Ensuring Childcare Sufficiency

andImproving Information

Meeting the requirements of the Childcare Act (2006)

John Abraham

Head of Child & Family Programmes Children's Strategy Division

Welsh Assembly Government

Shaping Childcare in your Area

David Dallimore

Director, Melyn Consulting

Childcare Sufficiency

The Childcare Act 2006 Section 22

Places a duty on local authorities in Wales to secure, as far as reasonably practicable, sufficient childcare to meet the requirements of parents in the area who require childcare in order to work or to undertake training or education or to prepare for work.

Childcare Sufficiency Assessment

The Childcare Act 2006 Section 27

• Undertake a Childcare Sufficiency Assessment and review annually

• Secure sufficient childcare to meet the needs of working parents, and those seeking work

- Disabled children

- Welsh speaking provision

Childcare Supply

What childcare is currently available?

CSSIW data

CIS

Survey of childcare providers

Childcare Demand

What unmet demand is there for

childcare?

Parent Survey

Focus groups

Interviews with parents

Consultation with employers

Interviews with stakeholders

Vacancy rates

Local Context

What are the local social

and economic conditions that

affect childcare?

Child Population Statistics

Family Characteristics

Working Patterns

Family Incomes

Childcare Sufficiency Assessment

Childcare Sufficiency Assessment

• Establishing current levels of childcare supply

• Identifying gaps in childcare supply

• Assessing childcare demand

• Putting into local context and using local knowledge

Childcare Sufficiency Assessment

Draft Sufficiency AssessmentAnalysing the childcare market

Identifying gaps in provision

Making recommendations

ConsultationStakeholders EYDCP

Parents & Carers

Children & Young People

Providers Employers

Final Sufficiency Assessment Report

as part of the Children & Young People’s Plan

Case Study: Neath Port Talbot

Case Study: Neath Port Talbot

Took into account current levels of childcare, vacancies in existing provision, changing demand as reported by childcare providers and parents views

• Gaps in childcare supply for pre-school childcare in a number of areas

• Gaps in childcare for school aged children – especially for holiday care

• Information barriers

• Sustainability issues

• Development priorities

• Funding requirements

• Priorities for Information Services

• Identification of areas for joined-up working

• Workforce Development Strategy

Childcare Sufficiency Assessment

Managing Childcare Data

Tony Baxter & Martin Creasey

Tribal

Listening to Parents

Emma Knights

Chief Executive, Daycare Trust

Research Techniques

David Dallimore

Director, Melyn Consulting

Meaningless statistics are up 6.5 percent from last year

Quantitative research

• Involves information or data in the form of numbers

• Allows us to measure or to quantify things

• Respondents don’t necessarily give numbers as answers - answers are analysed as numbers

• Examples: Paper-based surveys; interviews; internet surveys; telephone surveys; street surveys

Qualitative research

• Helps us flesh out the story and develop a deeper understanding of an issue

• Often contrasted to quantitative research

• Together they give us the ‘bigger picture’

• Good examples of qualitative research are face-to-face interviews, focus groups and site visits

Research

• Identify clearly your aims for the research

• Review existing information / literature

• Select questions that are relevant, concise and efficient

Your greatest enemy in survey research may well be poor response rate.

Clear and concise questionnaires can help get the best response.

Research

Sample Sizes• Comprehensive Sample• Random Sample

Swansea: Children aged 0 to 14 = 37,500Average family size = 1.8Number of families = 20,833

Sample:

95% confidence level

Interval Sample size

+/- 10 96

+/- 8 150

+/- 6 263

+/- 4 583

+/- 2 2,153

www.nao.org.uk/publications/Samplingguide.pdf

Research

Interpretation

Patient: Will I survive this risky operation?

Surgeon: Yes, I'm absolutely sure that you will survive the operation.

Patient: How can you be so sure?

Surgeon: Well, 9 out of 10 patients die in this operation, and yesterday my ninth patient died.

(probability and statistical independence)

Research

Interpretation

A total of 4,000 cans of drink are opened around the world every second.

Ten babies are conceived around the world every second.

Therefore, each time you open a drink, you stand a 1 in 400 chance of becoming pregnant.

