Vol. 471 No. 6
69 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Health if he will consider the impact of pre-school services or service providers and accordingly facilitate a once-off practical grant to enable service providers to make the necessary adjustments which will be required by regulations to upgrade their premises. [21466/96]
Part VII of the Child Care Act, 1991, provides for the supervision and inspection by health boards of pre-school services. New regulations, which will give effect to the provisions of Part VII, will come into operation before the end of this year. These regulations will apply to pre-schools, playgroups, day nurseries, créches and other similar services which cater for children under six years of age.
The purpose of the regulations is to secure the health, safety and welfare of pre-school children and to promote the development of children attending pre-school services. A draft of the proposed regulations was recently made available to the public to enable individuals or organisations to make written submissions in relation to them.
The new regulations will have an impact across the various sectors involved in pre-school provision ranging from the voluntary provision for disadvantaged children through to full day care provision in the commercial sector.
A working group was established earlier this year within my Department to prepare draft guidelines on standards for pre-school services. These guidelines will form the basis of the regulations to be made under Part VII of the Act. The group is representative of my Department, the Department of Education, the health boards, the DHSS in Northern Ireland and a number of voluntary organisations which are involved in pre-school provision.
