Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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514. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the status of the new funding model and workforce development plan for the early childhood care and education, ECCE, sector. [6019/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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First 5: A Whole of Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families, published in November 2018, sets out an ambitious programme of work across Government Departments to improve the experiences and outcomes of children in Ireland from birth to age 5 across all aspects of their lives in the coming ten years. Included in First 5 is a commitment to designing a new Funding Model to deliver additional funding to early learning and care and school-age childcare providers.

In September 2019, my predecessor announced the establishment of an Expert Group to develop the new Funding Model. The Expert Group is tasked with examining the current model of funding and its effectiveness in delivering quality, affordable, sustainable and inclusive services. The group is considering how additional resourcing can be delivered for the sector to achieve these objectives, drawing on international practice in this area.

The Expert Group has met twelve times to date.

The Terms of Reference for the Expert Group include the need to review existing measures and to draw on international evidence on how to structure funding. To support this, Frontier Economics was selected to deliver a significant programme of research to the Expert Group. Frontier Economics has delivered the following research papers, which have been published:

1. Comparative and Contextual Analysis of ELC and SAC Fees, Staff Wages and Public Investment

2. International approaches to funding ELC

3. Review of working conditions for ELC and SAC staff

4. Potential mechanisms to control fees charged to parents

5. Approaches to identifying children and/or services in need of additional support

Further papers, on disadvantage, quality and shared governance and collaboration, will be delivered and published shortly.

The Terms of Reference of the Expert Group also include the need for consultation and engagement with stakeholders in order to agree the principles to underpin the new Funding Model. The first phase of consultation and engagement took place between August and December 2020. The consultation included a call for submissions, a parental poll, two webinars and a focused discussions with providers, practitioners and parents. A report on key issues identified during the consultation will be published shortly. Further stakeholder engagement and consultation is scheduled for Q1 & Q2 2021.

Co-ordination with other significant reform projects planned for the sector in respect of Workforce Development and the Review of the Operating System is ongoing. A meeting between representatives of the Expert Group and the Workforce Development Plan Steering Group took place in January.

It is expected that a report on the Expert Group’s recommendations will be submitted to the Minister in November 2021 for consideration before submission to wider Government.

Material relating to the Funding Model, including meeting papers, research papers, and reports, is available on a dedicated website, www.first5fundingmodel.ie. 

First 5 also includes a number of commitments related to the workforce for ELC and SAC, including development of a Workforce Development Plan (WDP). The WDP is intended to set out plans to achieve the First 5 workforce commitments, including to raise the profile of careers in the sector and to ensure sufficient numbers of staff at all levels within the sector. The Workforce Development Plan 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.

Specific objectives include:

- To achieve a graduate-led (50%) workforce by 2028 for early learning and care.

- All regulated childminders will hold a minimum qualification.

- All regulated school-age childcare staff will hold a minimum qualification.

After a period of extensive public consultation on the subject of qualifications standards for childminding and school-age childcare in late 2020, the Workforce Development Plan will focus on the creation of pathways towards reaching an appropriate qualification standard for both, recognising their unique backgrounds and requirements.

Phase one of development of the WDP involved the drafting of an interim report. This report is being finalised before publication in the near future. Phase two will involve detailed implementation plans to be prepared by a number of working groups throughout 2021.

The WDP Stakeholder Group, consisting of a wide range of different voices involved in the sector, has been consulted on each piece of work to date and has provided valuable insights informing policy developments and the consultation process. 

A programme of consultation on draft proposals on the WDP was rolled out, consisting of:

- A call for submissions, which ran from 19 August to 2 October, for all involved in the sector to have their say.

- Webinars on 22 September and 16 December informed the sector of work to date on the project and important details relating to the consultation process.

- A series of nine consultation events involving focussed discussions with practitioners over two weeks from the 12 to 23 of October. The themes of these discussions were recruitment and retention, qualifications and initial training and ongoing training and CPD.

The feedback from the consultation process informed the drafting of the interim report, which is due to be published in early 2021.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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515. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the actions he has taken to date to progress the establishment of a joint labour committee in the early childhood care and education, ECCE, sector. [6020/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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In December 2020, working in partnership with SIPTU and Childhood Services Ireland (within IBEC), I began a short process in which interested parties were invited to discuss how best to address issues of pay and conditions in the sector and how a Joint Labour Committee (JLC) might support this. I appointed Dr Kevin Duffy, former Chair of the Labour Court, to be an independent chair for this process.

The group has met three times in the last six weeks, and held its final meeting on 1 February. Discussions examined the nature of a JLC process and its relevance to the early learning and care and school-age childcare sector, and also explored what other mechanisms might be available to support improvements in wages and working conditions in the sector. Dr Duffy will shortly be reporting to me outlining the issues and possible solutions raised in the process, and making a recommendation on next steps.

While a number of important steps lie ahead, the commitment already shown by organisations that participated in the process to find a solution to issues arising is very welcome.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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516. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will address a matter raised in correspondence (details supplied). [6035/21]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, provides funding to over 700 external organisations, mainly in the non-profit sector, to commission services to fulfil Tusla's statutory responsibilities, and to deliver on Tusla's strategic objectives and key actions.

Non-profit organisations operate independently of Tusla and are responsible for the recruitment of employees and the terms and conditions under which they are employed. I have a huge appreciation for the valuable contribution of such organisations in delivering important services to support vulnerable children and families. I am acutely aware of the financial constraints faced by many such organisations and indeed by Tusla in seeking to meet the extensive needs that exist.  I acknowledge that significant challenges remain for frontline organisations, particularly for staff who may not have not seen pay increases in that time.

While I take on board the points raised, I think the issues in question are not unique to the service you mention or services generally that are commissioned by Tusla or funded by my Department. Issues such as rates of pay and other matters raised by the Deputy for employees of the non-profit sector will require wider consideration across Government.

I am pleased to have secured significant additional funding for Tusla in this year's Budget which, I believe, will help the Agency more fully achieve its vision.  The exact details of where this additional funding is allocated by Tusla will be finalised in the coming weeks with Tusla’s Business Plan for 2021.

The funding arrangements between individual organisations and Tusla is agreed under a Service Level Agreement (SLA). As the funding arrangement for the particular service referenced by the Deputy is an operational matter for Tusla, I have requested that the Agency respond to the Deputy directly on this matter.