I will try to meet that requirement.
I am very pleased to have this opportunity to address the Select Committee on Health and Children and present a broad outline of the proposed allocation for the new Office of the Minister for Children. I take this opportunity to give a more general overview of the objectives of the office. Members will be aware that following the Government decision of 7 December 2005, I announced that staff working on the issue of child care from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, on the issues of child welfare and child protection from the Department of Health and Children, and from the National Children's Office would be amalgamating to form the Office of the Minister for Children. The Government decision also provided that staff working in the youth justice service at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the early years education unit at the Department of Education and Science would be co-located in the Office of the Minister for Children but continue to work for their parent Departments. I have devolved responsibilities for these particular areas of policy within the respective Departments.
In practical terms, the establishment of the Office of the Minister for Children has meant establishing a separate Vote for the office, the matter we are discussing, as well as moving the child care programme and the relevant funding and staff from the former Department to the Minister of State with responsibility for health and children, carrying ultimate responsibility for it with a separate Vote, bringing together policy work in respect of child welfare and protection and the implementation of the national children's strategy and co-locating the youth justice service of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the early years education unit of the Department of Education and Science.
The transfer of the child care programme and the location of key personnel and expertise from three Departments in one office are major steps forward in facilitating the strategic linkage of services for children. It will ensure all policies and services for children can be developed in a new strategic framework of joined up government. It is worth mentioning that following the establishment of the Office of the Minister for Children, children will have a voice at Government meetings through my regular attendance at Cabinet meetings. The Government is committed to improving the lives of all children by bringing greater coherence to policy making, building on the strategy unveiled in the millennium year in the national children's strategy and now the establishment of the Office of the Minister for Children.
The total estimate of funding required under Vote 41 in the year ending 31 December 2006 is €352.24 million. It is proposed to provide in the Vote for the necessary financial allocations in respect of programmes and other specific spending requirements which the office will incur in 2006. I will address each of these in some detail by reference to the various subheads of the Vote. Provision is not made in the Vote for the administrative budget requirements of the office which instead are provided for within the overall administrative budget allocation of the Department of Health and Children under Vote 39. In effect, the office will benefit from the administrative assistance of that Department in personnel, finance and information technology. I did not see a need to duplicate these services in the establishment of a new office. That approach is both simple and cost efficient. It is also considered appropriate having regard to the fact that the Secretary General of the Department is the Accounting Officer for the office which has a director general, Ms Sylda Langford, who is accompanying me this morning.
Subhead A of Vote 41 provides for the 2006 allocation in respect of the early child care supplement. The supplement will be introduced with effect from 1 April as a new payment to give additional financial assistance to parents of children aged less than six years. The payment will amount to €1,000 per annum and be a direct non-taxable payment of €250 per quarter year in respect of each eligible child. The 2006 requirement in respect of the supplement has been estimated at €265 million based on the payment for each of the three quarterly periods this year. A full year allocation for 2007 will rise to more than €350 million. The exact number of families who will receive the payment is 130,000 in respect of 350,000 children.
The Office of the Minister for Children is responsible for the early child care supplement but its administration is being carried out by the Department of Social and Family Affairs on an agency basis. This is to assist in administrative efficiency as the supplement will operate on a similar basis to child benefit. In effect, where a parent is in receipt of child benefit for a child aged under six years, he or she will also be entitled to receive the supplement for the child. The first payment will be made by the end of August and payments will be made quarterly thereafter. The proposed payment dates for a full year are early April, early July, early October and late December.
Subhead B.1 of Vote 41 provides for the continued operation of the equal opportunities child care programme during this year. The programme is co-funded by the European Union and the Exchequer and will conclude at the end of 2007. I am sure Deputies are aware of its objectives. It operated under the remit of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform and an allocation for the programme in respect of the first quarter of 2006 was made in Vote 19 for that Department. The allocation for the remainder of this year is reflected in the provision shown for Vote 41 under this subhead. The total allocation for the nine months is €81.888 million, of which more than €42.6 million is in respect of current expenditure and €39.2 million in respect of capital expenditure. During 2006 and 2007 the programme will run in parallel with the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006 — 2010 which is provided for under subhead B.2. Essentially, the Government, through the budget announcement, decided there should be a seamless transition from the equal opportunities child care programme to the national childcare investment programme.
