Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 71: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the progress made with the commitment given in the programme for Government to ensure that every child has access to a pre-school place by 2012. [20357/08]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware I have responsibility for the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010 (NCIP) which is the successor programme to the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme (EOCP) which concluded at the end of 2007. The NCIP has been allocated €575 million over 5 years, and is designed to deliver 50,000 additional child care places 10,000 of which will be for the 3 to 4 year old age group and 5,000 for school age children. The Programme which is Exchequer funded aims to provide a proactive response to the development of quality child care supports and services which are grounded in an understanding of local needs.

Preliminary figures collated by Pobal indicate that, at the end of April this year, approximately 5,300 new pre-school places will be created under the NCIP capital funding committed to date. This figure represents 53.2% of the overall target figure for the programme and based on the amount of capital grant aid approved to date is a clear indication that the programme is on course to achieve its target of 10,000 new places. These places are in addition to almost 40,000 new child care places, of which a large number would be in the pre-school age cohort, that were delivered under the EOCP.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 72: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the progress made with the commitment given in the programme for Government to create an extra 50,000 new child care places by 2010 through the investment of €1.3 billion provided for in the national development plan. [20358/08]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The commitment to create 50,000 new child care places by 2010 is being delivered under the National Childcare Investment Programme (NCIP), announced in Budget 2006. This is a successor programme to the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme (EOCP) and is designed to build on the achievements of the EOCP and provide a proactive response to the development of quality child care supports and services, grounded in identified local needs. Targets for the NCIP include the creation of an additional 10,000 new child care places for the 3 to 4 years age-group with an early childhood care and education focus and 5,000 places for children of school-age.

The total allocation to the Programme is €575m over five years, of which €358m is in respect of capital expenditure and €217m is in respect of current expenditure. Up to the end of April 2008, capital grants totalling almost €180m have been approved to child care providers under the NCIP. These approvals are expected to lead to the creation of almost 24,000 new child care places. These new places are in addition to the nearly 40,000 new child care places which were delivered under the EOCP.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 73: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the progress made with the commitment given in the programme for Government to prioritise expansion of pre-school facilities for children with intellectual disabilities. [20360/08]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The commitment in the Programme for Government to which the Deputy refers is primarily a matter for the Department of Education and Science. That Department provides some pre-school provision for children with special educational needs through the visiting teacher service and, more recently, through the expansion of the home tuition scheme to provide funding for home programmes for pre-school children on the autistic spectrum. In addition, the Department of Education and Science funds 24 early intervention classes for children with autism — these classes are attached to mainstream schools. I understand that, under the Programme for Government, it is not envisaged that a formal network of pre-schools for children with disabilities will be established. Rather support will be provided, as necessary, to the parents and child with special educational needs.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 74: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the progress made with the commitment given in the programme for Government to further invest in and support the roll-out of affordable school age child care. [20364/08]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware I have responsibility for the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010 (NCIP). The NCIP is the successor programme to the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme (EOCP) which concluded at the end of 2007. The NCIP has been allocated €575 million over 5 years, and is designed to deliver 50,000 additional child care places with approximately 5,000 for school age child care. The Programme which is Exchequer funded aims to provide a proactive response to the development of quality child care supports and services which are grounded in an understanding of local needs.

The NCIP focuses in particular on the provision of capital grant funding for community based and private child care providers. At the end of April, €180 million in capital funding has been approved under the programme and it is expected that approximately 24,000 new child care places, of which more than 3,000 will be school age child care places, will be created as a result of this investment. Under the NCIP a new Community Childcare Subvention Scheme (CCSS), to support community not-for-profit child care services with a focus on disadvantage, was introduced this year. The CCSS has been allocated €154.2 million over the period up to the end of 2010 representing a 16% increase in funding over the EOCP staffing scheme. Under this scheme, services will be grant aided according to the service they provide and the profile of the parents benefiting from the service. In turn, the subvention received by the service will be reflected in the reduced fees for parents qualifying under the scheme.

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 child care services generally. Services supported under the scheme will include those for school going children, including breakfast and homework clubs which are important elements in the development of high quality school age child care.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the progress made with the commitment given in the programme for Government to provide services in schools or in other suitable premises, that will operate until 6 p.m. and on a full-time day basis during school holidays. [20365/08]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The commitment to which the Deputy refers, concerning the provision of such services in schools, is a matter for the Department of Education and Science. However, under the National Childcare Investment Programme, for which I have responsibility, capital grant funding is provided to develop child care services including services which cater for school age children, that is services which care for children out of school hours. This would normally consist of breakfast clubs, after school provision and child care during school holidays. Community-based school aged child care facilities with a focus on disadvantage may also apply for support funding under the Community Childcare Subvention Scheme which enables their services to provide reduced fees to qualifying parents.

Under the Education system, the large majority of schools are run by independent Boards of Management, and it is a matter for them whether they decide to provide such a service. A number have applied for funding under the Programmes operated by my Office, and have received grant aid for such services.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 76: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the progress made with the commitment given in the programme for Government to accelerate the establishment of a children services committee in each county. [20366/08]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The National Economic Social Council, in its report, the 'Developmental Welfare State', introduced the lifecycle approach to social policy discourse in Ireland. This is a holistic approach that places the individual at the centre of policy development and service delivery, and which was adopted in the national partnership agreement Towards 2016.

This new approach was adopted in the context of a growing body of international research which emphasises the importance of early interventions in securing better longer term outcomes for children. For children disadvantaged by background or family circumstance especially, positive supports provided in the very first years positively impact life chances by promoting child emotional and physical development. Prevention and early intervention with children is likely to be most successful when nested within integrated supports for families — to provide parents experiencing difficulties with the personal resources and skills they need, and to foster positive family environments in which children can develop and achieve.

The Government is committed to improving the lives of our children, and to that end, a practical application of the lifecycle approach can be seen in the establishment of the Children's Services Committees (CSCs). These committees are focused on using a streamlined, crosscutting approach to the design and delivery of services for children and their families across sectorial and agency boundaries.

A National Children's Strategy Implementation Group (NCSIG), was established at the end of 2006 under Towards 2016 to support these developments. The NCSIG approved the establishment of four initial multi-agency Children's Services Committees (CSCs) in the following areas: Donegal County Council, South Dublin County Council, Dublin City Council and Limerick City Council. These CSCs are charged with progressing the implementation of strategic plans and policy documents already devised in relation to children's services in their respective areas. The aim is to test models of best practice which promote integrated, locally led, strategic planning for children's services across agencies. Each area is working towards the identification of shared priorities and, in time, an implementation plan for children's services in the area. The view of the NCSIG is that the development of CSCs should be locally determined and led within a flexible framework devised and agreed at national level.

A broad framework for the development of a work programme for the CSCs in the start-up stage has been agreed and is being implemented. Technical assistance to support the change management process in delivering on this framework was commissioned and is currently being provided to the four sites based on their specific needs. Collaborative working, across all four CSCs, to assess progress, compare and assess practices will commence in mid 2008 as part of the change management process. The timing of the establishment of further committees will be guided by the developments in these pioneer sites although the necessary development work to support "readiness" for the establishment of further committees in other areas is ongoing in the interim. In this regard the OMC is working with agencies at national level through the NCSIG and promising local initiatives to foster interagency relationship building and collaborative working.