Report on Government Services 2019 - Early Childhood Education & Care

Part B of the Report on Government Services 2019 (ROGS report) was published today. 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 2018) were: Victoria (83.7%, 83.3% last year), Queensland (81.5%, 77.9% last year), Tasmania (79.5%, 77.5% last year), and South Australia (73.5%, 69.4 last year. . The lowest were NT (61.9%, 59.3% last year) and WA (67.7%, 61.5% last year).

• The jurisdictions with the highest number of confirmed breaches of the NQF per 100 services (in 2017-18) were: Northern Territory (187.6), Victoria (153.9), and NSW (144.9). The previous year the highest were: Queensland (142.7, 109.9 this year), Victoria (142.3) and WA (92.9, 109 this year)). The lowest were South Australia (24.4) and ACT (56.1). The lowest last year 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 125.7  confirmed breaches per 100 services (up from last year's 97.9), with the highest rates being for family day care (295.9 breaches per 100 services, down from 306.7 last year.) and long day care (155.3 breaches per 100 services, up from 115.2 last year). Quite interestingly, the report continues to show that the proportion of breaches resulting in action being taken by Regulatory Authorities varies wildly across jurisdictions, probably because what is regarded as "action" taken varies by jurisdiction. For instance, in Victoria action was taken in 25.5% of cases. whereas in SA 97.7% 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 2017-18) were: ACT (131.8, 148.9 last year), WA (114.7, 94.7 last year), Queensland (108.3, 120.4 last year), and NSW (99.8, 99 last year). The lowest were NT (78.7, 66.8 last year) and Victoria (84.9, 86.3 last year). Nationally, there were 97.9 serious incidents per 100 NQF services with a total of 15,435 serious incidents having occurred. This is down from last year when the figures were 99.3 serious incidents per 100 NQF service, but with slightly less serious incidents at 15,432.

The media have also covered the report, including: 9News; The Sydney Morning Herald; and SBS.