for the budget and deployment of social work staff. Overall, Tusla employed 3446.55 people (whole-time equivalents) at end of May 2015. Of these, 1408.31, or 41% of the workforce, were social workers. The number of social workers employed by Tusla has increased by 12 since the start of 2015 and by 40.68 since the agency's inception in January 2014. At end of May, 128 social workers were under active recruitment to Tusla. It is important to recall that in addition to frontline child welfare and protection services, social workers are required to fulfil other Tusla functions, such as the recruitment and assessment of foster families. Officials from my Department have already been engaging with Tusla on resources for the remainder of 2015 and into 2016. A submission on staffing and other resource issues is to be made in the near future. Tusla has indicated that it is currently looking at ways to improve the rate at which staff can be recruited.

The Chief Operations Officer has assumed direct management oversight of the special programme for improvement and has been overseeing the implementation of the comprehensive action plan which has been agreed with HIQA. The COO is project owner of the implementation steering group. In addition to the HIQA action plan, further steps were identified by Tusla and are well underway. An experienced short term social work team was put in place to assess the backlog of cases. This has involved a significant number of cases being closed, being referred to other appropriate services, and the remaining cases were prioritised to be allocated a social worker. The supports for the intervention in Louth Meath are currently being resourced with a Team Leader and a number of social workers. As of 24 June, Tusla has reported that this action is also complete. Specific training provision is on track and includes training on thresholds, assessment guidance and the Child Protection Notification System. Actions for the implementation of supervision policy and the oversight of audits as part of the monthly review process are complete. Overall 9 out of 17 actions identified by Tusla were completed by 24 June, with a further 6 actions on track for completion over the course of the summer. Only 2 of the actions have revised timelines since the implementation plan was put in place, one relating to a business case to expand the provision of local prevention partnership & family supports (PPFS) and one about an approach to quality assurance audits. Both of these are expected to be completed before the end of the summer.

It is worth noting that the inspection findings were not all about deficits. It was found that many children have benefitted from the service and that there was evidence of good practice and excellent inter-agency collaboration in Louth Meath. Good practice with children and families was observed by inspectors. Reforms on how the service provided by Tusla is organised nationally are taking effect. I am committed to seeing the reforms underpin a service that delivers a consistent, responsive and safe child welfare and protection service for the children and families of Louth Meath and the country.