Report seeks ‘close monitoring’ of disability funding
The special group on public service numbers and expenditure said there should be “greater use of shared services, improved administrative efficiency and sharing of professional and clinical staffing resources by voluntary bodies” in receipt of Government funding.
The group pointed out that the Comptroller & Auditor General found in 2005 that over 600 community and voluntary agencies were funded by the State and there was no proper audit of money spent, services provided or measurement of outcomes achieved.
An Bord Snip Nua said there had to be “robust and appropriate service level agreements in place with non-profit service providers which contain clear specifications of services to be provided for the resources being made available”.
To this end, there should be close monitoring of performance against the specified service levels and financial and staffing penalties for failure to achieve them.
However the National Disability Authority (NDA) expressed concern that the recommended reduction of €50m in grants to voluntary bodies within the disability sector “would impact on frontline services for one of the most vulnerable populations... coming as it would on top of 3% in budget cuts already experienced since the start of 2008’.
The NDA said it was also concerned at the suggestion that responsibility for disability policy would revert to the Department of Health rather than remain as a core element of the equality remit of the Department of Justice.
The special group has also recommended merging the Ombudsman for Children with the Office of the Ombudsman; merging the Health Research Board with a single stream of science funding and merge the Health Insurance Authority into the Financial Regulator. It also proposes restricting the National Treatment Purchase Fund to private facilities in Ireland and abroad and removing the exchequer element of agencies part funded by the National Lottery.
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