Children’s Rights Alliance Report Card 2017

Government receives an overall D+ grade for its delivery on key stated commitments to children and a C+ grade in its delivery to children in their early years.

Today, Tuesday 21st February 2017, the Children’s Rights Alliance (CRA) launched its Report Card 2017. This is the 9th publication in the annual Report Card series, which tracks and grades the Government’s progress in delivering on its commitments to children across a range of important areas including: health; education; poverty; equality; and protection. The Government’s commitments to children are set out under A Programme for Partnership Government, May 2016, where a number of promises relevant to early childhood care and education were made. 

This is the first time in Report Card history that there is a dedicated chapter on Rights in Early Childhood and as an active member of CRA, we are happy to see our work cited throughout the chapter. We note with interest the B grade awarded to the Government in Subsidised and School – Aged Childcare. While ECI welcomes the development of the Affordable Childcare Scheme and its stated objectives, including: reducing child poverty; improving outcomes for children; and improving quality, we remain very concerned that the scheme is being underfunded from the outset. We are calling on the Government to expedite the independent review on the real cost of providing quality childcare, consistent with the principle of ongoing professionalisation of the sector, as promised in A Programme for Partnership Government.

We congratulate all the team in CRA on Report Card 2017. The Report Card is an important research and advocacy tool and an excellent way to hold the Government to account in its promises to children.