HSE project to assist parents with pre-schools

PARENTS will be better able to vet the pre-school facilities they choose for their children following completion of a Health Service Executive (HSE) review next month.

The Pre-school Standardisation Project aims to provide the public with more information about their local pre-school services by setting out the kind of details that must be collected by inspectors and how they should be reported.

Minister for Children, Brian Lenihan, said yesterday the HSE had told him work on the project was at an advanced stage and it was due to be completed by the end of this year.

“As the situation is at the present, complaints procedures, inspection tools and reporting mechanisms used by pre-school inspectors can vary considerably, due to a lack of a standard operational system for these inspections,” he said.

“Every pre-school service notified to the HSE should have an inspection carried out that is reported on in a standard way.”

Mr Lenihan was speaking at the publication of a new guide which urges employers to take a child-friendly approach to their staff, and provides practical advice and tips on how to boost their workers’ childcare options.

The guide was commissioned by the Dublin City and County Childcare Committees but is intended for general use and covers national employment law, tax incentives and examples of how small, medium and large firms might assist with their staff’s childcare needs.

Mr Lenihan encouraged employers to consider offering initiatives such as part-time working, flexi-time, job-sharing, teleworking, term time breaks and sabbaticals.

“Such employers will generally have the edge over other employers in attracting applicants and in retaining staff, and will also find it easier to attract staff with specialist skills. Employees in companies supportive of childcare responsibilities are likely to be more flexible, motivated, absent from work less and committed to the organisation,” he said.

Minister Lenihan restated the Government’s commitment to the National Childcare Investment Programme which became effective in January this year and has €575 million in funding to spend by 2010.

He said the programme planned to create 50,000 additional childcare places, including 5,000 after-school places and 10,000 pre-school places aimed at three to four year olds; as well as to improve the quality and standards of childcare facilities and offer 17,000 places for trainees on childcare courses.