Kathleen Funchion presses for national child poverty action plan

Thanks very much. My question is in relation to what actions your department is planning to take to implement the key recommendations from the Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures National Advisory Council for Children and Young People paper, and what steps are going to be taken to develop a national action plan to address child poverty as part of the next national policy framework? Thank you, Minister. Good morning, Chair. Thank you, Deputy. I am very much aware of the National Advisory Council's position paper on child poverty, which I published on my department's website last week, along with the final Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, or Bob F, as we call it, annual report, and the updated indicator set. I have had an excellent engagement with the Advisory Council on this issue, and I met with them specifically on the child poverty paper in December. Deputy, you will be aware that the Department of Social Protection is the department that leads on the road map for social inclusion 2020 to 2025. That is aimed at reducing poverty, including child poverty, and improving social inclusion. Last September, I circulated the Council's paper to the Bob F Consortium and to Minister O'Brien, Joe O'Brien, and Minister Humphreys, requesting them to give detailed consideration to the recommendations in the context of their budget 2022 discussions. And in respect of the Council's recommendation to give voice to children's experience of poverty, my department has published a request for tenders seeking methodological advice on hearing the voice of children who are in poverty. I have also met with the Ombudsman for Children in relation to his Better Normal report on child poverty and child homelessness, and as you know, we discussed that paper in this House. Following Budget 2022, within my own department, I secured additional funding to reduce child care costs for parents, and in particular, to reform the national child care scheme to positively impact on children in socio-economically disadvantaged communities, and on services with high concentrations of families from socio-economically disadvantaged communities. Myself and Minister O'Brien's officials are in contact with regard to a new target for child poverty under the Roadmap for Social Inclusion, and identifying a programme of work to address child poverty under the successor framework. I will be meeting with Minister Joe O'Brien later this month about this issue. Finally then, I will shortly bring the draft EU Child Guarantee National Action Plan to Government. This plan addresses a number of critical matters, securing free access to early childhood education, education and healthcare for children in need. As part of this process, and in developing the successor national policy framework to better outcomes, brighter futures, I will continue to engage with my Cabinet colleagues to pursue a coherent agenda in relation to child poverty, and a key part of that will be the Bob F successor strategy. Thanks very much, Minister. I wanted to raise this question so that we could actually just raise it, the issue of child poverty as well, because I think whenever we get the opportunity to highlight it, we should. I was kind of struck as well. We have been looking at child poverty, and the children's committees are probably aware, and we had the Vincent de Paul in talking about people still accessing food and still being hungry. It just really struck me that one of the witnesses said that in 2022, we still have people either going into school hungry or coming home in the evening hungry. And obviously food poverty is a key part of it, the whole area of school meals. I know some of this falls into education, and I think probably that is where sometimes things fall down in this chamber as well, when things are in different departments. But I wanted to just raise the issue of food poverty in particular, and I suppose then childcare, but I see my time is ticking, so I will come back to the childcare one in the next round. Thanks. Thanks, definitely. Look, it is always really, really important that we address the issue of child poverty in this House. I suppose in terms of the specific elements of food poverty, as you know, in both last year and this year's budget, the free school meals programme has been broadened out. And I think that is probably the most practical step we can take in terms of providing an immediate sustenance to young children to really support their own education. And further, obviously, Minister Foley has announced the broadening of the DESH scheme as well, which would provide greater supports for children in the most disadvantaged schools. I think it is also worth noting, Deputy, we discussed child poverty, I suppose, when we both came into these roles 18 months ago. There was a big concern that with COVID we would see a big spike in child poverty. The child poverty figures released for 2020, which is the earliest we have from December of last year, they actually showed a drop in 2020. 14,000 children came out of child poverty in that year, a 1.2% drop. It is a small drop, but it does show that the measures we took during COVID, the additional supports, did work, and that spike we all feared did not happen. We actually got a decrease. Thanks, Minister. Actually, I think that is a good argument for keeping some of those additional measures, and I may as well take the opportunity to say that. But I suppose child care we hear all the time is one of the key issues. I know there has been increased investment and there is the plan for the JLC and everything, which is all very welcome. But I do think we just need to keep a focus on as much investment as possible, because we know that it is mainly women that are affected by that issue, and they generally are head-up single-parent households, and they are affected by poverty more than other households. So I just think childcare, and in relation to the school meals, that is actually an excellent programme. And it is why, if possible, we should look at widening that out, and that it should not just be desh schools, because you have kids who are in non-desh schools who really need that. So look, I just wanted to raise the issue, and I just think we really need to keep a focus, particularly on the areas of food poverty and childcare, because they are really practical ways that we can help families out of poverty. And it is, I mean, it is not good to say in 2022 whether people in our country are still relying on food banks. But, you know, I just wanted to raise the issue and say that if there was a little bit more joined-up as well, because I know it falls to education, but I think that as it falls to children as well, in terms of the school meals, sorry for going over time. Thanks. Thanks very much. Well, I think the joined-up element is really important, and I see that Bob F, the Successful Strategy to Bob F, is going to have a very significant child poverty focus within it. As a subset of that, then, we have the EU Child Guarantee, which is, I suppose, guidance, support, and some financial support as well, coming from the European Union. So the Child Guarantee and the actions we take there will sit within the wider Bob F work. But I think that that joined-up element is really important, and that is why I am engaging very closely in the first instance, with Minister O'Brien and subsequently, obviously, with Minister Humphreys, Minister Foley, and other Ministers. In terms of childcare, you are absolutely right, and I think that is why the steps we took in this year's Budget to remove the wraparound hours, which will have a major impact on children in the most disadvantaged areas, and, look, that is something you and I and other Deputies have discussed significantly since I came into this role. We have taken a major step. 5,000 children will benefit from not having the wraparound hours removed from their free childcare allocation from this spring, and that is a major step forward. Thanks, Minister. I will argue with Senator Szz co-choice. I am wrong. This hold as human可愛 wenig Dani school is 40 minutes in the Chinese state. 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