Report on Government Services 2018 - Early Childhood Education and Care

Part B of the Report on Government Services 2018 (ROGS report) was published on 1 February. Chapter 3 deals with early childhood education and care. The ROGS report is an annual report produced by the Productivity Commission comparing the performance of State and Territory governments in the delivery of a wide range of services.

In relation to childcare, some interesting information is revealed in the report in relation to quality and compliance:

• The jurisdictions with the highest proportion of NQF approved services, with a quality rating, whose overall rating is ‘Meeting NQS’ or above (as 30 June 2017) were: Victoria (83.3%), Queensland (77.9%), and Tasmania (77.5%). The lowest were NT (59.3%) and WA (61.5%).
• The jurisdictions with the highest number of confirmed breaches of the NQF per 100 services (in 2016-17) were Queensland (142.7), Victoria (142.3) and WA (92.9). The lowest were Tasmania (3.9) and NT (8.5), The report indicates these figures are not comparable between jurisdictions due to differences in administrative and reporting procedures. Nationally, there were 97.9 confirmed breaches per 100 services, with the highest rates being for family day care (306.7 breaches per 100 services) and long day care (115.2 breaches per 100 services. Quite interestingly, the report shows that the proportion of breaches resulting in action being taken by Regulatory Authorities varied wildly across jurisdictions, probably because what was regarded as "action" taken varied by jurisdiction. For instance, in the NT no "action" was taken for any of the breaches whereas in SA 100% of breaches were addressed.
• The jurisdictions with the highest number of serious incidents (as defined in regulation 12 of the National Regulations) that have occurred per 100 services (in 2016-17) were: ACT (148.9), Queensland (120.4), and NSW (99). The lowest were NT (66.8) and Tasmania (68.5). Nationally, there were 99.3 serious incidents per 100 NQF services with a total of 15,432 serious incidents having occurred.

The media has also reported on the ROGS report, including SBS News, and The Canberra Times.