Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Question 138: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the person who is undertaking the proposed review in relation to the proposed changes in support for workers under the equal opportunities child care programme; the criteria being used for the review; the way in which very disadvantaged, as distinct from disadvantaged communities will be defined; and the consultation process he has undertaken with community child care providers about this review. [8398/05]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 172: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform , further to Parliamentary Question No. 206 of 2 March 2005, if he will be in a position to provide information regarding the introduction of new arrangements for the funding of child care groups for which a three year funding envelope or any subsequent continuation funding becomes exhausted by 31 August 2005, and which can demonstrate a clear focus on disadvantage before 1 April 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8493/05]

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 173: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the way in which community based and not for profit child care services can demonstrate a clear focus on disadvantage in order to qualify for renewal of funding to projects under the equal opportunities child care programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8494/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 138, 172 and 173 together.

The €499 million Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-06, EOCP, includes a measure which provides grant assistance towards staffing costs for community based not for profit child care services which serve disadvantaged parents through the provision of reduced cost child care to support the parents when they are in employment, education and training. About €180 million of the programme funding has been set aside for this purpose to cover the period to end 2007, with the remainder going to capital development and to quality enhancement.

Staffing grants are normally made available for three years in the first instance. In assessing grant applications, ADM Ltd., which undertakes project appraisals on behalf of my Department, looks at information submitted by the group, such as the socioeconomic profile of the area and the group's target client group, the local levels of deprivation, the ethos of the group towards disadvantage including the numbers of places which it intends to set aside for children from disadvantaged families and children with special needs and the proposed fee structure for the service. It also uses externally available material such as the deprivation index to review and confirm these data and also consults with the county child care committee on each application to get reinforced local knowledge.

Total commitments to date from this staffing grant allocation are approximately €105 million and this is assisting with the cost of delivering child care for about 22,000 children. While it was envisaged that some groups would progress to sustainability after the initial three year grant, it was always expected that some groups in particularly disadvantaged areas would require ongoing support towards the cost of delivering child care for particularly disadvantaged parents. It is in this context that the present review is taking place. In the interim, staffing grant assistance at existing levels is continuing for all projects which are delivering their agreed targets of child care service.

The review is being carried out by the child care directorate of my Department in conjunction with Area Development Management Ltd., the company which manages the day to day operations of the programme. The review is primarily focused on those projects which will have already received three or more years of staffing funding under the programme at any date prior to 31 August 2005. It is not the intention of this review to reduce, in any way, the overall level of funding directed at projects which support disadvantaged families, but rather to ensure that all this funding is put to the best possible use in terms of assisting those families most in need to end the cycle of disadvantage in which they find themselves.

From the perspective of the national development plan, of which the EOCP is an element, social exclusion is defined as the cumulative marginalisation from production or employment, from consumption or poverty, from social networks, community, family and neighbours, from decision making and from an adequate quality of life. It is clear that any assessment of the disadvantage experienced by a grant recipient under the EOCP will involve the consideration of different factors depending on the circumstances of the particular group.

One of the more important quantitative tools which has been used in the context of the review is the index of relative affluence and deprivation, which is regularly used by ADM Ltd. in its appraisal work under the EOCP. The index was first developed in the late 1990s and was recently updated using data from the 2002 national census. The index is based on three of the underlying dimensions of social disadvantage: demographic decline; labour market deprivation and social class disadvantage. The scores for the index are derived from a number of general population indicators including male and female unemployment rates, percentage of population with primary school education only, percentage of population with third level education and thepercentage of households with children aged 15 years and under which are headed by a single parent.

Every recommendation which comes to me on the funding of projects is made following consultation between ADM and the grant applicant, ADM and the relevant county child care committee, and by the programme appraisal committee. I expect that each case for continuing staffing funding will be examined through the same process as a result of which informed decisions will be made. I am hopeful that I will be in a position to clarify arrangements to groups in late April or early May, following the meetings of the two monitoring committees which oversee the delivery of the EOCP.