Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Assisting families to access high-quality, affordable early learning and care, ELC, and school age childcare is a priority for me as Minister. My Department funds a number of ELC and school age capital, SAC, programmes and I want to see investment in this area continue to increase significantly in the coming years. I am delighted that First 5, the whole-of-Government strategy for babies, young children and their families, commits to doubling investment over the next ten years.

Given the large amount of public money invested in these programmes, there needs to be an appropriate level of oversight and accountability. My Department's approach to protecting Exchequer funding and ensuring compliance is balanced appropriately with the supports we provide to services to enable them to continue to deliver a sustainable and high-quality service.

Pobal, as the administrator of my Department's funded childcare programmes, conducts compliance visits to childcare service providers. These visits check a service's compliance with the published rules of Exchequer-funded programmes. Results from Pobal compliance visits for the first part of the programme year 2018-2019 show a significant level of non-compliance. This needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. In particular, many childcare services have been found to be in breach of programme rules concerning attendance records and registrations. This issue has been especially acute among services offering the community childcare subvention, CCS. Non-compliance like the type we have seen in the CCS represents a risk to Exchequer funds, as it can lead to services receiving funding in excess of their entitlements. For this reason, my Department, working with Pobal, identifies incorrect registrations and applies the relevant corrections to ensure that services receive the correct level of funding.

I recognise fully the challenges that can be faced by community services where incorrect registrations have been discovered. That is why my Department has developed a strong case management system, operated by Pobal, through which a dedicated team assists services facing challenges. This case management system provides non-financial assistance or support in the first instance and is focused on engaging those providers with an identified overclaim. Where financial difficulties or sustainability issues arise, services can access a budget that I have created to assist with these challenges and help them in transitioning in a manageable way towards sustainability. I am encouraged that the majority of services have engaged constructively with the process so far and a way forward has been found. I recommend that all other services get in contact with Pobal or their local city or county childcare committees if they need support and advice. I want to stress that expert assistance and financial support are available to those services that need it.

The existing targeted childcare schemes will be replaced later this year with the national childcare scheme, NCS, which was developed based on evidence of the best interests of children and families. Its attendance rules will reflect the reality of children and parents' lives and the need for services to operate as businesses. My Department is engaging with service providers on the development of the NCS.

Deputies will be aware that investment in childcare has increased by an unprecedented 117% in the past four budgets and now totals €575 million per year. Community services access much of this growing investment and I note that the targeted childcare supports provided under the CCS and the training and employment childcare scheme were enhanced significantly in September 2017, some by as much as 50%. The NCS will mark another significant milestone in this type of care, creating an infrastructure in which the Government continues to invest.

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