Written answers
Tuesday, 12 March 2019
Department of Children and Youth Affairs
Early Childhood Care and Education Programmes
Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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589. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if it is the policy of her Department, or the agents under the remit of her Department, to check all PPS numbers of children supplied by ECCE providers with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to confirm that the numbers quoted are correct and that the children are eligible and resident here; if so, the number of PPS numbers checked in each of the years 2015 to 2018; and the number of cases which required additional investigation. [11479/19]
Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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In order to register a child for the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, the parent/guardian must supply their chosen childcare service provider with the child's PPS number.
The PPS number is then checked by Pobal, who administer ECCE on behalf of my Department, via the Department of Social Protection and Employment Affairs database on the Programme Implementation Platform (PIP) to ensure that the PPS number supplied is valid and matches the child's details as supplied, and that the child is in the eligible age bracket to register for ECCE. If this PPS number check fails, the registration is returned to the service provider who informs the parent/guardian. Pobal does not investigate further.
This process must be completed for every registration made on the PIP system by childcare providers.
All figures are taken from the PIP CRM and are correct as at the 11th of March 2019.
| Total Registrations ECCE 2014 | - | - | - | - | 71,683.00 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Programme Call | Approved | Declined | Deferred | Provisional | Grand Total |
| ECCE 2014 | 68,333.00 | 3,307.00 | 41.00 | 2.00 | 71,683.00 |
| Total Registrations ECCE 2015/2016 | 81,251.00 | ||||
| Programme Call | Approved | Declined | Deferred | Provisional | Grand Total |
| ECCE 2015 | 77,449.00 | 3,797.00 | - | 5.00 | 81,251.00 |
| Total Registrations ECCE 2016/2017 | 132,935.00 | ||||
| Programme Call | Approved | Declined | Deferred | Provisional | Grand Total |
| ECCE 2016 | 128,497.00 | 4,432.00 | - | 6.00 | 132,935.00 |
| Total Registrations ECCE 2017/2018 | 132,153.00 | ||||
| Programme Call | Approved | Declined | Deferred | Provisional | Grand Total |
| ECCE 2017 | 126,470.00 | 5,652.00 | - | 31.00 | 132,153.00 |
| Total Registrations ECCE 2018/2019 | 117,121.00 | ||||
| Programme Call | Approved | Declined | Deferred | Provisional | Grand Total |
| ECCE 2018 | 113,662.00 | 3,415.00 | - | 44.00 | 117,121.00 |
Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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590. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if it is the policy of her Department, or the agents under the remit of her Department, to check all PPS numbers of children supplied by ECCE providers with the Department of Education and Skills to confirm that the children are not also registered as pupils in a national school; the number of PPS numbers checked in each of the years 2015 to 2018; and the number of cases which required additional investigation. [11480/19]
Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Neither my Department, or Pobal, who operate early years schemes on behalf of my Department, supply the PPS numbers of children registered on the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme to the Department of Education and Skills for the purpose set out by the Deputy.
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