Written answers
Thursday, 22 February 2018
Department of Children and Youth Affairs
Dormant Accounts Fund Grants
Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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18. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the allocation her Department received from the Dormant Accounts Fund of €7 million for an initiative aimed at breaking the cycle of childhood poverty; the amount that has been spent to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8866/18]
Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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My Department has received funding from the Dormant Accounts Fund for the development and implementation of the Quality and Capacity Building Initiative (QCBI). This initiative which is envisaged to run until 2020 aims to ensure the mainstreaming of learning from the original Area-Based Childhood and similar programmes in prevention and early intervention. The QCBI will harness and apply this learning across the relevant services and supports with the aim of achieving wider systems change and service improvements for children and young people.
It is both an ambitious and significant initiative and one which though consultation with key informants is seen as both necessary and impactful. The QCBI has undergone a significant design and consultation phase. Indeed this was necessary based on its scope and potential impact.
To date, approximately €232,000 has been drawn down from the Dormant Accounts fund for preparatory work during the design phase of the QCBI. The breakdown of payments made to date are attached.
Now that the initiative is advancing apace, a significant suite of projects and associated expenditure under the QCBI initiative will be advanced in the coming weeks. These include the development of a Knowledge Exchange Platform, the launch of an Innovation Fund, and the development of a training module on prevention and early intervention.
These are key measures which will actively and directly support services to ensure that they have benefit from the learning gleaned in terms of service and practice impact. This will ensure that wider structures and supports for children and young people offer the best responses in enhancing their outcomes.
| Date | QCBI -Spend to date | Payee | € |
|---|---|---|---|
| March 2016 | EU Peer Review on Prevention and Early Intervention to improve outcomes for Children, young people and their families. | Cleaver East | 3,630 |
| March & July 2016 | Data Hub Development Research | Research Matters | 20,830 |
| March 2016 | Interest on payment | Research Matters | 103 |
| March 2016 | ABC Mentoring Workshop | Clarion Hotel | 5876 |
| December 2016 & May 2017 | Landscape Analysis for QCBI- was commissioned to map relevant initiatives that were relevant for the development of QCBI with a view to harnessing and building on those initiatives. | Brian Harvey Social Research | 22,140 |
| January 2017 | QCBI Professional advice and input | Tallaght West Childhood Development Initiative | 20,000 |
| April, September and December 2017 | ‘Outcomes for Children Information and Data Hub Project’ seeks to develop a resource that presents local data related to children and services provided for them. The project that is implemented by Tusla includes the development a digital resources as well as training that will enhance data-driven planning for, and delivery of, children’s services at local level. As such, it will help to address an important deficit. Tusla’s responsibility for planning of children’s services combined with their operational oversight of Children and Young People’s Services Committees positions them well to lead on this initiative. | TUSLA | 159,000 |
| Total | 231,579 |
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