Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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510. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will review a case (details supplied) with regard to an application for higher capitation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33312/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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In order to receive the Higher Capitation Rate, under the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme, the service provider must submit an application on an annual basis. For a childcare room/session to be approved for the ECCE Higher Capitation Rate the following criteria applies:

- Pre-school leaders must satisfy the minimum qualification requirements as approved on the published list of my Department's Early Years Recognised Qualifications and have at least three years' experience working in the early years sector

- Pre-school assistants must have a minimum qualification of Level 5 or equivalent in a recognised Early Years Qualification

- The appropriate qualified staff should be present for each ECCE session applying for Higher Capitation in accordance with the ECCE child:staff ratio requirement.

It is my understanding that an administrative error occurred while the application from the service in question was being processed. The nominated person from this service was incorrectly deemed to be a Higher Capitation room leader. Upon noticing this error, officials from my Department corrected it and informed the service provider. Officials have reviewed the relevant qualifications, as sent in by the service provider, and have advised that they do not meet the minimum requirements for Higher Capitation.

If a provider feels that their qualifications meet the required criteria there is a mechanism to submit their full qualifications portfolio to the Department to have them individually assessed. The full qualifications portfolio should be submitted along with the relevant application form to the qualifications recognition section in the Early Years Policies and Programmes Unit in my Department. My Department cannot make a decision regarding higher capitation payment until such a provider submits their qualifications portfolio to be assessed, and the outcome of this assessment is known, or the qualification is on the DCYA Early Years Recognised Qualifications list. Further information on this is available at .

In relation to Nursing Degrees my Department has published the following information:

"This qualification is accepted as meeting the minimum Regulatory requirements to work in early years. Award certificates dated 2015 or earlier, will be accepted for ECCE room Leader. Award certificates dated from 2016 will require additional qualifications in Early Education to be accepted as room leader. NB this qualification does not meet the Higher Cap requirement."

For transparency the Published list of DCYA Early Years Recognised Qualifications can be downloaded from .