Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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29. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of her Department's review of the sustainability of the child care sector; and when this review will be published. [31219/17]

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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52. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her Department has commissioned an independent early childhood service cost and sustainability review encompassing the identification and assessment of stress factors impacting on the early childhood services; if so, the expected date for this to be completed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31224/17]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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553. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of her Department's review of the sustainability of the child care sector; and when this review will be published. [31232/17]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I would like to know the status of the Department's review of the sustainability of the child care sector and when the Minister hopes to have it published. That is Question No. 29.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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We have moved on to Question No. 29 because Question No. 28 is in Deputy Jan O'Sullivan's name and she is not present in the Chamber.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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We are now on Question No. 29. Is that the position?

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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Yes, in the name of Deputy Anne Rabbitte.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Is that the correct number?

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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It relates to the review of the sustainability of the child care sector.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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Yes.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Okay. I had a reply to a number of questions relating to homelessness next.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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Yes, there is a grouping of questions.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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That is not the next group of questions.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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No. Question No. 29 and the other questions it is being taken with is the next grouping of questions.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 29, 52 and 553 together.

The issue of sustainability in child care services is challenging and multifaceted. The rate of subvention funding provided by my Department’s child care schemes is at the core of this, but there are also other significant issues. These include the receipt of parental contributions; funding from Tusla and other sources for services related to child care; and the scope of care offered by providers, in particular in the community sector. The scope of care often goes beyond the core child care and early years care and education or school age child care funded by my Department. I am confident that the reduced parental co-payment that will be required as part of the September 2017 more affordable child care measures and the new affordable child care scheme will improve community providers’ sustainability.

My Department is in the process of commissioning an independent review of the cost of quality child care. This will be put to tender by mid-August and will be completed within a number of months. My officials have been scoping the work that will be involved and preparing terms of reference for the study. Issues to be examined in the independent review will include average unit costs for child care providers, both centre-based providers and home-based childminders; factors that result in different costs for different providers, including age of children, geography, such as rural versus urban, whether a service is a community service or private, and aspects of the quality of provision; comparison of unit costs in high quality services with average services; possible impact of future cost pressures, including potential wage increases; and analysis of the child care market, including the functioning of the child care market in disadvantaged areas.

I anticipate that the independent review will be a key input in informing future decisions on the funding of child care schemes, including both the ECCE free pre-school programme and the affordable child care scheme.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Funchion's Question No. 52 is in this group, so she may come in after Deputy Rabbitte's supplementary question.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for her response. The crux of my question related to the programme for Government and the independent review the Department for Children and Youth Affairs was going to carry out. It was a follow-on from where Early Childhood Ireland was last year, a more in-depth review where it was doing the sums. Early Childhood Ireland did the sums last year and the Minister's Department was going to conduct an independent review which would cover the average unit cost, age, geography, community versus private, and bring it down to wages and the sustainability of the entire sector and the funding it would take to move on with the sector rather than it being funded by the parents. We need to make sure that we have a sustainable, affordable, integrated child care sector in the future. There is no point in ICT and legislation unless we know we can afford to do it and there is a sector there for the future.

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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We hear much about quality in relation to the early years and child care sector, but consistency equals quality. In order to have consistency we must ensure we encourage staff to enter the sector and then remain in it. The Minister will be aware that I have been undertaking a report in recent months. People working in the sector have told me time and again that they would love to remain working in it but unfortunately they cannot because they are not paid enough and they have to sign on during summer months. Eventually they leave. Many of them go on to train as special needs assistants or in primary education, although that is not what they wanted to do originally. That is not what we want for that sector either. If personnel are constantly changing when caring for children, we will not have quality child care. That cannot be the case. Any review or analysis that has been done shows there have to be realistic wages in the sector. We should start with a living wage.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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There are a number of things which I am doing now because of the urgency of the situation and in order to support the movement towards the sustainability we have all spoken about. A piece of independent research is being commissioned - I hope it will be put out by mid-August - and it is critical. While we wait for that, given the urgency of the challenges faced by the services, I have asked the officials in my Department to address two of the most acute issues relating to sustainability that the sector has identified to me. That relates to the impact of the removal of unqualified community employment scheme participants from the core child staff ratios and funding for the administrative work done by services or non-contact time. Officials are in the process of administering payments totalling €1 million to a number of services which had relied on CE participants as core staff. A large proportion of funding has already been paid out. In addition, my Department is currently administering non-contact time payments to providers totalling €14.5 million. The average payment per service is €2,600. I was also pleased to allocate an additional €3.5 million in non-contact payment recently for services which sign up for the September 2017 more affordable child care measures. That is €18 million in 2017 for non-contact time. I look forward to responding to some of the issues the Deputies raised, especially Deputy Funchion, in more detail tomorrow.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I also welcome the funding allocated for non-contact time but it is critical that the independent review is conducted as urgently as possible. I fear that the sector might begin to contract if we do not have the right information because when people do their sums, they will look to see where they can make a living from this business. Whether they are a private operator or even a community operator, they will see where they can find their margins. The margins are in the ECCE and in the after school care. There is very little money to be made in minding babies with the ratio of 1: 3. That ratio has to be adhered to at all times but that is not what the issue is here. Rather they need the support to know there is a sustainable sector. They need to know in which direction it is going. My fear is that it is contracting. Deputy McConalogue told me recently that one of his constituents in Donegal has no full-day child care in his area for the simple reason that only ECCE or afterschool care is being provided. I welcome the review is going out to tender in August.

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minster's remarks about funding for non-contact and acknowledge the work she is doing in this sector. Progress is being made. I want to reiterate that staff views must be considered in relation to this. There has been a lack of consultation with the sector. Clever things could be done in this sector, including streamlining inspections which has an impact on quality and sustainability for the sector. The Minister should bear this in mind. As she said, we will discuss this in more detail tomorrow.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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On Deputy Funchion's last point, officials in my Department have been very committed to finding ways to consult with, and hear from, the sector. That is not to say we have heard from everyone but most recently they have been on a roadshow giving information to providers about the more affordable child care which will start in September 2017. My understanding is there has been strong and robust conversations at those gatherings, which have been sold out in various parts of the country, where the officials and providers have met face-to-face. Much of that discussion is not merely about explaining what we are putting in place in September but also the issues which the Deputies raised on pay and working conditions. It is a huge challenge because the Department is not the employer of the people who provide the services. I hope I will be successful in securing more money to raise the ECCE capitation rates, but how do we know for sure they will be passed on to the employees? These are huge issues.

I refer to non-contact time. We hope for that and I am asking providers to look at this. It makes it more complicated that we are not the employers but that is not to say we will not try to lead in ways to ensure these things are made better.