The equal opportunities childcare programme operates through three programme spending streams which provide capital grant assistance for child care services for both community and not for profit and private sector child care providers, staffing grant assistance for community and not for profit groups catering for disadvantage, and a range of quality improvement and support measures for the sector. The programme is expected to result in the creation of almost 41,000 new child care places, of which 26,000 have already been provided. It is well ahead of the original target of 28,000 new places. As we approach its termination, I would like to pay tribute to the officers who worked on the programme and did a very good job in achieving value for money within the total allocation made by the European Union and the Exchequer.
Subhead B.2 of Vote 41 provides for the new National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010 which was announced in the budget for 2006 as part of the new national child care strategy for the next five years. The new programme will have a total budget of €575 million, build on the experience and infrastructure developed under the existing programme and bring a proactive approach to future child care development. A key objective is to respond to local needs for quality child care support and services based on a knowledge of these needs. While €575 million has been allocated to the programme over the five year term, the allocations for 2006 are confined to a figure of €10.3 million in capital funding and €2 million in current funding. This reflects the need to allow time for capital spending plans under the programme to develop. Between 2008 and 2010, it is proposed that the annual capital allocation will average €100 million per annum. The initial level of allocation also takes account of the continued provision for capital and current funding under the existing programme in the years 2006 and 2007.
The new programme incorporates a number of specific targets and objectives which include increasing supply by 50,000 additional child care places. Of these new child care places, a target has been set to create 5,000 additional after school places and 10,000 additional pre-school education places aimed at three to four year olds. Further objectives set for the programme include improving the quality of early childhood care and education services, supporting families and breaking the cycle of disadvantage, and delivering a co-ordinated approach to child care centred on the needs of the child.
The large-scale grants available under the new programme will include capital grants for the building or expansion of child care facilities to a maximum of €1 million per facility for the community and not for profit sector and a maximum of €100,000 per facility for private sector providers, subject to a maximum of 75% of the total cost, and a maximum of €500,000 for multiple services in different catchment areas. Staffing grants will also be available under the new programme for community facilities that cannot meet their child care costs from fee income alone, or which need initial start-up assistance. This will come into operation from 2008 when the existing programme staffing funding ceases.
It is clear from what is envisaged under the subhead that there will be a seamless transition from subhead B.1 to subhead B.2. However, it is not a seamless transition for taxpayers because the EOCP benefited from substantial allocations from the European Union in the form of co-funding. As this will not be available under subhead D.1, I welcome the Government's decision to proceed on the basis that taxpayers will meet the obligations associated with the EU programme.
Subhead E.1 of Vote 41 provides for appropriations-in-aid to the Vote which are expected to amount to €10.481 million in receipts from the European Social Fund. I explained the basis of co-funding from EU Structural Funds. A rigorous process of reporting and verification of grant expenditure is required before the EU contribution can be reclaimed by the State. Based on the expenditure certified by grant beneficiaries, receipts of €10.5 million from the European Social Fund are forecast from the paying authority — the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Rebates from the European Regional Development Fund in 2006, estimated to be in the order of €16.8 million, are not reflected in the subhead as these are usually paid directly into the Exchequer.
Under subhead C of Vote 41, €3 million has been provided in the Estimates for 2006 to develop models of best practice which promote integrated, locally-led, strategic planning for children's services. The fund will be managed by the office working on behalf of a cross-departmental team which will have responsibility for establishing detailed criteria for the evaluation and assessment of specific projects in regard to any funding allocation. A corresponding appropriation-in-aid is recorded in subhead E in accordance with the provisions of the Dormant Accounts Acts 2001 to 2005.
On subhead D of Vote 41 which accounts for the work of the former National Children's Office which is leading and co-ordinating the implementation of the national children's strategy, the children's office has now been subsumed into the Office of the Minister for Children. The strategy had three crucial goals, to which I will refer when describing the significant amounts of funding available in 2006. Goal 1 of the strategy states children will have a voice in matters which affect them and that their views will be given due weight in accordance with their age and maturity.
There are many ways in which we are supporting children and young people to participate more fully in society at local and national level. Comhairle na nÓg was established in each county or city. An additional €100,000 is being made available for its development this year. Dáil na nÓg is an annual event which caters for young people aged 12 to 18 years. The first session was held last Saturday in Croke Park. A fund has been provided to host and operate it this year. Civic, social and political education, giving children and young people a voice, is a teaching and learning resource which has been funded by my office for the CSPE school curriculum. It is a two-year project being developed by a partnership between my office and the curriculum development unit at the VEC. It is important to do so from the point of view of the formation of civic consciousness.
