Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1155. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of the implementation of Tusla's ICT strategy. [34180/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Tusla, the Child and Family Agency developed a draft ICT Strategy in November 2016 that recommended a set of options with regard to ICT delivery models and ICT management structures. In line with these recommendations, the Agency has recently appointed an ICT Director with the responsibility to progress the development and implementation of the Tusla ICT Strategy.

Tusla's ICT Directorate is currently revising its ICT Strategy in order to take advantage of emerging ICT innovations as well as opportunities presented from recent Government digital initiatives such as the ‘Build to Share’ programme. The strategy and associated implementation plan is scheduled to be finalised in the coming months.

Tusla's current ICT focus is on the development of the National Child Care Information System (NCCIS), which will ensure that every social work department has a user-friendly technology solution to record the case history of every child, who is the subject of a child protection or welfare concern, from the point of initial referral to case closure. Significant progress has been made on the development of NCCIS software and roll out to Tusla areas over the past 12 months. Tusla intends to roll out the system nationally between now and mid-2018.

While Tusla currently has a small internal ICT team, it works in conjunction with the Health Service Executive (HSE), which provides the majority of its ICT service requirements. The ICT Directorate has worked closely with the HSE, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) and ICT industry leaders to develop a vision and strategy to transform and position ICT in Tusla. Tusla plans to deliver on the guiding principle of providing services which are secure, integrated, innovative and consistent. The aim throughout is to maintain a high quality ICT system that puts children first and serves the needs of all Tusla stakeholders.