Minister O’Gorman publishes Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures Annual Report 2020

Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, T.D., has today published the sixth and final Annual Report for the ‘Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures (BOBF) National Policy Framework for Children and Young People’.

Alongside the Annual Report, the Minister has also published updates to the Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures Indicator Set. The indicator set tracks progress for children and young people aged 0-24 across the five national outcomes outlined in Better Outcomes, Brighter Future, and help to identify emerging trends.

The indicator set provides a broad picture of: how children and young people in Ireland are faring, in terms of how active and healthy they are; the extent to which they are achieving their full potential in learning and development; how safe and protected they are from harm; how economically secure they are; and how connected, respected and engaged they are in society.

Some highlights of the indicators include:

The percentage of 3 year olds 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 publication of the Annual Report and Indicators, 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”

“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.”

Notes to the Editor:

Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures (BOBF), National Policy Framework for Children and Young People (2014 – 2020)

Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, launched in April 2014, represented the first overarching national children’s policy framework covering the age range spanning children and young people 0–24 years. It adopted a whole-of-government approach and was underpinned by a number of constituent strategies in the areas of early years, youth, participation and LGBTI+.

The Framework:

Established a shared set of outcomes for children and young people to which all Government Departments and agencies, statutory services and the voluntary and community sectors worked to ensure a coherent response for children and young people;
Identified the range of commitments in place across Government and progressed these based on a structured, systematic and outcomes focused approach;
Prioritised the key cross-cutting transformational goals under each outcome area, which required concerted and coordinated action to ensure the realisation of the respective outcomes;
Emphasised an integrated and evidence informed approach to working across Government, on horizontal and vertical levels – an approach that was child-centred, benefited from interagency and multidisciplinary working, and which transferred to all sectors and settings working with children and young people.

Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures adopted an outcomes approach based on five national outcomes for children and young people. These outcomes are interconnected and reinforcing and captured current and new Government commitments to improving policy and services in relation to each.

These are:

1. Active and healthy with physical and mental wellbeing

2. Achieving full potential in all areas of learning and development

3. Safe and protected from harm

4. Economic security and opportunity

5. Connected, respected and contributing to their world.

To ensure more children and young people achieve these outcomes, six transformational goals were identified that needed focus over the lifetime of the Framework. These goals were identified as key areas that, with focused and collective effort, had the potential to transform the effectiveness of existing policies, services and resources.

The 163 commitments in Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures were drawn from across Government. The Framework recognised the need to connect, nationally and locally, if we were to effectively utilise all of the inputs and resources available to support our vision for children and young people.

Updated Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures indicator set report

The report presents updates to the Better Outcomes Indicator set. The indicator set was first published in 2017 and a detailed methodology report that describes the process used to develop this indicator was published in 2019.

The purpose of the indicator set is to track progress for children and young people aged 0-24 across the five national outcomes outlined in Better Outcomes, Brighter Future: The national policy framework for children and young people 2014-2020. To achieve this, the indicators identify and combine data from a range of sources including administrative survey and census data. In all, the indicator set includes 70 indicator areas with between one and four indicators per area. The report includes summary level data for each indicator and detailed information on the indicator sources.

For each indicator data are presented (where available) for the closest point in time to the establishment of Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures in 2014, the closest point in time to the first publication of the report in 2017 and to the most recent as of 2021.

Some highlights of the indicators include:

Outcome 1: Active and healthy

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 children aged 11-17 who report smoking monthly or more frequently decreased from 12% in 2010 to 5% in 2018.
The total number of deaths among children and young people aged 0-24 years decreased from 545 in 2014 to 363 in 2020. The number of suicides also decreased over time, from 76 in 2014 to 51 in 2020.

Outcome 2: Achieving full potential in learning and development

The percentage of early childhood care and education (ECCE) services that meet higher capitation criteria increased from 46% in 2014 to 61% in 2020.
The Leaving Cert completion rate increased from 90% for the 2007 post-primary school entry cohort to 92% for the 2014 cohort.
The percentage of secondary school students progressing directly to higher education increased between 2015 and 2020, from 42% to 47% for students in DEIS schools, and from 70% to 71% for students in non-DEIS schools.

Outcome 3: Safe and protected from harm

The number of children under 18 classified as “at ongoing risk of significant harm and in need of a child protection plan” decreased from 1,354 in 2015 to 939 in 2020.
The percentage of open cases awaiting the allocation of a social worker has decreased over time, from 31% in 2014 to 20% in 2020.
From 2010 to 2018, the percentage of children aged 11-17 who reported being bullied in school in the past couple of months increased from 24% to 31%, while the percentage who reported bullying others decreased from 17% to 13%.

Outcome 4: Economic security and opportunity

The percentage of 0-14 year olds and 15-24 year olds experiencing consistent poverty was 8% and 6% respectively in 2020.
The percentage of children under 18 living in jobless households decreased from 16% in 2014 to 11% in 2020.
The number of children aged 0-17 years experiencing homelessness increased from 880 in 2014 to 2,193 in 2021.

Outcome 5: Connected, respected and contributing to their world

From 2012 to 2018, the percentage of 15 year olds who report spending time just talking with their parents increased from 68% to 70%.
The percentage of 16-24 year olds who report having high satisfaction with their personal relationships increased from 56% to 58% between 2013 and 2018.
In 2018, 78% of children aged 10-17 felt that they are valued and respected as a person.

Better Outcomes Brighter Futures Sixth Annual Report January - December 2020

Better Outcomes Brighter Future Indicator Set