The National Children's Office co-ordinated the completion and submission of our second report in respect of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ireland is due before the committee in September. An allocation must be made for meeting our international obligations in that regard.
Goal 2 refers to the research objective of the children's strategy to ensure children's lives will be better understood and that their lives will benefit from evaluation, research and information on their needs, rights and the effectiveness of services. A national longitudinal study of children has been approved by the Government. The aim of the study is to examine the factors that contribute to or undermine the well-being of children in contemporary Irish families and, through this, contribute to the setting of effective and responsive policies relating to children and the design of services for children and families. The study will monitor the development of 18,000 children, including a cohort of 10,000 infants aged nine months and one of 8,000 nine year olds. The contract will run for a period of six years and nine months. During this period there will be two data collection sweeps of the birth cohort at age nine months and three years, and two data collection sweeps of the nine year old cohort at age nine and 13. The contract is about to be signed with the ESRI which is acting as the prime contractor for the study, for which some €2.37 million has been allocated in 2006. An immense amount of work has been carried out at the children's office in researching the need for this project. It is vital that the information gleaned from it will be of assistance to the public authorities. There is also a national children's strategy research scholarship scheme, a national children's strategy research programme and a national set of child well-being indicators and state of the nations children report. All these matters are outlined in the statement circulated this morning.
The third goal of the national children's strategy refers to the need for children to receive quality supports and services to promote all aspects of their development. One of the significant elements of the work of the former National Children's Office was the publication of Ready, Steady, Play: A National Play Policy in March 2004, which policy addresses the issue of provision of public play facilities for children up to the age of 12 years and covers a five-year period from 2004 to 2008. It provides a framework for the development of public play facilities in Ireland, with the overall aim of ensuring children have access to a range of quality play opportunities to enrich their childhood. A total of €13.9 million in Government funding and co-funding has been invested in public play provision as a direct result of publication of the policy. The full funds are not included in this Vote but are included in the expenditure of other Departments.
A provision was included in the play policy for the establishment of a resource centre to provide information on play. This is being funded through the Office of the Minister for Children for a period of two years at a cost of €50,000 a year for 2006 and 2007. Based on the success of the national play policy, it is my intention to publish a recreation policy this year. The office is developing the policy to provide positive recreational opportunities for young people aged 12 to 18 years. It will deal with publicly funded recreation and is being drawn up by a steering group consisting of representatives from the relevant Departments and agencies. The Estimate provision relates to the publication of the policy. Funds must be identified to implement such a policy and priorities set in respect of existing allocations of expenditure.
The National Children's Advisory Council was established in May 2001 as one of the structures under the national children's strategy. The council represents all of the key stakeholders, including young persons, parents, the research community and the voluntary sector. It advises me and the office on all aspects of children's lives, including the better co-ordination and delivery of services to children. Provision has been made for the council in the Estimate.
I have outlined the principle areas of the OMC's work which will be funded from Vote 41. However, I want to mention other areas of my office's work that, although significant, do not require funding from the Vote. First and foremost is the area of child welfare and protection. The OMC will incorporate the child care policy unit at the Department of Health and Children, which unit has responsibility for legislation and policy on child welfare and protection and family support, including adoption legislation, the Children Act 2001 and proposals on guardianship for long-term foster carers.
A key issue in child protection and welfare is implementation of the recommendations of the Ferns Report, about which I have previously spoken to the committee. In the health area, it includes the review of legislation governing the investigation of third party abuse under the Child Care Act 1991 and the audit of child protection procedures in each diocese by the Health Service Executive. Yesterday, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform announced the establishment of the Dublin archdiocesan commission of investigation. The terms of reference provide that the commission may examine — following a notification from the Minister for Health and Children that a Catholic diocese in the State may not have established the structures or be operating satisfactorily the procedures set out in the report of the Irish Catholic bishops' advisory committee on child sex abuse by priests or the religious or that a Catholic diocese in the State may not be implementing satisfactorily the recommendations of the Ferns Report delivered to the Minister for Health and Children on 25 October 2005 — the position in that diocese and make a report on these matters considered by the Government to be of significant public concern.
It is worth mentioning that, since 1997, an additional €200 million has been committed in ongoing funding for child welfare and protection services through the former health boards and the current HSE. While the office has responsibility for legislation and policy on this matter, operational responsibility rests with the HSE. I am pleased to tell the committee that satisfactory lines of communication have been established between my office and the HSE.