Tom Fleming (Kerry South, Independent)
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621. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will address the issues experienced by a child care service (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if she will streamline the continuous changes to grants and schemes to ensure this centre and similar child care centres throughout the country can plan ahead and provide a professional and quality service. [9254/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Childcare Directorate of my Department implements the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme and the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme, with assistance from Pobal in relation to issuing CCS payments. Community childcare services qualify for funding under the CCS programme on the basis of the level of service they provide and the profile of the parents benefiting from their service. The information provided in the parental declaration forms submitted to my Department is verified by the Department of Social Protection (DSP) and the HSE. This information determines the level of subvention which applies to each individual parent. The information is gathered during a 'snap shot' week in the month of October.

Following verification, participating services are provided with a list of qualifying parents and confirmation of the subvention level applied to each parent. Parents can appeal if they consider that they are entitled to a higher rate of subvention. The verification and appeals process is necessary so as to ensure that all those applying for support under the programme satisfy the qualifying criteria. It is only when this process is complete that the final figure to which each service is entitled can be determined.

Unfortunately, the Department has found a high level of inaccuracies in the information submitted and this is a major contributory factor in the delays in finalising the final payment to providers. It should be noted that my Department does make a number of preliminary payments to participating services prior to the final determination to ensure that services have sufficient funding to enable them to continue to provide the service. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the appeals process for this year is currently being processed at a quick pace and so, it is anticipated that the complete process will be finalised earlier than in previous years.

In relation to the ECCE programme, payments can only be made in respect of children who are within the qualifying age range. When ECCE returns are received in the Department, the PPS numbers are forwarded to the Department of Social Protection in order to verify that the PPS number and the child's date of birth correspond. When discrepancies arise, childcare services are required to forward documentation confirming the child's details. Payments, which are backdated where necessary, issue as soon as possible after confirmation of the child's eligibility. As is the case with the CCS programme, the level of accuracy of the information submitted by participating services has a major impact on the capacity of this Department to determine the final capitation payment to which services are entitled. It has been necessary to make a small number of administrative changes to the programmes in recent years. These have resulted from the need to ensure that funding is targeted at those most in need of support and that the considerable public funds committed to these programmes is providing the maximum benefit to the greatest possible number of qualifying children.

I would like also to advise the Deputy that in addition to the above programme new strands of childcare support programmes have been introduced to support parents and children in need of childcare supports for social, training or employment reasons. Officials in my Department are currently working intensively to develop an ICT infrastructure to support the efficient administration of these support programmes so that the payment process is streamlined and that providers are in a position to meet their financial deadlines.