Written Answers. - Child Care Facilities.
Ivor Callely
Question:
30
Mr. Callely
asked the
Minister for Equality and Law Reform
when the working group on child care for working parents issued its recommendations; the progress, if any, there has been on each recommendation; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[12329/97]
The Working Group on Child Care Facilities for Working Parents reported in February 1994 and made 16 recommendations covering a wide range of issues in the child care area. A summary of the recommendation follows. Progress continues to be made in responding to the recommendations of this report, which are targeted at a wide range of community, public service and private sector interests.
My Department's plot initiative on child care projects is responding to recommendations 1, 4, 5 and 11. Grant aid under this scheme, which is being administered on behalf of my Department by Area Development Management (ADM) Limited, is available in respect of start-up capital costs of pilot child care projects. To date, a total of £2,359,000 has been approved for funding 141 projects. In addition, the Employment Equality Agency, under the aegis of my Department, has contributed to encouraging initiatives by issuing its publication of best practice at national and international level in the area of family friendly initiatives in the workplace.
With regard to recommendations 2, 6 and 7, the National Economic and Social Forum and subcommittee of the Programme for Competitiveness and Work gave consideration to the job potential of child care services. Under Partnership 2000, the expert working group, to be chaired by my Department, is to devise a national framework for the development of child care services and the conclusions of these studies on the job potential of the sector will be examined in that context. The attention of the relevant planning authorities has been brought by the Department of the Environment to the inclusion of child care facilities in housing and shopping developments and disadvantaged lone parents at work are included in the category of parents for whom pre-school services and supports can be made available by health boards, under the Department of Health.
Recommendation 3 provides that future collective agreements should look at child care provision beyond workplace nurseries. While this is a matter primarily for the social partners, it is also a factor which continues to receive attention at national level in the new national agreement, Partnership 2000 for Inclusion, Employment and Competition.
On recommendations 8 and 9, the Minister for Health brought in regulations to give effect to the provisions of Part VII of the Child Care Act, 1991, in December, 1996. The provisions set out the various requirements to be complied with by persons carrying on pre-school services or, in certain circumstances, child minding services in the home. The expert working group under Partnership 2000 will also consider implementation of these regulations.
The expert working group is to devise a national framwork for the development of the child care sector. The review of the pilot child care projects, which I recently published, as well as the effects of implementation of Part VII of the Child Care Act by the Department of Health will inform the group's deliberations in furthering recommendations 10, 15 and 16.
In response to recommendations 12, 13 and 14 dedicated funding from the Human Resources Programme is targeted at child care measures, especially as regards training child care workers, while FÁS, under the aegis of the Department of Enterprise and Employment, aims to increase the availability of child care services for its trainees through co-operation with my Department's pilot child care projects and in support of the efforts of County Enterprise Board-Area Board Partnerships. In addition, the Department of Education is devoting £900,000 per annum to support child care provisions for participants on the Vocational Opportunities Scheme and the Youthreach Programme.
Through its involvement in the pilot projects and its promotion of child care issues, my Department continues to seek to influence an increased availability of child care facilities for working parents and for parents seeking employment or training opportunies.
Recommendations of the Working Group
The recommendations of the Working Group, in abbreviated form, are:
1. Government to encourage initiatives of good practice by employers.
2. Government to encourage NESC, NESF etc, to recognise job potential of child care.
3. Future collective agreements to look at child care provision beyond workplace nurseries.
4. Government to provide a framework for support of local child care initiatives.
5. A Government proactive role to develop a prototype to increase child care places.
6. Housing and shopping development, planning approvals to include child care facilities.
7. Subsidisation of child care costs of lone parents.
8. Private child care providers (under a Government framework) to meet statutory standards.
9. Urgent implementation of Part VII Childcare Act, 1991 on regulation of pre-school services.
10. Setting up of a prototype service comprising a network of family day-carers.
11. County Enterprise Boards to grant aid child care start up costs.
12. Provision explicitly for child care under Structural Fund Human Resource Programmes.
13. Prioritisation of direct child care service rather than allowance in EU-funded schemes.
14. Education-training bodies to budget for child care provision for trainees etc.
15. Establishment of information and guidance service for employers and parents.
16. Establishment of a fixed-term agency to promote policy and practice for child care.