(Correlations)

Improving Information

Phyllis Mathews and Alma Belles

Wrexham Children’s Information Bureau

Childcare in Wales

David Dallimore

Director, Melyn Consulting

2006 2007Difference

06-07

Childminders 11,628 12,026 3.4%

Full Daycare 18,074 19,548 8.2%

Sessional Daycare 17,291 17,164 -0.7%

Out of School Care 18,852 18,172 -3.6%

Creche 1,345 1,187 -11.7%

All Childcare 69,196 70,104 1.3%

Childcare in Wales

Childcare in Wales

2006 2007Difference

06-07

Childminders 2,338 2,424 3.7%

Full Daycare 464 500 7.8%

Sessional Daycare 817 806 -1.3%

Out of School Care 560 556 -0.7%

Creche 77 66 -14.3%

All Settings 6,262 6,359 1.5%

Childcare in Wales

Daycare Places per 100 children in the population

Wales: 15.7

England: 20.6

Scotland: 24.1

Out of School Places per 100 children in the population

Wales: 5.9

England: 5.3

Scotland: 9.5

0.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 20.0 25.0

Blaenau Gwent

Bridgend

Caerphilly

Cardiff

Carmarthenshire

Ceredigion

Conwy

Denbighshire

Flintshire

Gwynedd

Merthyr Tydfil

Monmouthshire

Neath Port Talbot

Newport

Pembrokeshire

Powys

Rhondda, Cynon, Taff

Swansea

Torfaen

Vale of Glamorgan

Wrexham

Ynys Mon

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Monmouthshire

Vale of Glamorgan

Ceredigion

Flintshire

Powys

Gwynedd

Pembrokeshire

Conwy

Ynys Mon

Denbighshire

Wrexham

Torfaen

Carmarthenshire

Cardiff

Bridgend

Swansea

Newport

Caerphilly

Neath Port Talbot

Rhondda Cynon Taff

Blaenau Gwent

Merthyr Tydfil

Ave Deprivation Scores (IMD2004)

Childcare Rate (Places per 100children 2007)

Case Study: Glynneath

Local Context:

Children = 16.8% of population (17.7%)

Population Trend = -6.6% (-1.6%)

Welsh Language = 15% (12%)

Children in LP families = 25% (26%)

Workless families = 26% (26%)

High income families = 14% (13%)

Working women = 41% (45%)

Deprivation Index = 10 out of 19

LOW DEMAND

Case Study: Glynneath

Childcare Supply:

184 Registered Childcare Places = 19.7 places / 100 (9.7)

Daycare = 6.6 places / 100 (10)

After school places = 8.9 places / 100 (3.9)

Holiday places = 9.6 places / 100 (3.8)

Childcare Gap:

Daycare Places = 11

After School Childcare = 0

Holiday Care = 0

Case Study: Glynneath

Childcare Demand:

Vacant Places = 37% (17%)

Providers reporting increased demand = 33% (30%)

Providers reporting decreasing demand = 0% (0%)

Case Study: Glynneath

Parental Demand:Agree Disagree

Satisfaction with current childcare 85% 15%

Good choice of childcare 47% 53%

Quality of childcare is high 78% 22%

Available where I need it 63% 37%

Available when I need it 65% 35%

Affordable to me 58% 42%

Meets my child’s specific needs 69% 31%

Language choice 71% 29%

Case Study: Glynneath

Parental Demand:

"I'd say childcare is adequate in this area"

"The local creche [day nursery] do have Welsh speaking staff, which is good because I was looking for somewhere bilingual".

"There is at least one childminder in the area, but she's usually full. It would be good if there were more childminders".

"There aren’t many childminders here".

"There is a breakfast club and after school club at the local primary school, but no holiday club. The Council run a holiday club at the lesiure centre in town which a lot of parents use".

"I didn't think there was a good level of choice. The local day nursery didn't take under 2's when I was looking.”

Case Study: Glynneath

Childcare Supply and Demand Analysis

Areas with low supply and high demand are those where development of childcare is needed and would be sustainable

Areas with low supply and low demand are those where intervention in the market is likely to be required

Areas with high supply and high demand are those where the market is most likely to be functioning and market forces will meet supply with little intervention

Area with high supply and low demand are likely to have a sufficiency of childcare. It is possible that there could be an over-supply in these areas.