Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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362. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the estimated cost of extending the early childhood care and education scheme to 48 weeks. [12054/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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In Budget 2016, my Department announced a significant expansion to pre-school provision under the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. This measure, which will be introduced from September 2016, means that children will be eligible to start free pre-school when they reach the age of 3, and continue to avail of free pre-school until they start primary school (once the child is not older than 5½ years at the end of the pre-school year i.e. end June). Following the introduction of the expanded programme there will be three opportunities each programme year - in September, January and April - for eligible children to enrol for the free pre-school provision. This will ensure that children aged 3 or over have the opportunity to enrol as soon as possible after their third birthday.

The expansion of the ECCE programme will see the number of children benefitting from the Programme rise from around 67,000 to around 127,000 in a given programme year. For the 2016/17 programme year, it is estimated that 89,500 children will be eligible to enrol in the Programme from September 2016, an additional 22,000 from January 2017 and a further 15,500 from April 2017. From September 2016, the standard weekly capitation rate for each eligible child will be €64.50, and the higher weekly capitation rate will be €75.

In 2017, assuming 60% of children will attend higher rate services and 40% of children will attend standard rate services, it is estimated that the cost of extending the ECCE programme to 48 weeks would be an additional €89.916 million.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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363. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the estimated annual cost of resourcing a special needs assistant for the early childhood care and education scheme. [12055/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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In November 2015, a new model for supporting children with a disability to access the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme was launched. The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) is a cross-Government initiative, led by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, and involving the Department of Health, the Department of Education and Skills and others. The model will deliver seven levels of progressive support, moving from the universal to the targeted, to enable the full inclusion and meaningful participation of children with disabilities in the ECCE programme. These are:

Level 1 - An Inclusive Culture: includes training dedicated Inclusion Co-ordinatorsin pre-schools, and a small capitation increase for particular childcare services to support fully inclusive practice;

Level 2 - Information for Parents and Providers:includes development of a national website and information for parents and providers;

Level 3 - A Qualified and Confident Workforce:resourcing formal and informal training for early years practitioners to support more inclusive provision;

Level 4 - Expert Educational Advice & Support:enhancing the Better StartEarly Years Specialist Service so that practitioners have prompt access to advice and support from experts in early years education for children with disabilities;

Level 5 - Equipment, Appliances and Minor Alterations:the provision of specialised equipment, appliances or capital grants towards the cost of minor building alterations so that children with disabilities can participate in pre-school;

Level 6 - Therapeutic Intervention:additional resources to enable access to HSE therapeutic services, where these are needed to allow a child enrol, and fully participate in, pre-school.

Level 7 - Additional Assistance:where the supports available at levels 1-6 are not sufficient to meet a child’s needs, additional capitation can be made available to childcare providers to support the pre-school leader to ensure children’s full participation. This could include, for example, buying in additional support or reducing the staff:child ratio.

Work is well advanced across many elements of the model with a view to introducing the initiative from September 2016. It is intended that service providers and parents will be able to submit applications for supports under the new model from June 2016 onwards to allow them to plan for pre-school enrolment in September 2016 and to ensure that children will begin to benefit from these measures from that point forward.

Funding of €14.35 million has been provided by my Department for the implementation of the scheme in 2016. The model will build incrementally over a number of years with full implementation costs in 2020 estimated at almost €40 million.

Finally, the Deputy has asked specifically about the estimated annual cost of resourcing a Special Needs Assistant for the ECCE Programme. The Access and Inclusion Model does not involve the provision of special needs assistants and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs does not fund such services. The HSE does, on an ad hoc basis, make some supports available and it is expected that these arrangements will continue until the new model has been established.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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364. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the estimated cost of increasing the early childhood care and education scheme higher capitation grant by €9 per child for the year 2017. [12057/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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It is a requirement of the Early Childhood care and Education Scheme (ECCE) programme that all pre-school year leadershold an appropriate qualification at a minimum of Level 7 and pre-school assistants hold a Level 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications of Ireland in order to be paid the higher capitation rate.

From September 2016, the rules regarding the payment of the higher capitation rate are to be amended. The amended rules will allow Higher Capitation to be paid per room, rather than the traditional rule that all pre-school rooms must be led by a graduate to be eligible. This will allow services who have been in receipt of Higher Capitation to retain this payment for some of their rooms, even if they do not have a graduate for their additional rooms, and will also allow more services to avail of Higher Capitation for some rooms. From September 2016 ECCE capitation rates will be restored to pre-2012 levels (i.e. €64.50 standard capitation fee and €75 higher capitation fee per child per week). There are in the region of 4,300 early years services participating in the ECCE programme and more than 1,400 of these services were in receipt of the higher capitation in the 2014/2015 programme year (approximately 33%). It is envisaged that these reforms to the ECCE programme will lead to a greater proportion of payments being made at the higher capitation rate.

Based on the assumption that 60% of children will attend higher capitation services and 40% of children will attend standard capitation services, it is estimated that the full year cost of increasing the higher capitation rate by €9 (i.e to €84) per child for the year 2017 would be an additional €25,012,518.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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365. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the estimated cost of increasing the early childhood care and education scheme lower capitation grant by €6 per child for the year 2017. [12058/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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From September 2016 Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) capitation rates will be restored to pre-2012 levels (i.e. €64.50 standard capitation fee and €75 higher capitation fee per child per week). Also from September 2016, the rules regarding the payment of the higher capitation rate are to be amended. The amended rules will allow Higher Capitation to be paid per room, rather than the traditional rule that all pre-school rooms must be led by a graduate in order for a service to be eligible. This will allow services who have been in receipt of Higher Capitation to retain this payment for some of their rooms, even if they do not have a graduate for their additional rooms, and will also allow more services to avail of Higher Capitation for some rooms. It is envisaged, therefore, that a greater proportion of payments will be made at the higher capitation rate.

Based on the assumption that 40% of children will attend standard capitation services and 60% will attend higher capitation services, it is estimated that the full year cost of increasing the standard capitation rate by €6 (i.e to €70.50) per child for the year 2017 would be an additional €11,116,718.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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366. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the full cost of implementing the roll-out of the Síolta and Aistear programmes for the year 2017. [12061/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Síolta, the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education, was developed by the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education (CECDE) in partnership with the early childhood sector and on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills. It was published in 2006. Síolta is designed to define, assess and support the improvement of quality across all aspects of practice in early years settings where children aged birth to six years are present. Since December 2008, the Early Years Education Policy Unit, in the Department of Education and Skills, has been responsible for the implementation of Síolta.

Aistear, the Curriculum Framework for Early Childhood Education, was developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) in partnership with the early childhood sector and on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills. It was published in 2009. Aistear is designed for early years settings to help them plan for and provide challenging and enjoyable learning experiences that can enable all children to grow and develop as competent and confident learners in the context of loving relationships with others. Aistear describes the types of learning and development that are important for children in their early years, and offers ideas and suggestions on how these might be nurtured. Since 2009, the NCCA has been responsible for the implementation of Aistear.

Adherence to the Síolta and Aistear frameworks is now set out as an obligation for early years settings in contract with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to deliver the funded childcare programmes. This Department is currently building capacity within the sector on the development and implementation of these frameworks, in collaboration with the Department of Education and Skills and the NCCA.  €500,000 has been allocated by Government for quality improvement in the sector, including a new Síolta/Aistear initiative, which is being jointly progressed by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Education and Skills. Consideration is being given by both Departments as to how best to progress the roll-out of these frameworks and the costs that would be involved in so doing.