MINISTER for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman T.D. has published the sixth and final Annual Report for the ‘Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures (BOBF) National Policy Framework for Children and Young People.’
O’Gorman also published updates to the BOBF Indicator Set, which tracks progress for children and young people aged 0-24 years old across the five national outcomes outlined in the BOBF.
The BOBF Indicator Set helps provide a broad picture of how children and young people in Ireland are faring. One of the many statistics it tracks is how active they are and also how healthy they are as well. It also looks at how they are learning and developing to make sure they reach their full potential and how engaged they are in society.
📢 Minister @rodericogorman publishes Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures (BOBF) Annual Report 2020.
📰 Read more: https://t.co/mza2C3TFqz
📍 The report can also be downloaded here: https://t.co/gspsPB0qHy pic.twitter.com/ZVbijI3ji7
— Children, Equality, Disability, Integration, Youth (@dcediy) January 20, 2022
Some of the highlights from the indicators include:
- The percentage of 3 year old’s in pre-primary school education has increased from 46% in 2013 to 98% in 2018.
- The percentage of children living in jobless households decreased from 16% in 2014 to 11% in 2020.
- The rate of binge drinking reported by young people aged 15-24 years has decreased, from 58% in 2015 to 31% in 2021.
- The percentage of open cases awaiting the allocation of a social worker has decreased, from 31% in 2014 to 20% in 2020.
Commenting on the sixth and final BOBF Report, Minister O’Gorman said; “I welcome the publication of the sixth and final Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures Annual Report for 2020.
“When launched in April 2014, Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures was the first overarching national policy framework for children and young people aged from birth to 24 years. It represented a fundamental change in the way we view children and young people and set out a mandate and agenda for transforming how we work as a collective to meet their needs and aspirations.
“The Annual Report, alongside the Indicators, demonstrate that we have made very strong progress in this regard and I am committed to further strengthening and sustaining our efforts, building on achievements and addressing some of the enduring problems that adversely impact on the lives of children and young people.” he said.
Minister O’Gorman looks to further improve children’s and young people’s outcomes and improve their lives using the BOBF report. “We now look forward in our collective efforts to further improve outcomes for children and young people in Ireland.
“We will take the learnings from the Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures process on board. Work on the development of the successor Framework has begun in my Department and I look forward to working with all stakeholders in its development and implementation;” he added.
Link to BOBF Report: a6157aee-36e1-4bb5-9997-bbd0d14e8efd.pdf (www.gov.ie)
Link to BOBF Indicator Set: 1ce0be37-11c1-4aac-9e3a-9f9c49368cf0.pdf (www.gov.ie)
