Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will provide an update on the introduction of a Scandinavian style childcare system; the timeframe in which such a system will be implemented; if she will provide a detailed breakdown of the cost of introducing such a scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41840/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Government currently supports the provision of early childhood care and education through three support programmes - the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme and the Childcare Education and Training Support (CETS) programme.

There are currently no proposals to reform these schemes or childcare provision generally. However possible developments relating to early years care and education are being considered as part of the preparation of the new Nation Early Years Strategy 2012. This new strategy will cover a range of issues affecting children in their first years of life and will seek to identify best practice in other jurisdictions that might be applied here.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will provide a detailed account in tabular form, of the number of persons working in the preschool and early childcare sector dealing directly with children; if she will provide Dáil Éireann with the numbers at each level of qualification as outlined by the Higher Education Authority 10 level framework; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41841/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Nearly all preschool services in the State are now participating in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, which provides a free preschool year to all eligible children in the year before they commence primary school. This programme requires that staff members acting as preschool year leaders hold a child care qualification equivalent to FETAC Level 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications of Ireland (NFQ). A higher capitation rate is available to sessional playschool services participating in the ECCE programme in which all child care workers have qualification levels above the minimum requirements for the programme. Staff working with children under the ECCE programme, as preschool assistants, are not required to hold an educational qualification.

Pobal, which administers the child care support programmes on behalf, of my Department compiles an Annual Survey of the Early Years Sectors which provide information in relation to the level of qualifications of practitioners in the child care sector. According to Pobal's Annual Survey of the Early Years Sector 2011, there are in the region of 4,300 child care services participating in the ECCE programme and approximately 3,280 of these services responded to the survey. Of this number, some 2,920 provided information on the level of training/qualifications of some 17,000 staff working with children. The results, which did not distinguish between those working with children enrolled for the ECCE programme and other children in the child care service, show that 96% of these services have a least one staff member qualified to FETAC Level 5 or higher, 75.2% have at least one member qualified to FETAC Level 6 or higher and 34% have a least one member qualified to HETAC Level 7 or higher. The number of services with one staff member qualified to HETAC Level 8 and above and HETAC Level 9 above is 22.3% and 3.2% respectively.

As the Deputy is aware my Department has commenced work on Ireland’s first-ever Early Years Strategy and in the terms of reference, as approved by Government, I expressly included the need to consider “a robust system of regulation and inspection”, for the new Early Years Strategy. Part of this will include improving access to quality reliable information on services and performance. I have asked the recently–established Expert Advisory Group to prioritise a review of this matter.

The employment of suitably qualified staff is a matter for each individual child care service. It is expected that in time a register of staff qualifications will be developed and providers should encourage staff to record the relevant details of their qualifications there.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the protections that are in place regarding child-minders; if she will confirm if they will be subject to the children first legislation and if not the reason for same; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41842/12]

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will provide a figure on the number of independent child minders currently looking after children who are not deemed to be familial relatives. [41843/12]

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will provide Dáil Éireann with the legal definition, as defined by her, of the term child minder; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41846/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 498, 499 and 502 together.

The Children First National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children, which I published in 2011, provides clarity and guidance for individuals and organisations in identifying and responding appropriately to child abuse and neglect. It also sets out what organisations that care for or work with children should do to ensure they are safe whilst in the care of the organisation. The Government has committed, as a priority, to the introduction of legislation to underpin Children First.

The Deputy will be aware that I published the Heads of the Children First Bill in April 2012. The purpose of the Bill is to ensure that organisations and professionals who work with children have a statutory responsibility to report reasonable concerns about the abuse or neglect of children in their care to the HSE Child and Family Services.

I asked the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children to consider the Heads of the Children First Bill and make recommendations. I received their comprehensive Report in July and I thank the Committee for its work on this matter. My Department is currently considering the broad range of submissions to, and recommendations of the Joint Committee, including those submissions pertaining to the issue of childminders.

Preschool services are regulated under the Child Care (Pre-School Services) (No.2) Regulations 2006, as provided for under Part VII of the Child Care Act 1991. "Childminder" is defined in the Regulations as "a person who provides a childminding service as defined in the Regulations". A "childminding service" is defined in the Regulations as "a preschool service which may include an overnight service offered by a person who single-handedly takes care of preschool children, including the childminder's own children, in the childminder's home for a total of more than 2 hours per day, except where the exemptions provided in Section 58 of the Child Care Act 1991 apply."

Services providing care for children who have not yet commenced primary school are required to notify their service to the Pre-School Inspectorate of the Health Service Executive (HSE) and are subject to inspection and report by the Inspectorate on a regular basis. Services covered by the Regulations include full-time, part-time and sessional services as well as childminders taking care of more than three preschool children from different families in the childminder’s home. Childminders taking care of not more than three preschool children from different families are not covered by the Regulations, recognising parental choice to place children with friends and neighbours, and the challenges of the over-regulation of the more informal arrangements chosen by parents. As a result of this exemption it is not possible to provide a figure for the number of childminders currently providing childminding services.

The National Guidelines for Childminders, compiled by the National Childcare Co-ordinating Committee which oversees the development of an integrated child care infrastructure throughout the country, provide guidance to childminders on good practice, and assist them to decide whether they are subject to the Regulations, as well as providing other useful information on the role of the childminder in the provision of child care services.

The 2006 Regulations replaced the earlier Regulations, introduced in 1996, and made a number of improvements to the regulatory environment, including the introduction of a requirement for all staff and students working in a preschool service to have been Garda vetted.

As is the case with all regulatory requirements, the Child Care Regulations set the minimum standards which services are legally required to comply with. However, my Department is proactive in monitoring, promoting and developing the highest standards of care and education throughout the sector, including the regulatory environment, given the important role which these services play in this crucial phase of children’s lives.

My Department also has begun work on Ireland’s first Early Years Strategy which I envisage will be a creative and dynamic blueprint for the future development of Ireland’s Early Years sector aimed at providing a coherent approach to seeking to improve the lives of children from birth to age six. One of the issues of policy which I have identified for consideration in the preparation of the new Strategy is the development of the childminding sector as a fully-integrated component of early childhood care and education, in particular for the under-one age group.