Minister Fitzgerald addresses Seanad on work underway on pre-school quality agenda

Minister asks HSE to conduct an analysis of inspection reports carried out to date on commercial childcare chains.

Frances Fitzgerald TD, Minister for Children and Youth Affairs has today addressed Seanad Éireann on the work underway on the pre-school quality agenda.

The Minister told Senators that she found the scenes which were broadcast on Tuesday night’s RTE programme distressing, shocking and absolutely unacceptable. The Minister said that the matters addressed in the programme deserve and demand a comprehensive response and she added that the scale of the challenge before us is not to be underestimated.

The Minister told Senators that with respect to the commercial childcare chains, I have asked the HSE National Director Gordon Jeyes to conduct an analysis of inspection reports carried out to date. The Minister said that: “we must learn the lessons of past inspections and we also need more robust follow-through on inspection findings.”

The Minister announced that she would change the law to strengthened sanctions on foot of successful prosecutions of non-compliant providers. The Minister also told Senators that the HSE is currently logging all prosecutions with a view to making this information available to parents in an accessible manner.

The Minister confirmed to Senators that the contract for the free pre-school year allows for funding to be suspended or terminated for serious non-compliance with childcare standards.

The Minister commented that there is not one single simple solution and stated:
“We should not distil our national response to a narrow or overly-simplistic focus on inspections. Inspections alone, while essential, are not the answer. Instead what is required is a multi-faceted agenda, a partnership between State and providers; and a much broader focus on quality assurance, workforce development as well as, of course, robust registration, regulation and inspection.”

Having prioritised this issue since coming to office, Minister Fitzgerald has initiated preparation of Ireland’s first-ever Early Years Strategy; and work is at an advanced stage ahead of publication in coming months. In tandem with work on the Strategy, work has also been underway on a pre-school quality agenda.

Outlining this agenda, the Minister stated:

– “We are working on preparing new National Pre-School Standards;”

– “We are working on introducing registration of all childcare providers, moving away from the current system of ‘notification’ where childcare provider only need notify the HSE of their intention to set up. This will begin later this year.”

– “We are working to improve support and mentoring individual pre-school services in implementing Siolta and Aistear;

– We are working to develop the professional training system for early education practitioners to ensure it has the capability to deliver accessible and affordable training of appropriate quality at the standards required.”

Commenting on childcare inspections, the Minister stated: “Parents will rightly demand and expect the highest standards and this will be a key factor in driving change in the sector. Publishing inspection reports is an essential step in ensuring high standards and accountability. As I indicated last week, the HSE will, in coming weeks, begin the publication online of new inspection reports. “

The Minister added that “much work has taken place over the past year, led by Gordon Jeyes and his team, on standardising operating procedures to allow for publication of reports and on developing a single national inspection system. As part of this, the current regional spread of inspectors is being assessed with a view to greater use of redeployment and identifying additional resource requirements as may be necessary . which will allow for redeployment of inspectors to ensure an effective regional spread of resources.”

The Minister noted that already, in each of 2011 and 2012, over 2,600 childcare providers were subject to inspections by the HSE – an inspection rate of over 60% of all providers in each year. This compares very favourably with comparable jurisdictions such as England where Ofsted operates a policy of inspecting childcare providers on a 3-4 year cycle.

The Minister added that “we are working to develop a more comprehensive and broader-based inspection regime for pre-schools; moving away from a narrow focus on compliance only, to a greater focus on children’s outcomes, including educational development and child wellbeing.”