Written answers

Tuesday, 15 June 2021

Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

Early Childhood Care and Education

Photo of Kathleen FunchionKathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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971. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount of funding that was allocated to ECCE service providers at the 70% rate; and the amount of this allocation that was spent in 2020 and to date in 2021, in tabular form. [31353/21]

Photo of Kathleen FunchionKathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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972. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount of funding that was allocated to ECCE service providers at 100% rate; and the amount of this allocation that was spent in 2020 and to date in 2021, in tabular form. [31354/21]

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 971 and 972 together.

My Department runs a number of Early Learning and Care schemes. The schemes are administered by Pobal on behalf of my Department.

My Department introduced a number of supports to mitigate against impacts of COVID-19 on the Early Learning and Care and School- Age Childcare Sector in 2020 and has continued to provide supports in 2021.

From early January 2021, due to ongoing COVID-19 Level 5 restrictions, the pre-school (ECCE) programme was suspended while other Early Learning and Care Services were open to children

whose parents work in an essential service and for vulnerable children only.

During this period in January 2021, services received funding as normal with ECCE only services, forced to close, paid under Force Majeure.

Following continuation of Level 5 restrictions in February, where the pre-school (ECCE) programme continued to be suspended, funding for the period 01 February to 05 March 2021 for the Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare Services was as follows:

- Services open during this period will continue to receive 70% of the value of ECCE programme funding and 100% of funding provided under other Department schemes (i.e. the National Childcare Scheme (NCS), the Community Childcare Subvention Plus (CCSP), and the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM)) These services can also receive the additional 30% of the value of ECCE Programme funding if they commit to certain conditions that includes waiving fees for parents not using the service and retaining staff where possible.

- Services closed during this period, where the closure is approved by the Department, will receive 70% of the value of ECCE programme funding and 100% of funding provided under other Department schemes (i.e. NCS, CCSP, and AIM). This funding will be conditional on a commitment to waive fees for parents and retain staff where possible.

- A newly designed Covid-19 Support Payment is being put in place to support some providers with a significant reliance on parental fee income to waive fees during this period while remaining sustainable.

The table below shows the funding provided to services during the period 01 February to 05 March 2021 at 70% rate and at 100% rate. It should be noted that the 30% top-up was calculated weekly and in some instances, services were received a mix of 100% and 70% rate. This additional information has been included in the table:

Service Overview No of Services Payment (€m)
Services paid 70% all weeks due 2081 € 11.1
Services paid 100% all weeks due 1730 € 18.3
Services paid mix 100%/70% per week 127 € 1.0
Total 3938 € 30.4

The table below shows ECCE allocation and expenditure in 2020 and to date in 2021:

Year Scheme Allocation Drawdown
2020 ECCE € 208.62 € 216.64
2021 ECCE € 289.30 € 164.30

Photo of Kathleen FunchionKathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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977. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the percentage of State spending and parental spending in 2019, 2020 and to date in 2021 on early learning care and school-aged care in tabular form. [31359/21]

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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My Department operates a number of Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) schemes. These schemes are administered by Pobal on behalf of my Department.

Data captured in a survey administered to all centre-based providers nationally in 2018 as part of the Review of the Cost of Providing Quality Childcare Services provided a breakdown of provider income. That Review found that parental fees accounted for, on average, 40% of all overall service income, with the remainder coming from State funding. Data from the Review also found that for over 70% of services, 30% or less of their income came from parental fees. Reliance on parental fees can vary considerably across service types. Services which only or primarily deliver the ECCE programme are likely to have little or no reliance on parental fees. See the following table for a detailed breakdown.

2018 Breakdown of % ELC Providers Income from Parental Fees

% of income from parental fees Percentage of ELC providers
0% 32.4%
<0-10% 21.9%
<10-20% 10.5%
<20-30% 6.6%
<30-40% 5.2%
<40-50% 4.9%
<50-60% 4.5%
<60-70% 5.1%
<70-80% 3.7%
<80-90% 2.8%
100% 2.4%

In 2019, €497m of funding was allocated directly to services through my Department's ELC schemes. Assuming the same income breakdown for ELC providers as 2018, this funding accounted for approximately 60% of the ELC sector income. It can thus be deduced that approximately €331m (40%) of the ELC sector income came from parental fees in 2019.

Due to the significant disruption to the ELC sector in 2020 and 2021, and the various funding packages provided to support services through Covid-19 related periods of closures and restricted access, some of which had as a requirement of that funding to waive fees for parents not accessing ELC during those periods, it is not possible to provide relevant comparable data for these time periods.

Photo of Kathleen FunchionKathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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978. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the funding allocated in 2019, 2020 and 2021 to early learning care; and the amount of this allocation that was drawn down for 2019 and 2020, in tabular form. [31360/21]

Photo of Kathleen FunchionKathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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979. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the funding allocated in 2019, 2020 and 2021 to school-aged care; and the amount of this allocation that was drawn down for 2019 and 2020, in tabular form. [31361/21]

Photo of Kathleen FunchionKathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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980. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the funding allocated in 2019, 2020 and 2021 to the national childcare scheme; and the amount of this allocation that was drawn down for 2019 and 2020, in tabular form. [31362/21]

Photo of Kathleen FunchionKathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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981. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the funding allocated in 2019, 2020 and 2021 to after-school provision within the national childcare scheme; and the amount of this allocation that was drawn down for 2019 and 2020, in tabular form. [31363/21]

Photo of Kathleen FunchionKathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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983. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the funding allocated in 2019, 2020 and 2021 to the training and employment childcare scheme; and the amount of this allocation that was drawn down for 2019 and 2020, in tabular form. [31365/21]

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 978 to 981, inclusive, and 983 together.

