Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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397. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the average waiting time for payments under the early childhood care and education scheme; the longest period that a service provider has been waiting for payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47717/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is implemented by my Department and provides a free pre-school year to all children before they commence primary school. There are in the region of 4,200 childcare providers participating in the programme, providing the free pre-school provision to approximately 68,000 children each year. This programme represents an annual investment of almost €175 million.

An advance payment is made to participating childcare providers at the end of August each year and is based on the number of children which were enrolled in that service for the free pre-school programme in the previous academic year. This payment provides for the first 8 weeks of the new school year. In the case of new participants in the programme, a similar advance payment is made but in respect of a maximum of 3 children only. There is provision under the programme to make an additional advance payment if a provider has a significantly higher number of children than that provided for in the initial advance payment.

In previous years, a further payment was made in mid-October following the submission of the annual parental returns detailing the number of eligible children enrolled in each service, based on the actual number of children enrolled and covering payments up to the first week of December.

A new Programmes Implementation Platform (PIP) is currently being introduced which is expected to streamline the payment process for all of the childcare support programmes implemented by this Department. Due to some initial difficulties experienced in relation to the registration of eligible children on the new system, it was not possible to issue a payment in October based on actual numbers of children enrolled. A further advance payment was issued, covering a further 5 weeks. Service providers were advised that they could apply through their local City or County Childcare Committee to increase or decrease the number of children for which an advance was being paid.

The payment which issued to service providers in the first week of December reflects the amount due up to 23rd January 2015 in respect of actual number of children registered.

Where childcare providers are in contract with my Department to provide the free pre-school year and have satisfied the terms and conditions of the programme, payments in general issue in accordance with the draft payment schedule which is published on the Department's website at the beginning of each school year. There are exceptions where, for example, an up to date tax clearance certificate is not provided or where bank details or some other information has not been submitted. As well as the payment dates covered in the payment schedule, a payment batch is processed every week to ensure that funding issues to providers who submit tax clearance certificates or other details after the date of the major payment.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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398. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his views on the increasing regulation and inspection regime applicable to providers of early childhood care and education services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47718/14]

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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401. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide details of the inspection regime for providers of early childhood care and education services; if he will outline any proposed changes to this inspection regime; the model upon which such changes have been made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47721/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 398 and 401 together.

The Government is progressing the Early Years Quality Agenda which represents a programme of measures to support, monitor and regulate the improvement of quality standards in pre-school services in Ireland. A key element of the Agenda is to strengthen the national pre-school inspection system. This will result in a change of practice in a number of areas relating to pre-school inspections.

A number of changes have been made to the Child Care Act 1991 to underpin these reforms. The amended legislation strengthens the current inspection regime and provides a statutory basis for the registration of early years services. The new registration system, which was introduced by the Child and Family Agency on foot of the Child and Family Agency Act, requires that anyone seeking to open an early years service will be required to register with the Agency prior to the facility being opened. The proposed facility will then be inspected to ensure that it meets all the necessary criteria before registration is granted. A similar inspection will be carried out at three year intervals thereafter to ensure continued compliance.

The second and separate phase of inspection, which will monitor the child care-related criteria, will be carried out after the service has become operational and children are attending.

In addition to the above inspections, the Inspectorate of the Department of Education and Skills has been asked to lead and organise focused inspections of the quality of education provision in the 4,200 early childhood education settings participating in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. Early childhood education is a crucial period in the development of young children and a key focus for Government is to promote best outcomes for children participating in the free pre-school programme. These inspections therefore will have a developmental focus looking in particular at the quality of children’s learning experiences.

To support the childcare sector in improving quality, the National Early Years Quality Support Service - Better Start- is being introduced as part of the Early Years Quality Agenda.The Better Start programme is a national approach to quality improvement supports. One element of this, the Early Years Specialist Service, is employing 30 graduates in early childhood care and education who will work directly with services to improve quality, including assisting services in the implementation of the Síolta Framework and the Aistear Curriculum.

It is considered that these initiatives, together with the reforms being implemented under the Early Years Quality Agenda, will provide for a more robust and consistent inspection regime that will address the future needs of the childcare sector.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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399. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his plans for investing in the early childhood care and education sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47719/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Approximately €260m is invested annually by the Government to support the provision of early childhood care and education through three childcare support programmes, the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme and the Training and Employment Childcare (TEC) programmes. This funding supports the provision of early childhood care and education to more than 100,000 children who enroll in approximately 4,300 childcare services throughout the country.

Despite the difficult budgetary position that has prevailed in recent years, the Government has maintained the investment in these childcare support programmes. I am committed to maintaining this level of support and, as the economy improves and the public finances recover, consideration will be given to increasing the level of funding for all of the childcare support programmes.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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400. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his views on the financial burden caused by the application of commercial rates to providers of early childhood care and education services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47720/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I am aware of the concerns of childcare providers in relation to the levying of commercial rates on childcare services.

The issue of local authority commercial rates comes within the remit of the Department of Finance, which has responsibility for fiscal policy, and the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, which has responsibility for the local authorities.

The Valuation Office, which comes under the remit of the Department of Finance, is responsible for the implementation and interpretation of the Valuation Act 2001 under which commercial rates are levied by the local authorities. The Valuation Office prepares valuation lists of commercial properties, as required by the Act, and local authorities are obliged to collect rates on properties which are listed.

Following concerns expressed by childcare providers throughout the country, the issue of commercial rates on pre-school services was raised with the then Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government Phil Hogan T.D. who confirmed that, in line with existing legislative framework, local authorities have no discretion in the collection of commercial rates on properties which are on the Valuation List. The concerns of childcare providers in relation to commercial rates were also brought to the attention of officials in the Department of Finance.

Officials from my Department also met with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in the context of the Valuation Bill currently going through the Houses of the Oireachtas and discussed the issue of commercial rates on pre-school services. The purpose of this meeting was for the provision of information, both historical and contextual, in relation to the childcare sector and at which my Department took the opportunity to express provider's concerns.

The Seanad did recently approve an amendment to the Valuation Bill to exempt not-for-profit childcare providers from commercial rates. However, private commercial childcare providers continue to be subject to commercial rates except those whose funding is derived only through capitation provided under the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme.

As stated, responsibility for the Valuation Acts and the Valuation Office falls within the remit of the Minister for Finance and therefore any change to the Act including any provision for exemptions is a matter for that Department.