Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 181: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will report on the roll-out of the community child care subvention scheme including the number of additional child care places provided under the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28862/08]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the National Child Care Investment Programme 2006-10 (NCIP) under which the Community Child care Subvention Scheme was introduced in January of this year. The scheme replaced the previous staffing support grant scheme which was implemented under the EU co-funded Equal Opportunities Child Care Programme 2000-06 and which ended in December 2007. In providing for the scheme and the previous EOCP support scheme, Government child care policy has recognised the need to target additional supports towards disadvantaged families in addition to the main supports which are made available to parents to assist them with their child care costs, that is child benefit and the early child care supplement. The latter payment is the responsibility of my office, and it alone is expected to amount to expenditure of over €500 million in 2008. These payments are universal and benefit all parents, regardless of their income, labour market status or the type of child care they choose.

The Community Child Care Subvention Scheme has an allocation of €154.2 million over 2008-10 and will continue to support and ensure the sustainability of community-based child care services which provide reduced child care fees for disadvantaged parents. The purpose of the scheme is not the creation of places per se, which is primarily affected by the capital grants scheme, rather it is to make places accessible to those in the community who would otherwise be unable to afford quality child care. Community-based child care services will qualify for grant aid on the basis of the level of service they provide and the profile of the parents benefiting from their service. The parent profile of each service, and the amount of subvention it will receive, are determined on the basis of completed parent declaration forms which they return as part of the application process. The subvention received by services is, in turn, reflected in a tiered fee system under which reduced fees are charged to parents who qualify as disadvantaged under the scheme. As the parent declaration forms are completed on an annual basis, the level of funding which is approved for each service is established on an annual basis.

I am also pleased to advise the Deputy that the child care directorate of my office has notified services of their individual grant levels for July-December 2008 based on their returns last November and that the total amount of grant assistance under the new scheme will be significantly higher than was the case under the previous scheme. It is not possible at this stage to state the number of additional places provided for under the scheme, as the 2008 annual return is scheduled for next September. I can report that a number of facilities, which were not considered eligible for funding under the earlier scheme, have been approved funding under the CCSS, thereby allowing disadvantaged parents access to subventions on an equal footing with parents in other areas.