Kathleen Funchion
Question:659. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans for a review of the early years child care sector; and the Government body that will conduct the review. [24168/17]
View answerTuesday, 23 May 2017
Questions (659)
Written answers
My Department is very much aware of the current issues affecting the childcare sector and, in conjunction with Pobal and Childcare Committees Ireland, keeps these matters under constant review.
The issue of sustainability in childcare services is multifaceted and encompasses broad challenges – the rate of subvention funding received for the Department’s childcare schemes is at the core of this; but there are also issues relating to parental contributions; funding from Tusla and other sources for services related to childcare; and the scope of care offered by providers, particularly in the community sector, which often goes beyond the core childcare funded by the Department.
Given the urgency of the challenges faced by services, I asked officials in my Department to work in 2017 to address the most acute – the impact of the removal of unqualified CE workers from ratios; and funding for the administrative work done by services during non-contact time.
This does not mean that I do not recognise the broader sustainability challenges facing the sector but addressing these two strands should provide the most impact in the shortest timeframe. The process of arranging funding to childcare services to address the replacement of unqualified CE scheme workers took intensive work by Childcare Committees Ireland, and has now proceeded to payment, with services having received the first payments under this scheme in April, and payments continuing until September.
Non-contact time:
My Department will also be making €14.5m available in 2017 to provide an additional payment to childcare providers to recognise the increasing volume of work done outside of direct contact hours with children. This funding will make an additional payment of 7 days' funding available to all ECCE Services and an equivalent level of payment to CCS and TEC services.
Independent Review of the Cost of providing Quality Childcare in Ireland: Given the importance of financial sustainability for the provision of quality childcare, the Irish Programme for Government commits to conducting and publishing an independent review of the cost of providing quality childcare in Ireland. This commitment aligns closely with work on the design and development of the Affordable Childcare Scheme and is currently being progressed in that context. Work on preparing a Request for Tenders (RFT) for this 'Independent Review of Cost' is currently underway and it is envisaged that this RFT will be published in the coming months.
Cost of childcare/pay and conditions:
Staff in the childcare sector have a critical role to play in delivering high quality childcare services and they deserve to be valued and respected for the important role they play in the lives of our children. Because childcare costs to parents in Ireland are one of the highest in the OECD, we need to address affordability and quality at the same time. My Department is not an employer of childcare workers but it is a significant funder of childcare services. My Department is conscious that there is an issue with regard to the pay and conditions of workers in the sector and is engaging with the early years sector to explore how this can be addressed in the short, medium and long term.
Workforce plan for the Early Years Sector:
As part of the Action Plan on School Age Childcare (March 2017) my Department is working with the Department of Education and Skills (DES) in developing a new workforce plan for the Early Years sector which will provide objective evidence and analysis regarding supply and demand issues to inform future capacity planning by both Departments. The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs have undertaken to carry out a workforce planning exercise for the sector and DES and DCYA are now working with the secretariat in the initial stages of the analysis.
It is intended that the workforce planning exercise will include:
- An environmental analysis of current and forthcoming policy and regulatory drivers on the sector and future demographic trends and demand for ECEC service;
- A skills forecasting exercise with a comprehensive analysis to assess future needs of the sector (supply and demand for staff at different levels of qualifications) and taking into account attrition and turnover in the workforce;
- Policy implications for Government to consider in future policy for the sector.
The development of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) infrastructure for the sector workforce will be considered taking into account the recommendations of the workforce plan. Currently the commitment by the two Departments is to deliver the workforce plan by the first quarter of 2018 (School Age Childcare Report).