Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 206: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of places awarded under the early childhood care and education scheme on a county basis in January 2010; the numbers that have applied for September 2010; her plans, if any, to review this scheme; if her attention has been drawn to the difficulties this scheme is creating for some child child care providers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29386/10]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I have responsibility for implementing the free Pre-School Year in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme, which was introduced in January of this year and which provides a free pre-school year to eligible children in the year before they commence primary school.

The table below sets out the number of pre-school services participating in the ECCE scheme, and the number of children enrolled in the ECCE scheme, broken down by City and County Childcare Committee (CCC) area, for the period up to June 2010. It should be noted that the figure for the number of services counts all services, including where both a 38-week sessional service and a 50-week fullday service in the same facility are participating in the scheme. In total, there are approximately 4,350 participating services in 3,800 facilities. The number of children participating in the scheme amounts to some 53,000, which amounts to approximately 83% of children in their pre-school year. This is in addition to another 5% of children who recieve their free pre-school year through other pre-existing State-funded schemes. While there remain a small number of late transfers and appeals to administer, it is not anticipated that these figures will change significantly for the January-August 2010 'short' pre-school year.

Applications from pre-school services to participate in the ECCE scheme for the year commencing in September 2010 are currently being processed by the Childcare Directorate of my Office. In addition to the re-applications from existing services in the scheme, 570 new applications have been recieved in respect of facilities seeking to enter the scheme from September. This would include both existing pre-schools and creches that did not enter the scheme from January, and new services that have been established in response to the demand created by the scheme.

All participating services will be required to make a return to my Office in September, giving details of qualifying children attending. When the processing of these returns is finalised, details of numbers participating will be available by reference to the areas covered by the City and County Childcare Committees.

The child intake in September 2010 is expected to be higher than in January, based on a number of factors, including an increase in the birthrate over the period 2005-2007, and the fact that children born between 2 February 2006 and 30 June 2006 could either to enrol in January 2010 and avail of 23 weeks of the scheme, or enrol in September 2010 and avail of 38 weeks of the scheme. It is also expected that the sucess of the scheme in the first year will enourage even higher levels of participation in what will be the first full year of the scheme.

The scheme has proved to be very popular with the large majority of parents and service providers. While some services have sought to have the scheme amended, to allow them charge parental fees in addition to the capitation fees they recieve, doing so would mean that the scheme was no longer free to all families regardless of income, and that is a key feature of this scheme. I believe that the high levels of participation in the scheme demonstrate that the capitation fee, of €64.50 per week for a pre-school place, rising to €75 per week in services with higher levels of staff qualifications, is sufficient to allow services meet the high standards of the scheme, and make a fair profit.