Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee, , 7:49:48 to 8:00:05
ACECQA officials discuss childcare services currently operating outside the National Quality Framework (NQF), such as playgroups and crèches, and plans to bring certain funded programs under the framework.
Topics: Education, Child safety
Speakers: Senator Paul Scarr, Ms. Lisa McCoy, Ms. Kylie Crane, Speaker 22, Senator Marielle Smith, Senator Matt O'Sullivan
>> That's it.
>> And thank you very much to officials from this outcome. You're free to depart and we'll call uh a squa to the table. We'll just suspend for one minute whilst meeting will resume. Uh I welcome Miss Angela Buchanan, the acting chief executive officer of Aqua and um other officials as well. Um did you have an opening statement?
>> Uh good afternoon chair. Good afternoon
we'll just jump straight into questions then. Senator Sullivan, you have the
>> Uh, Senator Sky.
>> Yeah. Okay. Uh, thank you and, uh, hello everyone. This is my first estimates with this committee. So, lovely to meet you all. It's a very pleasant environment I'm finding. Uh, but I do have to familiarize myself with uh, how to pronounce the acronym. So, it's ASQUA.
>> That's correct, Senator. Aiqua.
>> Uh so as I understand it, the ABC reported that 473 services operate outside the national quality framework and the government plans to bring 142 of them into it. Uh can a confirm those figures? What are the figures from
your perspective? Uh Senator those figures um the data around out of scope services uh is really a matter for state and territory regulatory authorities. We uh are not in a position to confirm the data on the number of out of scope services.
>> Okay. Uh are you presumably you leaz with the states and territories. So are you able to to to provide uh the latest data which you have on your records that's being provided by the states and territories?
>> Uh I will have to take that on notice Senator Senator and discuss it with the states and territories.
>> So what's the current data you have from
the states and territories? >> The data that we hold is in relation to the national quality framework. >> Um and out of scope services uh that data is held by state and territory
So maybe if you can give just a bit more background in in relation to what types of services operate outside the national quality framework. So what are we talking about?
>> Yes certainly. U Senator my understanding is that it is um Commonwealth funded uh child care uh restricted program services as well as services that are regulated under state and territory residual legislation. Uh but the question is probably better directed to the department who would be able to answer that.
>> Thank you. Uh Senator, that the sorts of services that we're talking about in um in quite a number of instances wouldn't meet the definition of education and care. Um they are play groups or crashes, occasional care in community centers. Um the the 120 odd number that was referred to does refer to ones that the department um funds in terms of community childare fund restricted. Um but the the gap between the full number that was reported and others are a range of other services um as M Buchanan has said that uh are regulated under state and territory um legislation.
>> Okay. So Miss Crane this figure of 142 that's been described as the number that the government plans to bring under the national quality framework. What can you
So, Senator, the the community childcare fund restricted uh sites have a long tail. Uh the um last year education ministers agreed to bring them in under the national quality framework. All that involves is an actual change to the national law at the moment. um it it explicitly excludes them from being in there and by extension what that means is even though they are still regulated um they the data cannot be held by SQA because um under national law they are not part of a they're not um they're not a nationally approved service uh in that sense so the work that will happen with states territories and the commonwealth is national law changes to allow them to be brought in um and obviously work with those services to ensure that they meet the standards s in under the national quality framework as has been discussed in the the previous session.
>> Okay. So does AQA have any role in terms of advising the government in that regard?
>> No, Senator.
have a role in terms of bringing them into the legislation, there are teams within aqua that work closely with the Australian government to support some of those services through quality improvement type programs. So I don't know if uh Miss McCoy wants to elaborate a little bit further. Um some of those programs uh sit in her area. terms of some of the out of scope services we uh since 2021 uh we have worked with triple CFR services on a quality and safety uh training package project uh where we have um supported service to strengthen their capability in key areas of quality, safety and supervision. We're currently in our fourth stage of that project and that continues to mid next year. Another key area we're also um h working with the Australian government on is for inome inhome care services and in terms of that project we have developed a framework which was published yesterday in consultation and collaboration with the inhome care sector and that provides a framework uh consistent with the national quality framework um which sets a benchmark in terms of in terms of the quality and safety standards um and that's to support the existing ing and strengthen the existing frameworks that are in place for inh home care.
>> Okay. What's Okay. So, is there how long are these projects going to go on for? Is there any timeline in that regard?
>> Yeah. Thank you, Senator. Um at this stage, uh the triple CFR project is due to conclude mid next year and we're also supporting the Australian government in terms of the implementation of uh the new framework uh and that is due to
Okay. So, what's the what's the difference between the safety and quality requirements that apply to services outside the national quality framework compared to those who are covered by the national quality framework requirements? What are the sorts of um differences?
>> Uh Senator, apologies. I don't think I can go too far in answering that question because our focus is the national quality framework. Um it would be a matter for state and territory governments that are uh regulating those services. Um
>> okay. Well, in in terms of the work Miss McCoy is doing, do you have any um presumably through the work that you're doing uh it might have given you some sort of insight in relation to the sorts of issues at least at a high level.
>> Thank you. Thank you, Senator. Uh in terms of the work we've done, it is helping the services for example in home care um to meet the meet the minister's rules in terms of providing highquality education and care uh in terms of the types of things. It's around um alignment with the child safety uh reforms that have been been um taking place the last few years. uh uh and a lot of um consistency uh as I said with the national quality framework taking into account that for example in home care occurs in a child's own home.
>> Sure. Yeah. So there's a difference. So you're working on these these projects. Uh and that's to effectively bring the standards up in relation to the services that aren't covered by the national quality framework presumably to assist them to meet those standards. Is that a is that a appropriate description?
>> Thanks SA. It's to support uh support those services to meet uh for the inhome care and triple CFR services to meet uh the requirements to provide uh quality education and care and evidence how they meet those requirements under the under the minister's rules
>> taking into account the environment
>> exactly taking into account exactly the context of those services.
>> Okay, might I might leave uh if I can seed the call to Senator O Sullivan