Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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543. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the ongoing issue of the difficulty in recruiting suitably qualified support staff for early years settings; his plans to address this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16624/20]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I am acutely aware of the difficulties that many early learning and care services report in recruiting and retaining qualified staff, and the high rate of staff turnover in the sector. In Pobal’s latest Early Years Sector Profile Report 2018/2019, the staff turnover rate stood at 23% which, despite a 2% improvement on the previous year, is unsustainably high.

I believe that the key challenge to recruiting and retaining staff is the attractiveness of working in the sector. One way to address this issue is through improving wages and working conditions. The increases in investment in recent years need to continue if we are to offer services that are of high quality, affordable and accessible. However, increased investment by itself will not ensure that staff wages and conditions will improve.

The Programme for Government includes a commitment to support the establishment of a Joint Labour Committee in the childcare sector and the drawing up of an Employment Regulation Order, which would determine minimum rates of pay for childcare workers, as well as terms and conditions of employment. Officials in my Department are liaising with officials in the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation in relation to the implications of the recent High Court decision on Sectoral Employment Orders and any implications this decision may have.

My Department has set out its vision for the sector, and a roadmap to achieve it, in First 5, the whole-of-Government strategy for babies, young children and their families. First 5 recognises that the workforce is at the heart of high-quality early learning and care and school-age childcare and seeks to build ‘an appropriately skilled and sustainable professional workforce that is supported and valued and reflects the diversity of babies, young children and their families’. First 5 includes a commitment to achieve a graduate-led workforce.

Delivering on a further commitment in First 5, an expert group has been appointed to examine the current model of funding for early learning and care and school-age childcare and its effectiveness in delivering quality, affordable, sustainable and inclusive services.

First 5 also includes a commitment to a Workforce Development Plan for the early learning and care and school age childcare sectors which will set out plans to raise the profile of careers in the sector, establishing role profiles, career pathways, qualifications requirements, and associated policy mechanisms along with leadership development opportunities and work towards a more gender-balanced and diverse workforce. Work on developing the Workforce Development Plan began last year and is on-going.

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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544. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he is satisfied there is sufficient capacity in the early years and school-age childcare system in view of the impact that Covid-19 has had on settings; the details of notifications of closures issued to Tusla for early years settings since January 2020 by service type; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16625/20]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Officials in my Department have been monitoring closely developments in relation to early learning and care (ELC) and school age childcare (SAC) sectoral capacity, including the supply of, and demand for, places as COVID-19 restrictions ease. Supporting services as they reopen, and ensuring that capacity is sufficient to meet demand, is a key priority of my Department.

The Annual Early Years Sector Profile 2019 demonstrated that, prior to the disruption caused by COVID-19, the sector was running at near capacity. However, recent IPSOS/MRBI surveys of parents commissioned by my Department indicate a drop in the number of families likely to seek to access ELC and SAC in the initial weeks of reopening.

Expert guidance on the safe reopening of ELC and SAC services during the COVID-19 pandemic was published by the HSE Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) on 29 May. The guidance recommends, amongst other measures, the use of a “play pod” model to restrict interactions between closed groups of children and adults as an alternative to social distancing, on the basis that social distancing is not possible between young children. The public health advice does not require any change to minimum adult-child ratios or to regulatory space requirements. While some settings may reduce capacity depending on their layout, there are no absolute requirements for capacity reduction, and most services should be able to comply with the public health advice with no or little reduction in capacity.

On 10 June 2020, my Department announced a major funding package to facilitate the reopening of ELC and SAC services. In accordance with the Government Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, and guided by the expert advice of the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HSPC), ELC and SAC services resumed from 29 June. To this end, the Government has committed a €75m package of funding for reopening services over the summer months. This substantial investment recognises the important role that the ELC and SAC sector plays in the societal and economic infrastructure of the country.

The funding package contains four significant elements:

- A once-off Reopening Support Payment (RSP) for DCYA-funded providers opening between 29 June and early September.

- A once-off COVID-19 capital grant for DCYA-funded providers opening between 29 June and early September.

- Continued access for eligible providers to the Revenue-operated Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS)

- Resumption of DCYA ELC and SAC programmes.

In developing the funding package, it is recognised that a reduced number of children are likely to attend ELC and SAC services in the initial weeks of reopening. This funding package is tailored to allow providers to operate with potentially less parental income and to assist in meeting the increased costs associated with complying with public health requirements in a lower occupancy scenario.

The funding package will also help to ensure that ELC and SAC providers do not charge higher fees over the summer than they did pre-COVID-19. This will benefit parents and children returning to services.

A key policy priority for the Department in this process is the sustainability of the ELC and SAC sector and hence it has and continues to work intensively to support services to reopen after COVID-19. The reopening funding aims to support providers to reopen, staff to remain in the sector, parents to resume work, and children to benefit from quality ELC and SAC.

The latest data shows that 85% of services that ordinarily operate in July and August have now reopened.

Officials in the Department are now working on supports for the sector going forward. This will reflect the continued commitment to quality, affordable, accessible ELC and SAC, and will recognise the importance of having a sustainable sector, in the interests of providers, practitioners, parents, children and economic recovery. Department officials are working closely with eight representative organisations of the sector through the Advisory Group on Reopening.

As of 15 July 2020, Tusla had been notified of 81 closures of services since January 2020. These are outlined as below:

In 2019, 200 services closed and approximately 150 services closed in both 2017 and 2018. Services which close tend to be replaced with new services, or existing services expand to absorb their capacity. The number of childcare places in the sector has grown by approximately 60% over the last 5 years. The average size of childcare service has grown from 33 to 47.

State investment to the sector has increased by 141% over the last five budgets. The Government is committed to implementing First 5: A Whole-of- Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families, which commits to at least doubling investment in Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare in the decade to 2028.

The Programme for Government reaffirms the importance of reforming the ELC and SAC sector and this remains a priority for the Department over the coming year.