Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 58: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the further consultation with the community childcare sector that will be undertaken in relation to the community childcare subvention scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29945/07]

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 66: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of applications received under the new community childcare subvention scheme; the means by which these will be assessed; if there will be proper consultation with the community childcare sector; if changes will be made to the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29941/07]

Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 88: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the provisions she is making to help and support parents of lower and middle income families, previously using subsided childcare, who will have to pay full childcare costs, following changes in the way community childcare providers are funded; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26177/07]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 103: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if, in view of the widespread concern expressed, the proposals for the community childcare subvention scheme will be changed to facilitate working parents on low incomes and to address fears that some facilities will have to close if the proposals are implemented; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29955/07]

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

I propose to take Questions Nos. 58, 66, 88 and 103 together.

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).

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. 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. It would not be accurate, therefore, to describe this scheme as one which was intended to support middle income parents as it was an approved scheme for disadvantaged parents and their children.

Despite the closure of the EOCP in December 2007, the Government decided to continue to support community childcare services to provide affordable childcare to disadvantaged parents. Accordingly, the Community Childcare Subvention Scheme (CCSS) is being introduced from January 2008 under the Exchequer funded National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010 (NCIP), the successor programme to the EOCP. The CCSS has been allocated €153 million over the next 3 years, representing a 16% increase in funding over the EOCP staffing scheme. It will continue to support community childcare services to provide reduced childcare fees for disadvantaged parents, complementing the universal supports in place for all parents. Under the new scheme, it will be possible to ensure that the level of grant aid which individual services qualify for will reflect the actual level of service they provide and the profile of the parents benefiting from their service. As part of their application for funding under the new scheme, services are being required to ask parents using their services to complete a simple declaration form which is to be included in a return to my Office. This information will be used to determine the level of subvention for each service. The subvention received by services will, in turn, be reflected in the reduced fees for parents who qualify as disadvantaged under the scheme.

In practice, this will mean that community creches providing a service to children of parents in receipt of most social welfare payments (or participating in a scheme such as Community Employment which demonstrates an underlying entitlement to same) or parents in receipt of Family Income Supplement (FIS), will receive a weekly subvention in respect of these children. A higher subvention 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 for subvention 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 or a mortgage, and as the services are run on a not-for-profit basis, this should still be significantly below the market price.

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. 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 new scheme has clear advantages over its predecessor. There is an increase in the level of funding available under it, and a majority of services will benefit from the changes it introduces. Existing EOCP staffing grant recipients who enter the new scheme will continue to be funded at their current levels until July 2008. My Office has engaged in a series of meetings with existing grant recipients to outline to them the details of the new scheme and to gather feedback from the services themselves. A meeting with representatives of the City and County Childcare Committees has also taken place. My officials and I have been meeting with representatives of the Community Childcare sector on an ongoing basis since then regarding the Scheme. A number of concerns regarding possible anomalies have been raised at these meetings, and will be considered in the context of any modifications to the Scheme.

Transitional arrangements have been made under which existing grant recipients will continue to be funded at their current levels until 1st July 2008, provided they apply to enter the new Scheme by submitting the data required as part of the application process of the new Scheme. Therefore I urge groups with applications outstanding to forward the completed applications to the Childcare Directorate of my Office as soon as possible to avail of the transitional funding. This funding is to ensure that existing childcare services are facilitated to adjust to the new scheme, including making any adjustments necessary to their fee structures. Initially, 780 Groups in receipt of EOCP staffing grants who had no compliance issues in respect of their current grant aid were requested to complete applications for the new Scheme. Of these, some 600 have been received to date. A further 52 groups were forwarded applications with a deadline of completion and return later this month. These returns, together with those from a significant number of groups who have contacted the Childcare Directorate of my Office and the City/County Childcare Committees requesting an extension, are expected by the end of this month. The Childcare Directorate has begun the process of analysing these returns and letters have already issued to 120 groups confirming that they will receive transitional funding for the period January to June 2008.

As signalled when I announced the new scheme in July this year, the transitional period between now and 1 July 2008 will also be used to monitor and review the impact it will have on individual groups, on the basis of the more detailed and comprehensive data which has been received from applicants this month. Where appropriate, adjustments necessary to the scheme to secure the best outcomes for childcare services and for disadvantaged parents and their children, particularly where there are low income parents above the FIS threshold, will be considered on the basis of this data and well in advance of the commencement of the new funding levels in July 2008.