Page 2624 - Week 07 - Thursday, 1 August 2019
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The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of the ACT have a voice in the elected body. I thank the elected body for their continued support and frank and fearless advice provided to our government in working towards achieving equitable outcomes and tangible outcomes for the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. I look forward to continuing the positive partnership with the elected body to address the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans and to build on the strengths of the community to have the opportunity to share their knowledge, as the community has the answers.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
A step up for our kids—final report for the mid-strategy evaluation
MR GENTLEMAN (Brindabella—Manager of Government Business, Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Minister for Planning and Land Management, Minister for Police and Emergency Services and Minister assisting the Chief Minister on Advanced Technology and Space Industries) (3.10): Pursuant to standing order 211, I move:
That the Assembly take note of the following paper:
Out of Home Care Strategy 2015-2020—A Step Up for Our Kids—One Step Can Make a Lifetime of Difference—Final Report for the mid-Strategy evaluation.
MS STEPHEN-SMITH (Kurrajong—Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Children, Youth and Families, Minister for Disability, Minister for Employment and Workplace Safety, Minister for Health, Minister for Urban Renewal) (3.10): We are now in the fourth year of a five-year program of reform to the out of home care sector in the ACT through the out of home care strategy 2015-2020, A step up for our kids: one step can make a lifetime of difference. The number one priority under A step up for our kids is keeping families together where it is safe to do so. We are delivering on this through a range of initiatives that focus on preventing children and young people entering care and the reunification of children and young people in care with their birth families. Where a safe return home is not possible, the focus shifts to ensuring that the child or young person is settled into a permanent alternative family home as quickly as possible.
I am pleased to advise that KPMG has now completed the mid-strategy evaluation, and I would like to thank members for the opportunity to speak to the mid-strategy evaluation report today. The mid-strategy evaluation report confirms that the impact of individual reforms is still developing. It includes a range of findings that reflect that the evaluation was undertaken at the midpoint of a significant reform that will take time to mature.
Importantly, the evaluation largely considers data for 2016-17 and 2017-18 compared with the baseline of 2015-16. Where measures are captured at the end of the calendar year, the report uses 2016 data as a baseline, and looks at data from 2017 and the first six months of 2018 for comparison. In some cases where numbers are too small to report for these years, data from financial year 2011-12 onwards has been included for analysis.
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