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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 10 Hansard (25 September) . . Page.. 3801 ..

Child-care facilities

(Question No 898)

Mrs Burke asked the Minister for Education, Youth and Family Services, upon notice, on 27 August 2003:

In relation to childcare facilities:

(1) In your reply to Question on notice No 610 you stated '$0.9 million will be spent on expansion of the 6 child care centres, which are rescheduled to be completed by September 2003'. Where are the six locations that will be expanded;

(2) How much of the $900,000 allocated has been expended to date and on which projects;

(3) In percentage terms how much of the work has been completed at each of the six sites;

(4) Is work on schedule to be completed by September 2003. If not, why not and what is the current schedule for completion;

(5) Has the Government identified any other areas in Canberra that may require child care services or an expansion of services in addition to the six sites listed above;

(6) If so how do you plan to action the sites identified.

Ms Gallagher

: The answer to Mrs Burke's question is:

(1) The 6 child care centres to be expanded are:

1.

Totem Multicultural Early Childcare Centre, Georgina Crescent, Kaleen;

2.

Civic Early Childcare Centre, Childers Street, City;

3.

Teddy Bears Childcare Centre, Storey Street, Curtin;

4.

Conder Childcare Centre, Beaumaris Street, Conder;

5.

Greenway Early Childhood Centre, Greenway; and

6.

Alkira Community Preschool and Child Care Centre, Charnwood.

(2) $97,424 has been spent to date and this relates to design work across all centres.

(3) Work has commenced at Teddy Bears Childcare Centre. The other 5 centres await ACT Planning and Land Authority approval of the Development Applications. In percentage terms, 10.8 % of the work has been completed across all sites measured in terms of rate of expenditure.

(4) No. Work at all sites is scheduled to be complete by end of March 2004. Work has been delayed due to extensive consultation involved, issues with finalisation and documentation and the development application process. The need to address budget issues on individual projects has also impacted on the timeframe.

(5) Until the impact of the additional childcare facilities provided under this program and by the new facility in Gungahlin is known, additional demand for child care places is difficult to determine. Specific sites requiring an expansion to childcare services, in addition to the sites listed under response (1) have not been identified to date.

(6) This is covered above in the answer to (5) above.

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