PART 1 GENERAL

Title, commencement and application

1.—(1) The title of these Regulations is the Childcare Act 2006 (Provision of Information) (Wales) Regulations 2008 and they come into force on 1 April 2008.

(2) These Regulations apply in relation to Wales.

Interpretation

2.  In these Regulations —

“free nursery education” (“addysg feithrin am ddim”) means provision which is made under arrangements between the provider and the local authority in pursuance of the local authority’s duty under section 118 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998(3);

“Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education and Training in Wales” (“Arolygiaeth ei Mawrhydi dros addysg a hyfforddiant yng Nghymru”) has the same meaning as in the Education Act 2005(4);

“locally” (“yn lleol”) means within the area of the local authority;

“the 2006 Act” (“Deddf 2006”) means the Childcare Act 2006.

Prescribed Information

3.  The information referred to in Parts 2 and 3 of these Regulations is prescribed information for the purposes of section 27(2) of the 2006 Act.

PART 2 INFORMATION ON THE PROVISION OF CHILDCARE

4.—(1) Where a local authority provides to parents or prospective parents information on the provision of childcare in its area in accordance with section 27(2)(a) of the 2006 Act that information must include the following for each provision:

(a) subject to Regulation 4(2), contact details including the name of the provision, address, telephone number and email address;

(b) type of provision, that is whether it is group based, home based or school based provision;

(c) the age range covered;

(d) opening hours, the total number of weeks for which the provision is open and the specific weeks in which the provision is closed;

(e) the number of places available for each age group;

(f) the cost of the provision;

(g) in respect of free nursery education;

(i) whether its provision is full or part-time and whether an annual or termly intake operates;

(ii) how it addresses demand for Welsh medium or faith based settings;

(iii) details of the places provided both in the maintained and (funded) non-maintained sectors. The information should include:

(aa) for the maintained sector, the

(i) name, address and contact details of the school;

(ii) medium of provision in the school; and

(iii) number of relevant places in the school.

(bb) for the non-maintained sector, the:

(i) name, address and contact details of the setting;

(ii) type of setting (whether Cylch Meithrin, English medium playgroup, childminder or private day nursery etc.);

(iii) the medium of provision of the setting; and

(iv) the number of (part-time) places agreed with the Early Years and Childcare Development Partnership as eligible for funding.

(h) whether the provision is registered by the National Assembly for Wales (through the Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW)) in accordance with the Children Act 1989(5), as amended by the Care Standards Act 2000(6), and if so, how parents can obtain copies of the relevant report.

(i) whether the provision is inspected by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education and Training in Wales in accordance with Chapter 3 of the Education act 2005, and if so, how parents can obtain copies of the relevant report;

(j) information as to the Welsh language and bilingual nature of the provision.

(2) A local authority must not provide the contact details, or part thereof, of a person who acts as a child minder where that person has given notice to the local authority that he or she objects to his or her contact details, or part thereof, being provided.

School based provision

5.  Where the provision is based in a school, the local authority must identify whether it is run and managed by the school.

Facilities for disabled children

6.  Where the parent is a parent of a disabled child, the local authority must provide information on access to services and specialist facilities available for disabled children within childcare settings.