Report on Government Services 2020 - Early Childhood Education & Care

Part B of the Report on Government Services 2020 (ROGS report) was published today. Section 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 compliance.

Confirmed Breaches

The jurisdictions with the highest number of confirmed breaches of the NQF per 100 services (in 2018-19) were: Northern Territory (383.7, last year 187.6), Victoria (177.1, last year 153.9), and NSW (141.7, last year 144.9). These were also the top three last year. The lowest were Tasmania (28.1), South Australia (28.2) and ACT (38.5). The report indicates these figures are not comparable between jurisdictions due to differences in administrative and reporting procedures and also changes in processes since last year.

Nationally, there were 132.4 confirmed breaches per 100 services (up from last year's 125.7). The highest rates were for family day care (292.3 breaches per 100 services, down from 295.9 last year.) and centre based day care (158.8 breaches per 100 services, slightly up from 155.3 last year).

The report continues to show that the proportion of breaches resulting in action being taken by Regulatory Authorities varies wildly across jurisdictions, because what is regarded as "action" taken varies by jurisdiction and differences in recording practices. For instance, in South Australia action was taken in 4.5% of case, whereas in the ACT 100% of breaches were addressed.

Serious Incidents

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 2018-19) were: ACT (161.5, 131.8 last year); WA (116.6, 114.7 last year; and Queensland (106.9, 108.3 last year). These were the top three last year as well. The lowest were: Northern Territory (76), Victoria (85.3) and Tasmania (90.9).

Nationally, the total number of serious incidents grew by 4.7%. There were 101.7 serious incidents per 100 NQF services with a total of 16,185 serious incidents having occurred. This is up from last year when the figures were 97.9 serious incidents per 100 NQF service and 15,435 serious incidents.