Official reply:
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION 33 /2012
FOR WRITTEN REPLY
Date of publication on internal question paper: 09 February 2012
Internal question paper no: 01
33. Mrs S P Kopane (DA) to ask the Minister of Social Development:
1) How many (a) partial care facilities are there currently in each
province and (b) patients are currently accommodated at each of these
facilities;
(2) Whether all of these facilities have been inspected in order to
ensure that they meet the minimum standards; if not, in respect of
each province (a) why not, (b) which facilities were not inspected,
(c) when will they be inspected and (d) for how long have they been
operating without being inspected; if so, in respect of each province
(i) when were the inspections conducted, (ii) who conducted the
inspections and (iii) what are the minimum standards each facility
must meet;
(3) Whether any of these facilities have failed to meet the minimum
standards; if so, in respect of each province (a) which facilities did
not meet the minimum standards and (b) what was the consequence of
failing to meet the minimum standards;
(4) What is the breakdown of funds budgeted for each of these facilities
in the (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10, and (c) 2010-11 financial years in
respect of each province;
(5) What is the (a) actual and (b) optimal number of staff for (i) social
workers, (ii) auxiliary social workers, (iii) home based carers and
(iv) any other relevant profession at each of these facilities?
NW38E
REPLY:
According to the Childrenâs Act, Partial Care is defined as being provided
when person, whether for or without reward, takes care of more than six
children on behalf of their parents or care-givers during specific hours of
the day or night, or of a temporary period, by agreement between the
parents or care-givers and the service provider of the service. There are
no patients in the facilities. Services are provided to children between 0
to 18 years old.
There are four types of PC facilities
⢠ECD centres
⢠after school care
⢠private hostels
⢠temporary respite care
This Parliamentary Question will be answered based on the definition
provided above.
(1)(a) There are currently a total of 19 561 Partial Care facilities
country-wide and the breakdown figure per province is as follows:
|Province |Number of partial care |
| |facilities |
|Eastern Cape |2 938 |
|Free State |3 002 |
|Gauteng |3 520 |
|KwaZulu-Natal |3 398 |
|Limpopo |2 442 |
|Mpumalanga |1 402 |
|North West |1 033 |
|Northern Cape | 580 |
|Western Cape |1 825 |
|TOTAL |19 971 |
(b) There are no patients accommodated in these facilities.
Currently a total of 574 642 children are accommodated country-wide and
the breakdown figure per province is as follows:
|Province |Number of children in |
| |facilities |
|Eastern Cape |76 000 |
|Free State |43 519 |
|Gauteng |57 473 |
|KwaZulu-Natal |71 815 |
|Limpopo |108 853 |
|Mpumalanga |88 416 |
|North West |32 765 |
|Northern Cape |25 976 |
|Western Cape |69 825 |
|TOTAL |574 642 |
The current total number of children accessing ECD programmes in the
country is 984 524 and the breakdown according to the provinces is as
follows:
|Province |Children in ECD Programmes |
|Eastern Cape |83 613 |
|Free State |98 172 |
|Gauteng |160 241 |
|KwaZulu-Natal |131 260 |
|Limpopo |206 728 |
|Mpumalanga |109 386 |
|North West |66 265 |
|Northern Cape |30 839 |
|Western Cape |98 020 |
|TOTAL |984 524 |
2) According to Regulation 4 of the Childrenâs Act, inspection of a Partial
Care facility must take place every five years or may take place at short
intervals if inspection is a condition for registration. Section (5) of
the Act, states that the facilities registered in terms of Child Care Act
are regarded as being registered as Partial Care facilities for a period
of five years from the date on which the sub-section takes effect, unless
its registration is cancelled in terms of section 84 of the Childrenâs
Act before the expiry of that period.
(a) All partial care facilities were inspected upon registration.
(b) All partial care facilities were inspected upon registration.
(c) All facilities registered with the Department of Social Development
have been inspected upon registration to ensure they meet the minimum
standards. After five years the facility must re-register and all
registered facilities are then again inspected upon registration.
(d) No registered facilities are operating without inspection.
2(d)(ii) The inspections are conducted by the team comprising of Social
Workers with the assistance of other members chosen at the discretion of
the district office.
(2)(d)(iii) The minimum standard of each Partial Care Facility as
according to Chapter 5 - Section 79 of the Childrenâs Act 38 of 2005 are
as follows:
⢠A safe environment for children;
⢠Proper care for sick children or children that become ill;
⢠Adequate space and ventilation;
⢠Safe drinking water;
⢠Hygienic and adequate toilet facilities;
⢠Safe storage of anything that may be harmful to children;
⢠Access to refuse disposal services or other adequate means of disposal
of refuse generated at the facility;
⢠A hygienic area for the preparation of food for children;
⢠Measures for the separation of children of different age groups;
⢠The drawing up of action plans of emergencies; and
⢠The drawing up of policies and procedures regarding health care at the
facility.
3) The registered partial care facilities have met the minimum norms and
standards. For those that are applying for registration for the first
time, and not meeting the minimum norms and standards but have the
potential to meet those standards, they are then conditionally registered
for a certain period based on certain conditions that needs to be met
after the agreed upon time. The departmental official will work closely
with the owner or management of the partial care facility and provide
guidance on how to address the conditions so that full registration could
be obtained within the agreed upon time.
