PAC32-R-474(ii) B Meeting 11/05/2017
9th May 2017
Ms. Margaret Falsey,
Committee Secretariat
Committee of Public Accounts
Leinster House
Kildare Street
Dublin 2.
Dear Ms. Falsey,
Thank you for your email as received on the 25th April 2017.
Please find enclosed further information that was requested by the Committee during
the course of the Committee’s examination of the Caranua Financial Statements
2014 and 2015 which are highlighted in your letter.
I have provided the information in a separate document, together with requested
supporting documentation in an Appendix to the document. I am also enclosing
copies of our Application Packs which are given to each person who applies to us,
for the information of the Committee.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you require any clarification or additional
information with regard to any of these or other issues of interest to the Committee.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Committee for its interest in the work
of Caranua and for your assistance.
Yours sincerely
MARY HIGGINS
Chief Executive Officer
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1. A note on the Towards Healing organisation with information on whether
survivors were made aware of its funding by religious orders ............................ 3
2. A breakdown of the budget for travel and subsistence 2017 ........................ 5
3. A note on the amount of agency staff employed and the cost associated
with these employees .............................................................................................. 6
4. A list of the internal and external audit reports and the costs associated
with each ................................................................................................................... 7
5. A note on the rent to be paid per annum for the forthcoming move of
premises ................................................................................................................... 8
6. A note on the liaison officers, the terms of their appointment and a
breakdown by local authority .................................................................................. 9
7. A note on the Board Meeting held in April 2016, including minutes and
presentations, at which the financial position of the organisation was
discussed................................................................................................................ 11
APPENDIX ............................................................................................................... 12
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INFORMATION FROM CARANUA IN RESPONSE TO REQUEST FROM THE
PUBLIC ACCOUNTS COMMITTEE ON 13th APRIL 2017
1.
A note on the Towards Healing organisation with information on
whether survivors were made aware of its funding by religious orders
Towards Healing provides a face to face and telephone counselling service in Ireland
and other parts of the world to people who experienced abuse in institutions in
Ireland managed by religious congregations on behalf of the State, clerical sexual
abuse and to others impacted by such abuse. This service is funded exclusively with
funds from religious institutions and Catholic dioceses in Ireland.
Caranua aims to improve the quality of life of people who apply to us. We are
conscious that counselling and other therapies are important in helping people to
deal with, process and recover from, adverse childhood experiences and these are
included in the range of services that we can consider providing support for. We are
aware that some people require ongoing counselling to support them to manage
their day to day lives, others can manage their lives very well and require counselling
as and when needed and others may have need for only temporary therapeutic
interventions.
Our approach to paying for counselling services is that we, in the first instance,
advise anyone who applies for support of the availability of counselling, free of
charge, from Immigrant Counselling and Psychotherapy (ICAP), National
Counselling Service and Connect which are all funded by the State; and Towards
Healing. We do explain about the services, their origins and the sources of funding
for them, although in practice the majority of our applicants are already familiar with
these services before they come to us.
We encourage applicants to use these services as they are free and as far as we are
aware, will be into the future. Caranua is a limited fund with a limited time span and
we try not to create dependence on services that may not be available once we are
gone.
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Where, for some reason, it is not possible for an applicant to avail of these services
we can and do, consider paying for alternative therapy services.
In the course of conversations with applicants, we will explain the background to any
services that we are advising about. With regard to our making payments in respect
of people who have reached the 80 session cap with Towards Healing, and have
already been in contact with counsellors who are paid by Towards Healing for some
time. The counsellors are independent of Towards Healing and contracted to
provide specific services, not employed directly.
Unlike other counselling services, Towards Healing introduced a cap on the number
of free counselling sessions that an individual could avail of. This cap was set at 80
sessions and is subject to clinical assessment of continuing need. Towards Healing
then approached Caranua to enter into an arrangement whereby a person who had
reached this cap and required further treatment, could apply to Caranua for support.
This matter was considered by the Board over a number of meetings during 2014
and a number of meetings were also held between the Chair and CEO of both
Towards Healing and Caranua (19th March, 5th June and 15th July). The concern
that the cap had been introduced in order to avail of funding through Caranua and
that this payment from Caranua for services to Towards Healing would, in effect, be
a subsidy from one fund supported by Catholic bodies to another, was raised and
considered by the Board.
A decision, in principle, to enter into an agreement with Towards Healing was made
by the Board at its meeting on 19th June. The Board was not in favour of a “block
grant” to Towards Healing, but the payment for services provided by Towards
Healing in respect of individuals. In taking this decision, the Board was of the view
that this arrangement would help to ensure the continuation of services to those who
had been clinically assessed as needing those services, with a therapist they had a
relationship with, while at the same time removing the necessity for individual
applicants to provide Caranua with quotes and receipts, thereby reducing a burden
on them and reducing administration for Caranua.
