Government insists childcare services standards being monitored

The lack of legislation on childcare services, flagged by the National Audit Office, did not hinder the work of the department that regulated them, the Education Ministry said.

While acknowledging the importance of legislation on the issue, it said the National Standards for Childcare Facilities, launched in 2006, provided a general framework and standardisation of the type of service a childcare centre should offer.

In its report, the Audit Office said draft childcare services legislation, drawn up two years ago, had not yet been presented to Parliament. It urged the government to speed up the overdue regulation.

In response, the ministry said the Bill was being vetted from the legal drafting aspect.

The NAO's recommendation emerged from its report on childcare arrangements for public sector employees, which highlighted that the Department for Social Welfare Services did not have the required legal backing "to effectively enforce" the established national standards.

Its concern on the limited regulation of childcare facilities and the fact that the DSWS did not have the necessary legal structures to do its job is shared by Children's Commissioner Helen D'Amato, who hoped the necessary resources would be introduced at the earliest opportunity to empower the department to fulfil its mandate effectively.

The provision of childcare facilities was just one of many possible family-friendly measures and she hoped further options would be explored to ensure the best interests of children would not be compromised by the their parents' employment.

The NAO pointed out a lack of common policy on childcare services for employees, with some agencies opting to have their in-house facilities, others subcontracting them to third parties and others still reimbursing employees for child care expenses.

In reaction, the Education Ministry noted that "childcare policies in government entities do not differ much but, where possible, a uniform policy for public service employees should be adopted".

Good practice required that childcare centres registered their services with the DSWS to ensure a good quality service and parents should make sure that this was the case, it said.