4.1: Children's Services

The 1997-1998 Portfolio Budget Statements, informs Senators and Members of Parliament of the proposed allocation of resources to portfolios outcomes and their objectives and targets including the agencies within the Health and Family Services portfolio.

In this section:

Budget Measures

Objective

To assist families with dependent children to participate in the workforce and the general community by supporting the provision of affordable quality child care.

Priority outcomes

Affordability of child care particularly for low income families.
Increased choice of child care options available to families.
Child care quality ensured through accreditation and other quality assurance mechanisms and targeted support for services.
Increased cooperation between the Commonwealth, States, Territories and other key players in the provision of child care and related services.
Improved access to child care in areas of greatest need for parents at work, or who study, train or seek work.
Growth of new child care places for two years contained to a level consistent with the underlying increase in workforce participation of parents with children.

Strategies

Implement payment arrangements through the Commonwealth Services Delivery Agency which streamline current arrangements, increase choice for families and promote competition.
Develop and implement a National Planning Framework for Child Care in consultation with key stakeholders, setting out future directions to respond to the demand for quality child care services and producing better outcomes for families.
Implement a National Childcare Information Strategy to improve access to information for new and existing service providers and parents.
Monitor the distribution of growth in the supply of child care places for work related care.
Implement and monitor measures to improve access to services for families who have children with additional needs, are in the Job, Education and Training (JET) program, or live in rural and remote areas.
Review the Quality Improvement and Accreditation System in long day care centres and develop an appropriate system for Family Day Care.
Fund an effective range of support services to assist staff and management committees to provide efficient, quality and viable child care to children in Commonwealth funded children's services.
Work with States and Territories to promote greater efficiency, effectiveness and accountability.

Performance assessment: indicators and targets

Effectiveness

Indicator	Target	Information source and reporting frequency
Income profile of Childcare Assistance recipients compared to broader population of working families with young children (Priority Outcome 1; Strategy 1)	Comparable representation of low and middle income families	Administrative data
Child care places provided for work related purposes in each age cohort compared with evidence of demand (Priority Outcome 2; Strategy 4)	100 per cent of work related demand met	Child Care Census Annual

Efficiency

Indicator	Target	Information source and reporting frequency
Accurate and timely payments of Childcare Assistance (Priority Outcome 1; Strategy 1)	100 per cent of payments made on time	Administration data
Administration costs (Department only) per service (Priority Outcome 1; Strategy 7)	Reduction in administration costs	Administration data

Quality

Indicator

Target

Information source and reporting frequency

The number of centres accredited under the Quality Improvement and Accreditation System (QIAS)

(Priority Outcome 3; Strategy 6)

100 per cent (making satisfactory progress towards accreditation)

National Childcare Accreditation Council data collection

Bi-monthly

Reporting to Minister

Annual

Equity

Indicator	Target	Information source and reporting frequency
Child care places provided in rural and remote areas compared with the number of places required (Priority Outcome 2; Strategy 5)	Level of demand met in rural and remote areas comparable to level met in urban areas	Child Care Survey, Australian Bureau of Statistics Every three years
Trend in the number of children with additional needs using Commonwealth funded child care services (Priority Outcome 2; Strategy 5)	Growth in participation of children with special needs	Child Care Census Biennial
Childcare places used by children with additional needs using Commonwealth funded child care services compared with places required (Priority Outcome 2; Strategy 5)	Comparable to the level of demand met for other target groups	Child Care Census Biennial

Performance assessment: evaluation

Quality Improvement and Accreditation System for Long Day Care Centres: The review meets a Government election promise to assist child care providers by enhancing the efficiency of accreditation procedures. Restructure of the National Childcare Accreditation Council was the first step in the review. An independent appeals system will be established. Further steps will be to establish an independent appeals system and to consider streamlining and improving the System's administrative processes and its 52 principles of quality care.

How the program is resourced: reconciliation of appropriations to the program and summary of portfolio outlays (Excel 57 KB)

Variations to Program Outlays 1996-97 to 1997-98 (Excel 21 KB)