Gauteng Province and Western Cape do not have registered facilities that
did not meet the minimum norms and standards.
Information from other provinces is as follows:
Eastern Cape Province:
3(a) Sixty five (65) ECD centres did not meet the minimum standards.
3(b) The facilities are supported to comply with the minimum standards
and issued with a Conditional registration. If over a period the
facility does not move towards compliance, the facility is deregistered
and finally closed down. If a centre is funded by the Department,
funding is suspended until the centre complies with the minimum
standards.
Free State Province:
(3)(a) Some facilities do not meet all minimum norms and standards.
Facilities are therefore registered conditionally to provide
opportunity for facilities to upgrade and to comply.
(3)(b) The detail of the facilities not meeting 100% of standards is not
readily available.
KwaZulu-Natal Province:
(3)(a) Often it is new facilities that operate in structures that are
unsuitable for the care of children and fail to meet the prescribed
minimum standards. These structures often do not approach the
Department of Social Development for guidance prior to commencing
with the ECD Service.
(3)(b) Where facilities experience challenges in meeting minimum
standards a developmental approach is undertaken to guide the
facility to a basic minimum standard. However, where the facility
structure is a health hazard, the critical issues are raised with
the owner or management. A recommendation is then made that the
children be moved to another facility within an agreed time period.
Limpopo Province:
(3)(a) Facilities that do not meet minimum standards are not
registered. The Department inspects only registered facilities.
(3)(b) The facility will not be registered and the facility will not be
supported. However, the Department builds the capacity of facilities
that failed to meet the minimum standards.
Mpumalanga Province:
(3)(a) 17 facilities did not meet minimum standards
(3)(b) The facilities had applied for registration with the Department.
If the facility is failing to meet the standards they were not
recommended for registration.
North West Province:
(3)(a) One hundred and fifty four (154) partial care facilities failed
to meet the minimum standards.
(3)(b) Most of the partial care facilities in informal settlements
could not provide basic facilities conducive for stimulation of
developmental needs of children. Therefore, the Department provided
material assistance (educational and play equipment including
renovations) to enable them to meet the basic requirements for
registration.
Northern Cape Province:
(3)(a) One hundred and sixty nine facilities (169) did not meet the
minimum standards.
(3)(b) They were conditionally registered until they meet the minimum
requirements.
(4) The budget breakdown shown in the table below is for the subsidies
provided for the ECD centres. The subsidy is given to qualifying children
per day using the means test.
Breakdown of funds budgeted for the facilities per province
|PROVINCE |FINANCIAL YEAR: |FINANCIAL YEAR: |FINANCIAL YEAR: |
| |2008-09 |2009-10 |2010-11 |
|Eastern Cape |R 83 300 000.00|R 67 550 |R 114 742 596.00|
| | |000.00 | |
|Free State |R 85 000 000.00|R 127 000 000.00|R 148 000 000.00|
|Gauteng |R129 115 008.00 |R 176 969 608.00|R 187 580 448.00|
|KwaZulu-Natal |R111 850 000.00 |R 110 951 000.00| R 201 255 |
| | | |000.00 |
|Limpopo |R 80 441 000.00|R 89 260 |R 117 041 000.00|
| | |000.00 | |
|Mpumalanga |R 77 571 696.00 |R 87 706 |R 117 379 131.00|
| | |608.00 | |
|North West |R 32 087 225.00|R 27 938 |R 34 100 700.00|
| | |385.00 | |
|Northern Cape |R 25 240 000.00|R 24 421 |R 33 859 000.00|
| | |000.00 | |
|Western Cape |R120 364 595.00 |R 166 831 |R175 879 101.00 |
| | |048.00 | |
|TOTAL |R567 309 791.00 |R 659 440 |R885 998 178.00 |
| | |009.00 | |
5. (a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii) Social Workers, Social Auxiliary workers and Home
based carers are not employed in the partial care facilities. The
facilities are privately owned and the Department of Social Development,
as the custodians of the Childrenâs Act, make sure that the facilities
comply with the norms and standards for registration for the care and
protection of children.
The roles of Social Workers are to assist the facilities with
registration and the monitoring and inspection of those facilities and
they are not placed at the facility.
5 (b)(iv) The optimal number of staff-to-child ratio is as follows as
indicated in the Regulation of the Childrenâs Act, No 38 of 2005:
⢠Birth to 18 months: 1 Practitioner for 6 children;
⢠18 months to 3 years: 1 Practitioner for 16 children;
⢠3 years to 4 years: 1 Practitioner for 20 children;
⢠4 years to five years; 1Practitioner for 30 children.
Preferably each ECD practitioner should have an assistant.
Each province gave an input which is as follows:
|Province |Other relevant professions at each of these|
| |facilities (ECD Practitioners) |
|Eastern Cape |3 741 |
|Free State |3,983 |
|Gauteng |4Â 609 |
|KwaZulu-Natal |4 900 |
|Limpopo |2 980 |
|Mpumalanga |2 160 |
|North West |3 816 |
|Northern Cape |1115 |
|Western Cape |3 900 |