The Regional Secretary for Social Solidarity stated in Angra do Heroísmo that the attempt to replicate national social responses carries the risk of creating a system that fails to meet the real needs of the Region. The government official alluded to the proposal presented by PSD concerning the implementation of a social network in the Azores, similar to the one implemented in Mainland Portugal.

Andreia Cardoso stressed that the proposals will not bring added value to the Region since they merely duplicate the tools already in operation. In this regard, she recalled that the implementation of the Regional Network of Local Development and Social Cohesion Centres has been implemented for over a year.

Speaking to journalists at the end of a hearing at the Committee on Social Affairs of the Legislative Assembly, the Regional Secretary regretted the apparent lack of knowledge on the measures already implemented and planned by the Regional Government. In fact, "it was decided in the Programme of the Government, presented and discussed in 2012, to present a model for the establishment of local centres for social development, which was duly approved at the Regional Legislative Assembly. This measure covered the creation of a network in the archipelago with adjustments to the regional reality."

"Autonomy was established for this reason, allowing the Regional Government to adjust or adapt its social policies, namely the size of the networks to be created in the regional territory," defended the Regional Secretary.

Andreia Cardoso was heard on three proposals submitted by the PSD regarding to the eventual creation of a social network in the Region, the amendment to the customer-value calculation formula stipulated in the financing model for Private Social Solidarity Institutions (IPSS) and the extension of home support service on weekends.

The Regional Secretary stressed that the revision of the amounts provided in the IPSS funding model is already planned, from the beginning, in the base agreement signed with several institutions. Indeed, the Government has already presented a proposal for differentiation in accordance with the degree of dependence of the elderly living in the nursing homes covered by this agreement.

"The model is suited to the concerns expressed by the institutions themselves, granting them increased management autonomy and greater transparency in public funding," said the Regional Secretary. In this context, she recalled the creation of a monitoring infrastructure for this model - Monitoring Mission Structure for Financing of Social Responses in the Azores (EMAFReSA) - which has yielded results and continues to work on the planned adjustments.

As for home support services, Andreia Cardoso stressed that "extending services to the weekend is not enough," noting that the needs of this response have already been identified and analysed. In fact, this concern has been taken into consideration by the Government for a long time since the vast majority of institutions providing these services already do so on weekends and holidays.