Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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341. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the measures that will be implemented to ensure that there is adequate childcare accommodation in view of creche closures over the past year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19149/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The availability of high-quality early learning and childcare that is affordable and accessible is a key Government priority.

Since 2015, significant increases in State investment in early learning and childcare has given rise to a substantial growth in the numbers of children participating in these services. More than 100,000 children now participate on the universal pre-school programme on an annual basis and the National Childcare Scheme subsidises up to 80,000 children.

To ensure that the supply of early learning and childcare places meets demand, my Department has, since 2015, funded the creation of more than 27,000 new places through an Annual Capital Programme.

Before the onset of Covid-19, national data indicated that, on the whole, supply of early learning and childcare places was meeting demand, with evidence of undersupply for certain age groups including children under 3, and in certain areas.

Data gathered throughout the Covid-19 pandemic revealed lower demand for early learning and childcare, and reduced occupancy among early learning and childcare services. Indeed, data captured in June 2021 found significant vacancy rates across the country – with the national vacancy rate averaging at 21%.

Moreover, recent Tusla data shows that the number of services notifying their closure to Tusla in 2021 is less than the number of service closures that occurred in 2020 and 2019.

My Department is continuing to monitor early learning and childcare capacity, with a particular focus on monitoring Covid-19 impacts as public health restrictions have been lifted and responding to the unmet early learning and childcare needs of families.

Pobal has, using the data captured in June 2021 and current registration data, recently projected vacancy rates in February 2022. While this analysis shows a fall in vacancy rates from June 2021 to February 2022 – with vacancy rates falling from 21% to 19%, this analysis suggests that there is unused capacity across the country.

Pobal has commenced the new data collection as of 4 April 2022, as part of the Annual Early Years Sector Profile survey. This will allow for updated information on capacity among early learning and childcare services to be established.

In addition to these efforts to monitor capacity issues across the country, my Department is planning a range of steps to address any issue of under supply. A new funding model, to roll out in September, will provide funding for services aligned to costs of delivery so, for example, greater funding will be available to services that cater for younger children where costs of delivery are higher than older children. Some €70m has been allocated to my Department through the revised National Development Plan (NDP) – with the majority of this funding earmarked for new places. Another important step being taken by my Department, in partnership with the Department of Housing Planning and Local Government (DHPLG), is to update the 2001 Planning Guidelines for Local Authorities on Early Learning and Childcare Settings. In addition, CCC are currently proactively engaging with early learning and childcare services to identify unused capacity and explore the potential for services in increase capacity where there is evidence of unmet early learning and childcare needs of families.

Parents experiencing difficulty in relation to their early learning and childcare needs should contact their local City/County Childcare Committee (CCC) for assistance. Contact details for CCCs may be found on www.myccc.ie.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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342. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will address the concerns of childcare providers in relation to the funding module for pre-school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19150/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Core Funding is a new funding stream for Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) services introduced in Budget 2022 and informed by the work of the Expert Group to develop a new funding model for ELC and SAC, outlined in Partnership for the Public Good: A New Funding Model for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare. Core Funding will operate in addition to and alongside ECCE (standard capitation), AIM, CCSP and NCS. It replaces ECCE higher capitation and incorporates funding previously allocated to the Programme Support Payments (PSP) from September 2022.

Core Funding is a payment to providers designed to meet the combined objectives of:

- Improved quality through, among other things, better pay and conditions for the workforce;

- Supporting the establishment of an Employment Regulation Order through the Joint Labour Committee;

- Supporting the employment of graduate staff;

- Improved affordability for parents by ensuring that fees do not increase; and

- Improved sustainability and stability for services.

On 7th March I announced the rates and values for the Core Funding, and launched the online Ready Reckoner tool. The Ready Reckoner is accessible to all and is designed to give an idea of what services can expect to receive based on their characteristics. It also allows different scenarios of provision to be tested. This will show the benefits of applying for Core Funding when it is possible to do so.

Of the total of €221m in full year costs, €138 million is intended to contribute to staff costs, €25 million is for a contribution to administrative costs and €20 million is allocated to contribute to non staff costs. €38 million is allocated to contribute to support graduates to be Lead Educators across ELC and to support graduates as Managers in ELC or combined ELC and SAC services. Heretofore funding has only been available in respect of graduate Room Leaders in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. The graduate premium aspect of Core Funding will encourage employment of graduates as Lead Educators across all ELC, not just in ECCE rooms as was the case with higher capitation payments.

The majority of Core Funding (i.e. €183 million of the €221 million) will be distributed based on a service's capacity - opening hours, opening weeks and the age group of children for whom services are provided as well as the number of places offered. The rationale for this is that these are the primary characteristics that determine the service's costs of delivery. Structuring Core Funding primarily based on capacity will support sustainability and stability for services, since they will have an allocation each year that will not fluctuate in line with children's attendance.

Core Funding is related to the costs of delivery. Services opening longer hours or offering more places will receive a higher value of Core Funding than other services. This is because their costs of operation are higher.

There have been suggestions that small services and services which only provide the ECCE programme will lose out under Core Funding. This is incorrect.

Core Funding is equivalent to an increase of at least 9.5% on the standard capitation for ECCE. At a minimum, for every ECCE child €78.75 per week is now available (compared to €71.90 previously from ECCE standard capitation and programme support payment combined).

Because Core Funding is paid in respect of places rather than children, effectively this often means a greater ‘per child’ marginal increase if the service has unfilled capacity. With average ECCE occupancy of 9 children, Core Funding is equivalent to weekly per child capitation of €80.92.

Core Funding will address some of the existing disparities in funding levels across ECCE and non-ECCE provision, providing funding proportionate to the age ratio of children being cared for and supporting the employment of graduate Lead Educators across ELC provision.

Sessional services with standard capitation, Full Time, Part Time and School Age services will all see substantial increases in funding. Most ECCE services currently in receipt of higher capitation rates will also benefit significantly.

No service will lose out. I have issued a funding guarantee to ensure that no service will receive less in Core Funding that it previously received in higher capitation and programme support payments, if their circumstances remain the same. An estimated 1% of services will be caught by the funding guarantee. All other services will see increases in funding, and most substantial increases in funding.

The 1% of services for whom the funding guarantee will apply and those who will see just small increases from Core Funding are ECCE-only services in receipt of higher capitation for large groups of children and with high occupancy levels. Such services are currently in receipt of between €110-€120 per hour of service provided, which is the highest levels of public funding relative to the staffing levels required for operating those types of services and significantly in excess of average staffing costs required for this type of service.

I would also like to note that there is a sustainability fund in place where services are experiencing sustainability issues that can be availed of by services.

Core Funding is designed to facilitate a partnership between the State and early learning and childcare services for the public good. Its primary purpose is to improve pay and conditions in the sector as a whole and to improve affordability for parents, as well as ensuring a fair income to providers. I look forward to working together in partnership with the many providers who which to deliver services for the public good.