Written Answers. - Child Care Services.
Seán Haughey
Ceist:
925
Mr. Haughey
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
the measures he has taken since 1997 to ensure the provision of affordable child care; his plans in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[1342/02]
There have been very significant developments in relation to the provision of affordable child care since 1997. This was the year in which the Government established the Partnership 2000 expert working group on childcare which was chaired by my Department. This group was charged with the responsibility of developing a national child care strategy for the development of the child care sector to meet the needs of society in general. The group made a series of recommendations in relation to the development of quality child care services to meet the increasing demand by parents for child care places. The expert working group report was presented to Government in February 1999 and forms the basis of many of the developments in child care today.
In 1998, my Department developed the equal opportunities childcare programme 1998-99, 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 for the period 1998 and 1999 and provided supports under a number of strands. Capital grants for the establishment, upgrading and enhancement of 106 community based child care facilities were approved under the programme as well as grants towards the cost of two senior level child care personnel in each of 25 identified flagship community projects. The balance was allocated to employer involvement in child care provision, development of the national voluntary child care organisations whose membership base comprises service providers, development of a national child care census and database and a research project in relation to family friendly policies.
This Government has identified child care as a priority area for investment in the National Development Plan 2000 to 2006 and initially made 317.43 million available under the plan. The importance of child care was further endorsed with an allocation of 33.65 million under the anti-inflationary pact. In addition, my Department was subsequently given overall responsibility for child care and this led to the transfer of further funding to my Department. As a result, I have now a total of 436.79 million available to me over the period 2000 to 2006 to develop the child care sector. This, as I am sure the Deputy will acknowledge, represents the most significant investment in child care by any Government in the history of the State.
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.
On 28 April 2000, I launched the equal opportunities childcare programme, 2000-06, and announced the availability of capital and staffing grants for community-based/not for profit child care organisations. Capital grants for small scale self-employed/private providers catering for no more than 20 children were also made available for the first time. In October 2000, I was pleased to announce that capital grants are now available to private providers who cater for more than 20 children. Grants are also available for quality improvement projects such as local child care training models and innovative projects.
Since I formally announced the availability of funding in April 2000, I have committed funding of almost 92 million to over 950 child care projects on the ground, both in the community and private sector. Almost 28,500 child care places are being supported by this tranche of funding which will include the creation of over 12,800 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, I have approved funding of over 13 million for quality improvement projects such as local child care networks, innovative projects, local child care training models, the childminders initiative and supports for the national voluntary child care organisations. Funding of almost 2.4 million has also been allocated to local partnerships up to December 2001. This brings the total amount allocated under the equal opportunities childcare programme to more than 107 million to date.
The Deputy will be aware that my colleague, the Minister for Finance, announced in budget 2001 the first step in a three year programme to bring about the greatest increase in child benefit by any Government in the history of the State. Budget 2001 provided an increase in payment rates of over 50%. Budget 2002 marked the second year of this programme, providing for similar increases of 31.89 per month for first and second children and 38.10 per month for third and subsequent children. Following these latest increases, child benefit payment rates will stand at 117.60 and 147.30 respectively. This is approximately treble the rate which applied in 1997. In addition, the payment date for these increases will be further advanced to April of this year compared to June in 2001 and September in previous years. The cost of the budget 2002 increases is some 414 million in full year terms while the total cost, on a full year basis, of the three year investment programme is expected to be some 1.25 billion.
The progress of my Department's equal opportunities childcare programme is confirmation of the Government's commitment to developing child care supply in Ireland. The measures in place, as outlined above, together with the increase in child benefit rates, reaffirm this Government's commitment to keeping child care at the forefront of its social agenda.
