Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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299. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount of funding that was allocated in 2021 and 2022 to national childcare schemes; and the amount of this allocation that was spent in 2021 and 2022, in tabular form. [27060/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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As the Deputy is aware the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) provides financial support to help parents meet the cost of childcare and to support better outcomes for children. There are two types of supports available under the Scheme:

- The Universal Subsidy is available to all families with children under 3 years. It is also available to families with children over 3 years who have not yet qualified for the free preschool (ECCE) programme. 

- The Income Assessed Subsidy is available to families with children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years. It is means tested and will be calculated based on individual circumstances. Those on the lowest incomes will receive the highest subsidies. 

The Deputy will also be aware that as part of Budget 2022, I announced a number of changes to the NCS, which will be of significant benefit to many parents. These changes will result in more parents getting additional subsidised hours for early learning and childcare in Tusla registered services by extending the NCS universal subsidy to all children under 15 - benefitting up to 40,000 children. A further change will remove the practice of deducting hours spent in pre-school or school from the entitlement to NCS subsidised hours, benefitting an estimated 5,000 children.

Please see below in tabular form the figures the Deputy has requested;

*2021 expenditure figure is provisional and yet to be  finalised.

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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300. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount of funding that was allocated in 2021 and 2022 to Community Childcare Subvention Plus; and the amount of the allocation that was spent in 2021 and 2022, in tabular form. [27061/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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There is no specific budget for the Community Childcare Subvention Plus Saver Programme (CSSP). CCSP is a legacy scheme, which is being replaced by the National Childcare Scheme (NCS). It is therefore incorporated under that budget.

The NCS budget for the years 2021 and 2022 is as follows: 

The spend on the CCSP in programme years 2020/21 and 2021/22 is as follows:

Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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301. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount of funding that was allocated in 2021 and 2022 to the Access and Inclusion Model; and the amount of the allocation that was spent in 2020 and 2021, in tabular form. [27062/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), is a programme of supports designed to ensure that children with disabilities can access and meaningfully participate in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) pre-school programme. 

75% of expenditure is on Level 1 and Level 7 with the remaining expenditure on training, equipment, communications and advisory supports. Level 1 is provision of funding for training under the LINC training programme and employment of Inclusion Co-Ordinator (INCO) positions in ECCE sessions. Level 7 is funding for additional assistance in the preschool room to ensure a child’s participation in the ECCE programme. AIM provides financial support to the pre-school provider where needed, which can be used either to reduce the adult to child ratio in the pre-school room or to buy in additional assistance. Level 7 assistance is a shared resource for the preschool setting.

The allocations and drawdowns for the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) are set out in the table below.

The number of applications received for the 2020/21 programme call was significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic which resulted in 40% fewer applications during the 2020/21 call compared to the 2019/20 call. Another contributing factor were the large number of services opting to apply for the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) as an alternative to AIM funding.  As a result there was an underspend in both 2020 and 2021.