Question:
606 Mr. Ahern asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the position for parents severely affected by cost and shortage of child care places; and the Government's proposals to deal with this situation. [13397/02]
Written Answers. - Child Care Services.
There have been very significant developments in relation to the provision of child care over the last number of years. In 1997, the Government established the Partnership 2000 expert working group on child care – chaired by my Department – with the responsibility to develop a national strategy for the child care sector to meet the needs of society in general. The expert working group made a series of recommendations to Government in February 1999 on the development of quality child care services to meet the increasing demand by parents for child care places. This report forms the basis of the Government's current child care programme in relation to the development of the supply side of child care.
In 1998, my Department developed the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 1998-1999 which provided funding under a broad range of initiatives from a social inclusion and equal opportunities perspective. The programme had a budget of almost €14 million and provided capital grants for the establishment, upgrading and enhancement of 106 community based child care facilities as well as grants towards the cost of two senior level child care personnel in each of 25 identified flagship community projects. Funds were allocated to employer involvement in child care provision, enhancement of the national voluntary child care organisations whose membership base comprises service providers, completion of a national child care census and database and a research project in relation to family friendly policies.
Child care was identified as a priority area for investment in the National Development Plan 2000-06 and initially €317.43 million was made available under the plan. The importance of child care was further endorsed with an allocation of €33.65 million under the anti-inflationary package in October 2000. In addition, in February 2001, the Cabinet committee on social inclusion decided to transfer to my Department responsibility and certain funding for child care initiatives previously included in the Votes of the Departments of Education and Science and Social Community and Family Affairs. As a result, I have now a total of €436.79 million available to me over the period 2000-06 to develop the child care sector. The primary objectives of this funding are to increase the availability and quality of child care places. This funding has an equal opportunities and social inclusion perspective and focuses on provision of child care to allow parents, particularly women, to avail of training, education or employment.
The Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-06 was launched in April 2000. It makes available capital and staffing grants for community based-not for profit child care organisations, capital grants for self-employed-private providers, being made available for the first time, while grants are also available for quality improvement projects and innovative projects.
Since the availability of funding was formally announced in April 2000, funding of over €111 million has been committed to 1,136 child care projects on the ground, both in the community and private sectors. Almost 33,000 child care places are being supported by this tranche of funding which will include the creation of almost 15,000 new child care places. The funding will also enable many of the services extend their hours of operation and enhance the quality of the child care provided. In addition, funding of over €18 million has been approved for quality improvement projects such as the county child care committees, the national voluntary child care organisations and innovative projects. This brings the total amount allocated under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme to almost €130 million to date and ensures that parents in all parts of the country will have access to quality child care places.
In addition, my colleague, the Minister for Finance makes available a number of tax reliefs in relation to child care facilities, the purpose of which is to help increase the supply of affordable child care places. Capital allowances are available for capital expenditure on the construction, extension and refurbishment of a building, or part of a building – or the conversion of an existing building – which is used for the purpose of providing a pre-school service, day care or other child care facility. The premises must not include any part of a building in use as, or as part of, a dwelling. There is also an exemption to the usual benefit-in-kind provisions for employees who enjoy free or subsidised child care facilities provided by their employers. In such circumstances, the employer must be wholly or partly responsible for both financing and managing the child care facility. The benefit-in-kind exemption applies whether the employer provides the facilities "in-house" or in a premises made available by the employer in another location which suits the employer and employees. The exemption also applies if an employer provides child care facilities jointly with others, for example with other employers or with a voluntary body. To cater for circumstances where the employer may opt not to be involved in the management of the child care service, the benefit-in-kind exemption was amended last year to cover instances where the employer provides financial support for items of capital expenditure and equipment but not other costs, such as salaries. This provision was introduced to make the scheme more attractive to the many employers who did not want to be involved in the day to day management of the facility.
In relation to the cost of child care and financial support for parents, the Government consulted widely and ultimately considered a universal child benefit system to be the most equitable approach to this issue. In this regard, the improvements in child benefit introduced in the past two budgets are part of a three year programme which will see an additional €1.27 billion invested in child related payments. The recently published programme for Government and the progress of my Department's equal opportunities child care programme is confirmation of the Government's commitment to developing and reviewing child care services and to keeping child care at the forefront of its social agenda.