James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 246: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will provide additional funding for a group (details supplied) in County Longford; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20665/07]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006 (EOCP) and the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010 (NCIP), which are being implemented by the Office of the Minister for Children.

The Group in question has recently been approved €48,215 additional capital grant assistance under the EOCP. I understand the Childcare Directorate of my Office has informed the Group of this decision. This brings the total capital grant assistance approved for this Group to €1,047,580 under the EOCP.

Niall Collins (Limerick West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 247: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the level of funding for both capital and current expenditure provided to projects (details supplied) in County Limerick. [20762/07]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006 (EOCP) and the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010 (NCIP), which are being implemented by the Office of the Minister for Children.

The following are the total figures for capital and staffing grant assistance approved to date for the Groups referred to, listed in the order in which they appear in the details supplied with the question.

Group 1 Capital — €1.2 million, Staffing — €48,875

Group 2 Capital — €1.4 million, Staffing — none approved to date

Group 3 Capital — €1,570,800 Staffing — €376,733

Group 4 Capital — €525,009 Staffing — €160,000

These grants are subject to contractual arrangements being met with Pobal, the agency engaged to administer the grants. All grants were approved under the EOCP.

John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 248: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if her attention has been drawn to the huge implications of the proposed changes in the funding for community childcare groups whereby the funding will no longer be paid in the form of a staffing grant but will be based on the number of disadvantaged children attending which will discriminate against rural groups with less numbers of disadvantaged children; if she will re-examine the scheme with a view to restoring grant aid in its present form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21144/07]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The main supports the Government makes available to parents to assist them with their childcare costs are Child Benefit and the Early Childcare Supplement. The latter payment, which is in recognition of the higher childcare costs of pre-school children, is the responsibility of my Office, and it alone amounts to expenditure of over €400m in a full year. These payments are universal and benefit all parents, regardless of their income, labour market status or the type of childcare they choose and regardless of whether they live in urban or rural areas. In addition to these universal supports, Government childcare policy has also recognised the need to target additional supports towards disadvantaged families.

Under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006 (EOCP), which is co-funded under the EU Social Fund (ESF), targeted support was provided through the staffing support grant scheme whereby community based not-for-profit childcare providers with a strong focus on disadvantage were awarded grant aid towards their staffing costs to allow them to operate reduced fees to disadvantaged parents. Funding under this scheme was originally awarded for a limited period during which services were expected to move towards sustainability. This funding was subsequently continued to the end of 2007, where it was considered necessary to enable services to continue to make their services accessible to disadvantaged parents. This continuation funding was subject to the condition that tiered fee structures were implemented by the services in question.

As signalled at the launch of the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010 (NCIP), the successor programme to the EOCP, a new scheme to support community childcare services with a focus on disadvantage will be introduced on 1 January 2008 and will continue to complement the universal supports in place for all parents. The Community Childcare Subvention Scheme (CCSS) has been allocated €153 million over the next 3 years representing a 16% increase in funding over the EOCP staffing scheme. Under the new scheme, services will be grant aided according to the service they provide and the profile of the parents benefiting from their service. In turn, the subvention received by the services will be reflected in the reduced fees for parents who qualify as disadvantaged under the scheme.

In practice, this will mean that parents with children in such services and in receipt of most social welfare payments (or participating in a scheme such as Community Employment which demonstrates an underlying entitlement to same) will see a €80 weekly subvention in respect of full daycare (with pro-rata reductions in respect of shorter hour services). Parents in receipt of Family Income Supplement (FIS), will see a €30 weekly subvention in respect of full daycare (with pro-rata reductions). A further subvention of €30 per week will be paid where the subvented child is a baby, in recognition of the higher costs associated with the care of children aged under 1 year. Parents who do not qualify under either of these categories will be charged the cost price for their childcare service, however, as community not-for-profit services will, generally, have availed of capital grant aid under the EOCP or NCIP removing the requirement to cover rent and/or a mortgage, and as the services are run on a not-for-profit basis, this should still be significantly below the market price.

It is considered that the new scheme will provide an effective framework for the continued targeting of additional resources towards disadvantaged parents and their children while continuing to support community childcare services generally. The scheme has been informed by and takes account of a number of enhancements recommended by the report of the Value for Money Review of the EOCP. These include the fact that the subvention to services will be more responsive to the level of service provided as well as the degree of parental disadvantage supported and the ceiling for funding, which existed under the previous scheme, is being removed. Account will also be taken of all of the operational costs of the service rather than staffing costs alone. Services, including full-time, part-time and sessional ones, which at present are, in some cases, inaccessibly priced for disadvantaged parents, will be available to them at more appropriate rates under the new scheme.

The Community Childcare Subvention Scheme will not discriminate against rural services and the number of parents in rural areas supported by the new scheme is not expected to be lower than in urban areas. Per capita, the majority of the social welfare benefits which are referenced by the new schemes are availed of by more people outside the Dublin area than in it and parents in receipt of Farm Assist will attract the higher level of subvention. Data available from EOCP grant applications also suggests that the costs of running a rural service, and therefore the costs charged to parents, are lower than those for services in urban areas.

Given the advantages of the new scheme, the increase in the level of funding available under it, and given that a majority of services will benefit from the changes it introduces, I do not propose that the Government row back on its commitment to increase these supports for disadvantaged parents, which would be the effect of what the Deputy proposes. Transitional arrangements have been made under which existing grant recipients will continue to be funded at their current levels until 1st July 2008. This is to ensure that existing childcare services are facilitated to adjust to the new scheme, including making any adjustments necessary to their fee structures. I have also signalled that the more detailed and comprehensive data which will be generated by the new scheme will be monitored by officials in my Office over the coming months and, if appropriate, any adjustments necessary to secure the best outcomes for childcare services and for disadvantaged parents and their children will be considered at that time.