Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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187. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his Department’s initiative for the early learning and school age care sector (details supplied) will be completed or at an advanced stage in time for budget 2022 negotiations; if it will provide the basis for an increase in investment in childcare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25093/21]

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 improve the affordability, accessibility and quality of early learning and care and school-age childcare.

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. Since their first meeting in November 2019, the Expert Group has met fifteen times and they have made significant progress in their work.

To support the Expert Group's work, Frontier Economics was selected to deliver a significant programme of research to the Expert Group. Frontier Economics has delivered eight research papers to inform the Expert Group's work, covering international comparisons and funding approaches, staffing, affordability mechanisms, access and inclusion, quality, and collaboration.

The Expert Group is also undertaking consultation and engagement with stakeholders. Phase 1 of this consultation and engagement took place between August and December 2020, comprising a call for submissions, a parental poll, two webinars and focused discussions with providers, practitioners and parents. Phases 2 and 3 of consultation and engagement is ongoing, involving a series of facilitated events that bring together different perspectives to engage deeply in the conversation about how the various issues of affordability, sustainability, quality and inclusion interact and how the new Funding Model can best support these objectives.

Work also continues to progress on the development of a Workforce Development Plan (WDP) for the early learning and care and school-age childcare sector. The first phase of the WDP concluded in late 2020. A report on phase one of the WDP is being finalised before publication in the near future.

Phase two of the WDP, which began in February 2021, involves the preparation of detailed policy proposals to be prepared by five working groups during 2021. These working groups will submit final reports in July 2021 for consideration by the Steering and Stakeholder Groups of the Workforce Development Plan, before a final WDP report is published at the end of 2021.

It is expected that a report on the Expert Group’s recommendations on the new Funding Model will be submitted to me in November 2021 for consideration before submission to wider Government. I anticipate that both the work of the Expert Group and Workforce Development Plan will contribute to informing the Budget 2022 process. First 5commits to at least doubling investment in early learning and care and school-age childcare by 2028 and the new Funding Model will be a key vehicle to ensure that such significant additional investment delivers for children, families and the State.

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