My Department runs a number of Early Learning and Care schemes. The schemes are administered by Pobal on behalf of my Department.

The following table shows my Department’s core funding programmes and supports. The table displays the total budget allocation for each programme, as well as the amount drawn down over the last 3 programme years.

Year Scheme Allocation (€m) Drawdown (€m)
2019 ECCE € 298.1 € 294.5
AIM € 21.4 € 25.1
NCS and Savers € 157.2 € 151.9
2020 ECCE € 208.6 € 216.6
AIM € 31.4 € 17.4
NCS and Savers € 145.2 € 109.4
2021 ECCE € 289.3 NA
AIM € 35.0 NA
NCS and Savers € 205.5 NA

The Deputy should be aware that the 2020 allocation refers to the further revised allocation. Spend in 2020 on schemes is lower due to the suspension of regular schemes during Covid-19 closures.

The Department does not record School Aged Childcare and Early Learning Care separately.

Since 2019, there has been one budget allocation for all targeted schemes. Community Childcare Subvention Plus (CCSP) and Training and Employment Childcare Scheme (TEC) are now known as Savers and contained with the NCS and Savers budget.

Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) and Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) provide exclusively Early Learning and Care funding. However, funding for Early Learning and Care is also available under NCS and Savers.

School age children are not eligible for the ECCE and AIM Programmes. Only the NCS and Savers schemes include an after-school component. It is estimated that, of the budget allocation for NCS and Savers 2021 (€205.5m), approximately €65m is intended for school-aged childcare.

Photo of Kathleen FunchionKathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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982. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the funding allocated in 2019, 2020 and 2021 to the access and inclusion model; and the amount of this allocation that was drawn down for 2019 and 2020, in tabular form. [31364/21]

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The allocations and draw downs for the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) are set out in the table.

Year Allocated Draw down
2019 35,500,000 34,290,000
2020 43,000,000 31,900,000
2021 48,330,500 n/a

Last autumn I was pleased to announce a €5 million increase in the AIM budget for 2021, which increased total funding from €43 million to €48.3 million. The additional AIM funding allows for a further increase in the number of children with disabilities who can receive targeted supports under AIM, and enabled an increase in the level of payment made to services for additional assistance under Level 7 of AIM. Level 7 capitation increased in January of this year from €195 per week (or €13/hour) to €210 per week (or €14/hr). The additional funding in the 2021 budget also allows for an increase in the number of funded Inclusion Coordinator roles in preschool services.

The under-spend in 2020 reflects the availability of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) to registered providers of early learning and care and school-age childcare. This was a significant support in helping service providers to meet the challenges of COVID-19.

EWSS provides wage subsidies for relevant staff members, including newly hired staff. Level 7 of AIM (additional assistance in the preschool room) provides financial assistance to service providers that may be used to cover or subsidise the wages of specific staff members. With the introduction of EWSS, AIM rules were amended to allow the wages of an employee delivering additional assistance in the preschool room to be supported through either the EWSS or AIM Level 7 capitation, but not both. It was open to a service provider to choose whichever of EWSS or AIM Level 7 funding was most appropriate to them.

To date, Pobal data shows over 1,089 AIM Level 7 applications were withdrawn by service providers citing a preference to hire a staff member using EWSS funds rather than AIM funding. These withdrawals account for a drop in AIM Level 7 applications by approximately 25%. As this information is submitted on a voluntary basis, the number of withdrawals due to EWSS funding may be higher than reported. This reductions in the number of AIM Level 7 applications, in addition to a possible drop off in the number of children with disabilities attending services due to Covid-19, has had a major impact on AIM Level 7 expenditure in 2020 and 2021. There are currently 109,242 approved ECCE registrations, which is 3% lower than this time last year. The combination of lower ECCE registrations and the continuation of EWSS will continue to impact on AIM expenditure until at least the end of Q3 2021.

The Access Inclusion Model (AIM), which is an inter-agency initiative led by my Department, supports the participation of preschool children with disabilities in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. The key objective of AIM is to support early learning and care providers to deliver an inclusive preschool experience, ensuring that children with a disability can fully participate in the ECCE Programme, thereby reaping the benefits of quality preschool education. AIM is based on the needs of the child in the context of the preschool setting. It does not require any diagnosis, recognising that many children do not have a diagnosis of a disability when starting preschool.

AIM has seven levels of progressive support. Universal supports (levels 1-3) empower early learning and care providers to create a more inclusive culture in their setting through an Inclusion Charter and Guidelines for preschools, and a level 6 qualification in Leadership for Inclusion (LINC).

Targeted supports (levels 4-7) are based on the needs of the child and the preschool setting they are attending. These supports include expert early years educational advice from Better Start Early Years Specialists, capital grants for special equipment and/or minor alterations for preschool settings, and therapy supports. AIM level 7 support provides additional funding to preschools who have a child requiring extra support. Providers can use this funding either to reduce the child-to-adult ratio in the preschool room or to fund an extra staff member as a shared resource with other children in the ECCE setting.

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