The government is considering specialised training for carers as part of its plans for the provision of free childcare centres next year, the Prime Minister said today.

His statement came after labour studies lecturer Anna Borg told the Times of Malta that the success of the plans, formally announced in the Budget, hinged on having a sufficient number of professionally trained carers who could be trusted to mind young children.

Dr Borg said she was concerned that if the free childcare promise was to be implemented by April, as planned by the Government, there may not be enough carers to cope with the demand.

“What goes on between the ages of zero and three, which is when children go to childcare centres, marks children for the rest of their lives… training is important and if we get that part wrong, mothers will not send their children to centres,” Dr Borg told Times of Malta.

An Education Ministry spokesman had told the newspaper that “as things stand, there are enough child carers to cope with an increase in demand.”

At the moment there are more than 300 qualified child carers who can work in childcare centres, the spokesman said, adding that “childcare centres are heavily under-utilised”.

On Monday, the Government announced it would be investing €3.8 million towards free childcare centres to encourage women to continue working while their children are being cared for.

This childcare service will be available to those families where both parents work and to single parents who work.

The spokesman said there will be no capping on the number of parents who can benefit from free childcare. “Free childcare will be offered to all those who work, including part-time employment,” he said.

The spokesman added that the White Paper to consult on the best way to implement this service will be published this week.

Dr Muscat said during a tour of the government's Sardinella childcare centre this morning that having free childcare centres, as well as the measure to reduce power tariffs, were essential to improve Malta's competitiveness. The provision of free childcare would create jobs and also encourage more women to join the labour force, he said.

The childcare service would be provided in partnership with the private sector, and parents would not be told where to send their children, he said.

Childcare centres are relatively new to Malta, with the earliest ones being set up in the late 1990s.

However, Maltese mothers still tend to prefer leaving their children with relatives, such as grandparents, rather than sending them to childcare.

According to childcare figures released by the National Statistics Office in May, in 2011 children spent an average of six hours a week at childcare centres and 14 hours with their grandparents or other relatives.

Until January there were 72 registered childcare centres, of which 51 were privately owned, four run by the Church, seven were public-private partnerships and 10 government owned.

Until April, 506 children were attending government childcare centres, which have since increased to 11, according to information recently tabled in Parliament.

A mother-of-two who recently shopped around for childcare costs said the average price of sending a child to a private centre five days week until 6pm was €450 a month.

In the case of Government centres the price is calculated according to the parent’s salary. The most a parent paid was about €150 a month until 4pm.