Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 222: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the monthly benefit from her Department expressed in cash terms for a parent of a four year old who avails of the free preschool place from January 2010 with a breakdown for the benefit if the child attends one day, two days, three days, four days or five days a week. [40436/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the implementation of the free Pre-School Year in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme which is being introduced in January 2010.

The standard capitation fee which will be payable to services participating in the new scheme, will be approximately €2,450 per annum in respect of each qualifying child availing of the free pre-school year in the service. This is equivalent to approximately €276 per month, where a service is participating for 38 weeks or €207 per month, where it participates for 50 weeks. This payment will be made, in advance, at the beginning of each term. A higher capitation fee of €2,850 per annum will be payable to sessional playschool services with highly qualified staff. This is equivalent to approximately €321 per month.

Services can choose to deliver the pre-school year from a range of options. For example a full or part-time daycare service normally providing the free pre-school place for 2 hours 15 minutes a day, five days a week over 50 weeks will be paid a capitation fee of €48.50 per week, and a playschool sessional service normally providing the pre-school service for 3 hours a day, five days a week over 38 weeks will be paid a capitation fee of €64.50 per week, or €75 per week where the higher capitation fee applies. Full or part-time daycare services may also provide the free pre-school place for 3 hours 45 minutes a day, three days a week over 50 weeks, to facilitate parents in part-time employment in which case the capitation fee payable will not be affected

The objective of the ECCE scheme is to ensure that all children have the opportunity to avail of free pre-school provision. It is hoped that parents will avail of the full provision and maximise the benefits to their children from exposure to early learning in appropriate settings. To facilitate existing patterns of pre-school provision during the introductory stage of the scheme in January next, services which currently provide pre-school places on a pro-rata basis (i.e. places are offered on a shared basis) may continue to do so during January/June 2010. Pro-rata arrangements may not, however, be continued beyond September 2010.

Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 223: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will recognise that some child-care providers have greater overhead costs in view of capital investments they have made in recent years particularly in areas in which there has been a growth in population resulting in higher property costs and that this factor should be reflected in payments to providers of the free preschool year in the early child-care education scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40459/09]

Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 224: To ask the Minister for Health and Children her views on the fact that many parents may consider five days a week of preschool to be excessive for young children and thus may not send their children on a full-time basis to the free preschool place available to them from September 2010; the effect this will have on availability of places where to date providers have introduced flexibility by splitting the five day a week place between two children; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40460/09]

Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 225: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will acknowledge that many preschool providers will have years of experience that should be recognised; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40461/09]

Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 226: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of child care providers which have applied to the early child care education free preschool year; the number which have been approved to provide the scheme; the number of preschool places that will be available from January 2010; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40462/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 223 to 226, inclusive, together.

I have responsibility for the implementation of the new free Pre-School Year in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme which will be introduced in January 2010.

Under the ECCE scheme, participating services will be paid a standard annual capitation fee of €2,450 in return for the provision of the free pre-school year. The payment will be made, in advance, at the beginning of each term. Services participating in the scheme should be satisfied that they will be in a position to meet all of their costs from the capitation provided and additional funding will not be provided where this is not the case. Participating services may charge parents for additional services, provided these are clearly optional and children not availing of such services continue to receive appropriate programme based provision.

A higher capitation rate of €75 per week (€2,850 p.a.) will be available to sessional playschool services in which all childcare workers have qualification levels above the minimum requirements for the scheme. To qualify for the higher capitation rate all Pre-School leaders in the service must hold a major award in early childhood care and education or equivalent (title of courses may vary) at a minimum Level 7 on the National Framework of Qualifications and have 3 years experience working in the sector, and all assistants must hold a relevant Fetac level 5 qualification or its equivalent.

It is considered that the capitation rates are reasonable and will accommodate the greater majority of services. This is borne out by the fact that 90% of pre-school services operating in the State have applied for entry to the scheme. The financial circumstances of individual pre-school service providers are matters for the persons concerned and cannot be provided for when establishing a national scheme in which more some 4,200 services will participate. The scheme represents an investment of almost €170 million annually in pre-school services and in light of the current economic situation there are no proposals to increase this provision.

The scheme will normally be required to provide services on a five day per week basis. However, during the initial period January - August 2010, services which are already accommodating children on a pro rata-basis, may continue to do so and the capitation grant will be set by reference to the number of children attending per day rather than the total number of children per week. This is a transitional arrangement to allow services to adjust to the requirements of the new scheme. However, from September 2010, services participating in the scheme will be required to provide full rather than pro-rata preschool year places. Parents will be encouraged to avail of the free pre-school year on the basis of full attendance and participating services will be required to give priority to parents using the service on this basis.

Quite a number of workers in the ECCE sector lack formal qualifications but have many years of experience. The challenge now is to recognise the non-formal learning of workers in this position and to ensure that there are flexible ways for people to obtain qualifications and to build on these qualifications. Ireland has been participating in an OECD study on the recognition of non-formal and informal learning. A national report was drafted in 2006/2007 by the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland with the assistance of an Advisory Group and, in particular, with HETAC and FETAC. The aim of the report was to document and review the current situation in Ireland regarding the recognition of prior non-formal and informal learning. The OECD's review team report was published in December 2008 and a national action plan for the Recognition of Prior Learning is now being developed.

Applications by approximately 4,200 childcare pre-school services to enter the new scheme indicate a capacity of 98,000 pre-school year places. It is hoped that some 63,000 children will avail of the scheme in January 2010. Contracts are currently issuing to all services which meet the criteria of the scheme and a list of services approved to participate in the scheme will be available shortly from the City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs). Based on the applications to date, I am confident that the total number of places available in pre-school services applying to enter the scheme will meet the number of places required.