CHILD PROTECTION — OUT-OF-HOME CARE
1025. Hon NICK GOIRAN to the parliamentary secretary representing the
Minister for Child Protection:
I refer to the Care and
protection system co-design report: Moving to child safety and family and
community wellbeing, which stated in July 2019 —
The IRG report recommended a deferment
of commissioning and agreement was reached to defer the procurement of —
Out-of-home care —
�
services for at least 12 months to allow for further development of the service
models and the completion of major tasks to be undertaken, in
collaboration with Communities, during the deferment period.
(1) Is the deferment period
complete?
(2) If yes to (1), when was it
completed?
(3) If no to (1), when is it
scheduled to be completed?
(4) Will the
minister table the last briefing note or similar document the minister has
received relating to the work undertaken during the deferment period?
Hon KYLE
McGINN replied:
I
thank the member for some notice of the question. I answer on behalf of the
parliamentary secretary. The following answer has been provided to me by
the Minister for Child Protection.
(1)–(4) The deferment period was completed on 23
September 2021. The Department of Communities has developed a commissioning project that aligns with Western Australia's
state commissioning strategy to support a cohesive and consistent approach to procurement. The
overarching plan is to introduce commissioning for all services. However,
Communities' initial focus is on priority areas, which all have
contracts expiring between June and December
2022, including out-of-home care contracts. Communities has begun engaging with
key stakeholders to seek input into the commissioning approach and
the minister is regularly updated on the progress.