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A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Towards Healing and Caranua
was signed in October 2014 (and is attached for information). This sets out the
terms of the agreement and the arrangements for presentation to Caranua by
individuals for counselling services with Towards Healing. For its part, Towards
Healing would make an assessment of each individual as they neared the cap and
advise any who they considered should continue with counselling to apply to
Caranua. For its part, Caranua would consider applications and approve
applications for individuals. Towards Healing would then invoice Caranua for the
approved counselling in respect of each individual and these invoices would be paid
in due course. In keeping with the MOU and to facilitate efficiency, Towards Healing
submitted invoices in batches.
Some difficulties have emerged in the course of time relating to the submission of
invoices in respect of individuals for whom Caranua has not approved payments in
advance. Where this has been identified, invoices have not been paid.
Correspondence has been sent to Towards Healing and meetings held with
representatives from the organisation and Caranua in order to resolve these
difficulties and at the moment are ongoing. To date, Caranua has paid €94,648.50
to Towards Healing in respect of 59 individuals.
Towards
Healing
Total Value
Value
2015
€87,263.50
€87,263.50
2016
€7,385.00
€7,385.00
€94,648.50
€94,648.50
Grand Total
2.
A breakdown of the budget for travel and subsistence 2017
Caranua travel and subsistence is paid to staff and Board members according to the
rates directed by the Department of Public Expnediture and Reform. Members of the
Board are entitled to claim for subsistence and travel to and from Board meetings
and other formal events. Members of staff incur such costs in the course of their
work, particularly in travel to meetings with survivor support groups and other
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relevant organisations and outreach events organised by Caranua for applicants and
potential applicants in Ireland and the UK. An outreach programme is approved by
the Board each year.
At its meeting of 15th December 2016, the Board reviewed the Outreach and
Communications programme and gave approval that it be continued for 2017. The
Board subsequently approved the Administration Budget for 2017 at its meeting of
23rd March 2017 that included the following Travel and Subsistence budgets for
Board and Staff:
Table 1: Caranua travel and subsistence budget 2017
3.
A note on the amount of agency staff employed and the cost associated
with these employees
It is important to note that the level of staff and the grade of those staff is set by the
Departments of Education and Skills and Public Expenditure and Reform. These
terms were set prior to the establishment of Caranua, at 10 full time equivalent staff.
These included three staff that were inherited from the Education Finance Board.
Caranua began accepting applications in January 2014. At that time just five of its
staff were in place, with recruitment in train for the balance. In the meantime, three
extra temporary staff were brought in to help to prepare for our opening. The volume
of applications received in the initial months and the nature of the interactions with
applicants was overwhelming for the resources that were in place at the time.
In order to continue to operate at a reasonable level of service, approval was
received from both Departments to take on additional staff through an agency in
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June 2014 and the number approved was later increased. Following the completion
of the external organisation review by Mazars, approval was received to recruit staff
to bring it up to a complement of 24.6 staff.
This recruitment was carried out during the second quarter of 2016 and staff were
recruited on specified purpose contracts. About half of the staff who were recruited
through this process had been working with Caranua as agency staff so it was
possible to retain much of their skill and expertise.
The use of agency staff, while a good stop gap, is problematic for a number of
reasons. It is expensive; agency staff are, by definition, usually seeking full-time
employment and when such becomes available they leave, leading to high turn-over
and loss of skill and expertise and a significant disruption to the relationships that we
aim to build with our applicants.
The number and spend on agency staff 2014-2017 is shown below
4.
Total spend
€2,017,745.62
Number of staff
28.3 FTE
A list of the internal and external audit reports and the costs associated
with each
The Committee requested information and the cost of all internal and external audits
carried out for Caranua. It also referred to the organisation reivew which was carried
out by Mazars and while this is not an audit as such, the information on the purpose
and cost of this is included here. As a State Agency, Caranua is also subject to
external audit by the C&AG at a total cost of €43,834 from 2013-2016.
Purpose
Company
Cost €
Review of organisation, including all
Mazars,
€36,066.42
activities, processes, staffing structure,
following
governance and incidental issues.
tender
(€24,666.42
Completed in late 2015 with a number of
process
organisation review;
recommendations made to improve
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processes, employ a Director of Finance,
€11,400.00
put in place an internal audit function and
governance review)
increase staff to a compliment of 24.6. All
recommendations have been implemented
or otherwise absored into work plans.
Internal audit, as recommended by
Capita,
organisation review and as required by the
following
Code of Practice of Governance of State
tender
Bodies.
process
5.
€11,550.00
A note on the rent to be paid per annum for the forthcoming move of
premises
Since its establishment in April 2013, Caranua has occupied office space in a
building shared with other Agencies under the aegis of the Department of Education
and Skills. From the outset of our occupation it was made clear that we would be
required to find alternative premises. A number of attempts to do so, both through
the OPW and through commercial properties, have proven to be unsuccessful, due
to a number of factors, including an unwilllingness by the Board to use the Fund for
rent.
