Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the position regarding cuts of Health Service Executive funding to the posts of Childminder Advisory Officer in the Wicklow constituency (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4715/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The 1991 Childcare Act provided for regulation of the pre-school sector. However, there was a recognition at the time of the difficulties of regulating the childminding sector, given its scale and the strong view that women should not be subject to regulation if they minded a small number of additional children. As a result, the majority of childminders are exempt from the Regulations currently in place.

The 2000 Expert Working Group on Childcare set out a plan for integrating the various strands of child care and education, including childminding. It made a number of recommendations aimed at overcoming the barriers preventing childminders from moving into the formal economy, most of which have been implemented. These included the introduction of a system for voluntary notification of childminders, and the introduction of Childcare Services Relief, which allows a voluntarily-notified childminder to mind up to three children without paying tax on the earnings and to make a PRSI contribution.

In 2002, the Health Service Executive (HSE) agreed to fund a Childminding Advisory Officer post in each county, who would work with the 33 City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs) funded under the Childcare Programme, implemented by the then Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The role included notifying childminders of training opportunities, providing networking opportunities and supporting the voluntary notification system which was being developed by the CCCs. While Childminding Advisory Officers were established in most county areas, this was not always the case and they were not always located with the local CCC. Despite their presence and the additional supports including training, a small capital grant scheme and the introduction of a tax relief for childminding in 2006, the increase in the number of voluntarily-notified childminders since 2004, when the number was 500, has been relatively small and levelled off at 1,250.

In recent years, HSE funding for the Childminding Advisory Officer posts has gradually decreased, and is no longer in place in some areas. I understand that this is due to pressure on HSE resources and the need to prioritise funding to other areas of front-line services. While this is not a welcome development, I would point to the fact that the CCCs are now well-established and effective bodies at local level, and that supporting the childminding sector is an integral part of their work. As a result, childminders continue to have access to support, training and advice.

My Department provides annual funding to each CCC to enable them to support and advise all childcare providers at local level. In 2012, the total amount allocated to the CCCs was €11.3m. In addition, in 2012 my Department provided €220,000 to the CCCs for Childminding Development Grants. My Department also provides annual funding, totalling €2.85m in 2012, to seven National Voluntary Childcare Organisations to provide support at a local level to their members. This included €358,000 for Childminding Ireland, the representative body for childminders.

In 2007, the then Office of the Minister for Children published National Guidelines for Childminders which had been developed by its National Childcare Co-ordinating Committee. The Guidelines provide information to childminders on whether they are subject to the Child Care Regulations, the voluntary notification system, the tax relief for childminders, as well as guidance on good practice and other useful information on the role of the childminder in the provision of childcare services.

My Department has commenced work on Ireland's first Early Years Strategy. I have received Government approval for the approach I am taking in developing this Strategy as an innovative and dynamic blueprint for the future development of our Early Years sector, aimed at providing a coherent approach to seeking to improve the lives of children from bith to the age of six. One of the policy issues which I have identified for consideration in the preparation of the Early Years 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.

Under the Child Care (Pre-School Services) (No 2) Regulations 2006, 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 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 pre-school children from different families in the childminder's home.

Childminders taking care of not more than three pre-school children from different families are not covered by the Regulations. Decisions on how best to regulate and support the childminding sector will continue to form part of the ongoing work on the Early Years Strategy.