Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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658. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the breakdown of level 7 funding between the 10 and 15 hours options allowed within the AIM programme; the amount provided for the total 10-hour allocation and total 15-hour allocation nationally; and the number of children each of those total amounts provide for. [24167/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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AIM is a model of supports designed to ensure that children with disabilities can access the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. Its goal is to empower pre-school providers to deliver an inclusive pre-school experience, ensuring that every eligible child can fully participate in the ECCE programme and reap the benefits of quality early years care and education. AIM is a child-centred model, involving seven levels of progressive support, moving from the universal to the targeted, based on the needs of the child and the pre-school setting. The degree of support provided depends on the needs of the child in the context of the pre-school setting they are attending.

A pre-school provider, in partnership with a parent, can apply for AIM Level 7 - additional capitation. Where the AIM Early Years Specialist (a support provided under AIM Level 4) considers that a Level 7 support is critical to a child's participation in the ECCE programme, they will further consider the degree of Level 7 support required having regard to whether the child has complex or highly complex needs. Where a child is deemed to have complex needs, payment of Level 7 capitation at the lower rate will enable the setting to supplement their staffing by 10 additional staff hours per week. Where a child is deemed to have highly complex needs, payment of Level 7 capitation at the higher rate will enable the setting to supplement their staffing by 15 additional staff hours per week. This can be used to reduce the adult to child ratio in the pre-school room or can be used to buy in additional assistance.

Pobal has provided the following breakdown of the value of contracts to date between Pobal and pre-school providers for AIM Level 7 capitation. This relates to the 2016/ 2017 ECCE programme year:

AIM was launched in June 2016. Therefore, it is still in the first full year of operation. As awareness of AIM grows, it is expected that the demand for all levels of support under AIM, including Level 7, will increase.