In 2016, we received notice that the lease on our current offices had been terminated
by the OPW and alternative premises were sourced. Caranua must pay the full cost
of the building and these costs are set out here:
Table 2: Cost of rent
New premises rent for 1 year
Rent
incl VAT
(€188,589)
€231,965
Service Charge
€31,431
Parking spaces
€9,000
€272,396
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6.
A note on the liaison officers, the terms of their appointment and a
breakdown by local authority
Caranua requested relevant public bodies in Ireland to appoint Liaison Officers in
accordance with Section 24 of the Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act, 2012.
Given that the scope of our services is limited to health, education and housing,
requests were made in 2013 to the Education Training Boards (ETB), local
authorities (through the City and County Management Association) and the HSE.
Caranua requested that the Liaison Officers would be at a level in the organisation
that would be able to make decisions. The ETB appointed Adult Education
Organisers and the local authorities’ Housing Officers, Housing Welfare Officers or
Senior Executive of Administrative Officers.
A full list of each Liaison Officer and contact details was supplied and provided to
each member of Caranua staff to facilitate communication and a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) was prepared by Caranua and provided to each Liaison
Officer. Each of these is attached.
The arrangement with the HSE was slightly different, due to the fact that the range of
services that Caranua could consider in the area of health and wellbeing was so
diverse. Michele Taite, Programme Manager of the National Hepatitis C Programme
was appointed as Liaison to Caranua. The provisions for health services in the
Residential Institutions Statutory Fund Act, 2012 were taken from the Health
Amendment Act, 1996 which provides the basis for the Hepatitis C Programme.
Having a named individual in an organisation to work with in relation to individual
cases has been helpful to Caranua, particularly at the early stages of our responding
to applications. However, the number of people who are interested in education is
very small and contact with ETB officers in relation to individual applications has
been minimal. In the local authorities, personnel tend to move from one department
to another so that named individuals are subject to change. This has not created a
problem in relation to individual applications as the responsible officer is always
responsive to requests for information or other support.
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The work of Caranua is not confined to health, housing and education and while we
have maintained a strong focus on developing relationships with appointed health
and housing staff, we have also developed strong working relationships with other
government departments and public services such as the Department of Social
Protection, Citizens Information Services, Money Advice and Budgeting Services,
community based health services, Local Development Companies, Family Support
Services, Mental Health and Addiction services and counselling services.
We have maintained a strategic focus in terms of relationships with health, education
and housing bodies. Most of our applicants are in the Dublin area and many of
these are local authority tenants. We have presented information on our work to the
Dublin Local Authority Disability Managers and Dublin City Council Housing
Department has provided information to Caranua staff. This contact ensures that
understanding and co-operation is built and communication is straightforward.
The ETBI have made presentations to Caranua staff, as have other education
bodies, such as Aontas on further education and community education opportunities.
In 2014, we organised a project with the HSE through which 60 applicants received a
comprehensive dental assessment and treatment plan. This provided an idea of the
level of dental health among the population, which was very poor and of the need for
sedation for many to undergo treatment and helped to inform our decision making in
relation to applications for dental treatment.
As a result of this project, the HSE committed to providing Caranua applicants with a
Dental Treatment Services Card which would ensure that they would receive the
range of services that were available prior to the cuts that came into effect in 2010.
In 2016 the HSE appointed a high level group to liaise with us, comprised of national
leads for mental health, public health nursing, general practitioners and dentists.
This provides a forum for feedback, troubleshooting and taking a more strategic
approach to the ongoing needs of survivors.
These relationships continue to be of importance to us in our work with individual
applicants and will become more important in the coming years, as we work to
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ensure that staff in these services become trauma informed so that they can
recognise, understand and respond to the needs of survivors in the future.
7.
A note on the Board Meeting held in April 2016, including minutes and
presentations, at which the financial position of the organisation was
discussed
A sub-committee of the Board was established in February 2016 to review the
operation of the Fund and to make recommendations to the Board on any changes
that should be made to the services, criteria, limits and guidelines. This followed on
from consideration by the Board of the expenditure of the Fund and concerns that
the Fund could not be distributed equitably if current patterns of expenditure
continued. The sub-committee comprised the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee
and two of the survivors on the Board. The presentation made to the Board by the
sub-committee in April 2016 is attached to the submission together with the minutes
of that meeting which are also available on the Caranua website.
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APPENDIX
1.
MOU between Towards Healing and Caranua.
2.
A note on the payments, by year, made to Towards Healing.
3.
List of Liaison Officers for local authorities and Education Training
Boards
4.
Minutes and presentations in respect of Caranua Board Meeting April
2016
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