Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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371. To ask the Minister for Health the way in which personalised budgets or individualised funding is administered through the HSE in circumstances in which a person has a disability (details supplied); if parents can apply for part of the funding to employ a personal assistant for the days their child is not in the service and is engaged in alternative activities; if they must be out of the service to receive this funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49155/17]

Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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As the Deputy may be aware the Programme for Government contained a commitment to the introduction of personalised budgets for people with disabilities. I established a Task Force on Personalised Budgets on 20 September 2016, on foot of this commitment.

The Task Force on Personalised Budgets consists of a Strategy Group and an Advisory & Consultative Group. It includes officials from the relevant Government Departments and agencies, HSE, academic and policy experts, stakeholder organisations and a wide range of people with lived experience of disability and disability services (both intellectual and physical). Its remit is to make recommendations on personalised budgets models which will give people with disabilities more control in accessing health funded personal social services, giving them greater independence and choice in accessing services which best meet their individual needs. A Reference Group comprising people with lived experience of disability and disability services was also established, and the views of this group inform the Task Force deliberations.

Offering people the choice of a personalised budget is becoming increasingly common internationally as a way of providing people with more choice and control over the services and supports they access. While the concept of personalised budgets is not limited to health and personal social services, the Task Force is focussing on personalised budgets for services for adults with disabilities funded by the HSE Disability Services in the first instance. The Task Force has been asked to report with recommendations on personalised budget models by the end of 2017.

Historically, personalised budgets have been made available to a small number of people participating in pilot projects and to a very limited number of people whose specific circumstances required additional flexibility. Further roll-out of personalised budgets in 2018 will be informed by the Task Force report and will follow a structured implementation plan and process. As the Deputy's query relates to a service matter I have referred the question to the HSE for review and direct reply to the Deputy.