Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Child Care Services.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2004

Wednesday, 29 September 2004

Ceisteanna (741)

Denis Naughten

Ceist:

918 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Health and Children the steps he intends to take to ensure that each health board uniformly implements the childcare regulations (details supplied); if his attention has been drawn to the variation in the interpretation of these regulations between different health boards; if he will request the health services executive to review the current situation. [22316/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

The health boards have statutory responsibility for the implementation of the Child Care (Pre-School Services) Regulations 1996 and (Amendment) Regulations 1997, which give effect to the provisions of Part VII of the Child Care Act 1991 and provide for notification to, and inspection by, health boards of pre-school services. Under the legislation the boards appoint authorised officers to inspect the pre-school services in their area.

The purpose of the regulations is to secure the health, safety and welfare of pre-school children and to promote the development of children attending pre-school services. The regulations are accompanied by an explanatory guide which makes recommendations in relation to the interpretation of certain terms in the regulations such as ‘adequate' and ‘sufficient'.

My Department cannot require the health boards to interpret the regulations in a certain way. Health boards, using the guidance given in the explanatory guide and taking into account the various attributes of the services being inspected, must exercise their discretion reasonably in the course of an inspection. Given the wide range of notifiable pre-school services, it is not always possible or appropriate for health boards to be completely uniform in their implementation of the regulations. I understand from the health boards that they do, however, endeavour to implement the regulations in a uniform way where appropriate. I understand from information received from the boards that this may be done by having a regional management structure for pre-school services in place with responsibility for ensuring that the regulations are implemented in a uniform and transparent manner in each community care area, by addressing issues of uniformity at regional meetings where all staff participate and by having standard inspection forms for use by all inspection teams within a board. In addition, some boards share training courses and standards documents with other boards. A national forum of pre-school inspection staff is also in place which facilities sharing of information on implementation of the regulations.

In the early years of the implementation of the regulations a monitoring group chaired by my Department was in place to assist the health boards in interpreting the regulations and in arriving at a uniform approach to inspections.

A review of the regulations has been completed and a report on the review is being finalised. I understand that training issues for pre-school inspection staff which may arise as a result of the requirements of the revised regulations will be considered. I expect that the health services executive will have a role in relation to such matters, which will impact on uniformity of implementation.

Barr
Roinn