Jackie Cahill (Tipperary, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

188. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his Department’s attention has been drawn to the additional funding that can be made available to parents of children with additional needs under the national childcare scheme to cover the additional costs of care for children with additional needs, whereby the child’s healthcare nurse can fill out a sponsored referral form to the NCS for additional funding by the HSE for childcare hours; the work that is being done by his Department to draw the attention of parents of eligible children to this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62458/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Sponsorship arrangement available under the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) makes special provision for vulnerable children. The NCS Sponsorship arrangement allows designated bodies to refer children to the Scheme where childcare is needed on child welfare, protection, family support or other specified grounds.

Where a referral is made by a Sponsor body, the family will automatically qualify for a subsidy without having to satisfy the Scheme’s eligibility, income or enhanced hours requirements. The Scheme will pay the full weekly cost of childcare for families referred to the Scheme by a Sponsor Body up to the maximum of €264.15 depending on the age of the child and the hours required.

The need for a sponsored referral is a determination for the relevant Sponsor Body and one that they make based on the particular needs of the child in line with their defined criteria as set out in the Childcare Support Act 2018, and further defined by the agreement the Sponsor Body has with the DCEDIY.

The HSE is one of five Sponsor Bodies that has a signed agreement in place with my Department. The HSE may refer children:

1. who are aged under 4 years of age, who are not enrolled in a pre-school programme funded by the Minister or the Minister for Education and who would otherwise not attend a childcare service, and

2. who are deemed to be in need of early intervention and require additional supports under the domains of child developmental needs, parental capacity and environmental factors following completion of a Child and Family Health Needs Assessment by a Public Health Nurse, and

3. where there is an identified need for childcare as an additional support to the home environment to meet child developmental needs.

My Department has undertaken a series of measures to raise awareness of the Sponsorship arrangements for the NCS, including introducing a dedicated phone line and email address for sponsor contacts. Pobal has also provided training sessions to service providers on sponsorship arrangements. We will continue to raise awareness about the Sponsor Programme on the NCS, which has sponsored over 5,595 children since the Scheme launched in 2019.

For details on the Sponsor process, I would encourage contacting the NCS Sponsors Team on 01 906 8535 from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday or by email at sponsors@ncs.gov.ie.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

189. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the level of core funding provided to childcare providers in each county in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62500/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

On 15th September, I launched Together for Better, the new funding model for early learning and childcare. This new funding model supports the delivery of early learning and childcare for the public good, for quality and affordability for children, parents and families as well as stability and sustainability for providers. Together for Better brings together three major programmes, the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, including the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) and the new Core Funding scheme, with a fourth programme - Tackling Disadvantage - under development.

I am delighted that, to date, over 4,100 providers, 94% of services, have signed up to Core Funding and agreed to deliver their services accepting the new public management requirements of this scheme.

Interim Funding was in place to bridge the gap between the end of the Transition Fund (August 31) and the introduction of Core Funding (September 15). This enabled a smooth transition from one scheme to the other once the Employment Regulation Orders EROs) were in effect.

Core Funding has a budget of €259 million in full year costs for year 1 of the programme (September 2022-August 2023) to start the partnership for the public good between the State and providers.

The significant allocation on offer through Core Funding in year 1 is conditional on a fee freeze, support for new wage rates through the EROs and financial and operational transparency. These are central objectives of Core Funding - ensuring the substantial additional investment in the sector delivers for parents and for workers and allows the State to be assured that its funding is being spent appropriately.

The combined value of Core Funding, including Interim Funding, payments that have been made as of 12th December and payments that will issue by the end of 2022 by county are listed below in tabular format.

A full list of participating Partner Services by county can be found at first5fundingmodel.gov.ie/together-for-better/.

Core Funding is a very significant new injection of funding into the sector and I have secured an increase of €28 million in the Core Funding envelope for year two of operation (September 2023-August 2024). Approximately, €4 million of the additional funding for Year 2 will achieve the removal of the 3-year experience rule for graduate premiums, with an additional €24 million earmarked for other developments to the Scheme, informed by the emerging data from Year 1 of operation. Further interrogation of the new Core Funding application data is required in order to most effectively design developments in Year 2 of the scheme. Developments may focus on promoting further capacity expansion, investing more in the base rate or to taking more targeted initiatives to invest in specific parts of the sector.

Budget 2023 allocates €1.025 billion to early learning and childcare – a clear demonstration from Government of the value of the sector. Together for Better aims to transform the sector and I am committed to working with Partner Services delivering early learning and childcare for the public good.

Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

190. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the level of funding provided to childcare providers under the ECCE scheme from 2015-2022 broken down per county; the number of childcare providers that received funding per year per county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62501/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a universal two-year pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. The programme runs from September to June each year and is aligned with the primary school calendar. There are currently in excess of 106,000 children enrolled on the ECCE programme

The accompanying spreadsheet shows ECCE funding, by county, from 2017 to date. Prior to September 2016 ECCE funding was not recorded by county.

In 2015, €168,529,525 was paid in ECCE funding increasing to €207,508,000 in 2016.

It is important to note that as ECCE runs from September to June, funding for the programme overlaps two financial years, which is reflected in the accompanying spreadsheet.

Awaiting additional information from Department.