department of social and family affairs annual report 2006 - Welfare.ie

input their views on social inclusion issues and
the 2006 meeting had a particular focus on the
development of the 2007-2016 National Action
Plan for Social Inclusion (NAPinclusion).
A key element of the day’s events were the five
parallel workshops, which were focused around
the proposed priorities for action in the National
Action Plan – Children and Families; People of
Working Age; Public Services; Older People; and
Public Participation. A formal report of the 2006
Social Inclusion Forum containing all inputs and
reports of the workshop outputs was prepared
and presented to the Cabinet Committee on
Social Inclusion and is available from the National
Economic and Social Forum.
> Institutional Structures
During 2006 OSI continued to support the
institutional structures which underpin the
NAPinclusion. In addition to the Office for Social
Inclusion, these include:
• The Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion,
chaired by the Taoiseach, which met six times
during the year;
• The interdepartmental Senior Officials
Group on Social Inclusion, co-ordinated by
the Department of the Taoiseach which met
monthly during 2006 to brief and advise the
Cabinet Committee;
• The Social Inclusion Consultative Group,
involving the social partners and anti-poverty
experts, which met twice during 2006;
• Social Inclusion Officers/Units, established
in key Government Departments, who work
with the OSI on an ongoing basis on the coordination
of their Department’s contribution to
the process ;
• The National Economic and Social Forum,
which, in co-operation with the OSI, convened
the Social Inclusion Forum (SIF) in February
2006;
• The Technical Advisory Group (TAG) chaired by
OSI, which advises the Office on the formation
of an enhanced data strategy to underpin
the NAPS, progressed the agenda on poverty
measurement during the year;
• National Development Plan (NDP)/Community
Support Framework (CSF) Monitoring and Coordinating
Committees. The promotion of Social
Inclusion was one of 4 key objectives of the
National Development Plan 2000-2006 and the
OSI had responsibility for supporting the social
inclusion horizontal principle within the NDP/
CSF. To assist the progression of this process
and generally increase the social inclusion focus
of the NDP, the OSI participated on all NDP
Monitoring Committees during 2006. Social
Inclusion remains a key objective of the new
NDP 2007-2013 with the inclusion of a chapter
on social inclusion.
> Development of a Comprehensive
Strategic Framework for Social
Inclusion
The OSI was involved in the further development
of a comprehensive integrated strategic
framework for social inclusion, and its constituent
elements, during 2006. The framework
encompasses the National Action Plan for Social
Inclusion and the following:
• Towards 2016 – social partnership agreement.
The agreement provides a long-term framework
for addressing key social inclusion challenges
and adopts a new approach to tackling these
problems based on the lifecycle approach.
This seeks to orient public services around the
needs of people at different stages of their lives
– children, young adults, people of working age,
older people and people with a disability.
• National Development Plan 2007-2013
– TRANSFORMING IRELAND A Better Quality of
Life for All. The NDP provides the investment
needed to realise the goals and a range of other
actions and commitments included in Towards
2016 and the National Action Plan for Social
Inclusion.
• National Report for Ireland on Strategies for
Social Protection and Social Inclusion 2006-
2008. The social inclusion element of this report
was compiled by the OSI under the EU’s Open
Method of Co-Ordination. The report was
submitted to the EU Commission in September
2006
annual report 2006
53