Recommendation 1

Issuing a modified Rating Certificate indicating the period of time the rating has been ‘Working Towards’ that must be prominently displayed in the reception area of the Service.

In addition, the NSW RA should have the discretion to require the Service to install CCTV that can be monitored by the management of the Service and recorded to the NSW RA’s cloud to be used in any subsequent investigations into serious incident reports.

Consideration should be given to the use of the conditions power to grant service approvals for a fixed term (say 2 years) with extension being subject to meeting an appropriate level of the NQS or a standard acceptable to the NSW RA considering a particular service’s circumstances.

Recommendation 2

Give consideration to a legislative amendment to compel services to display their compliance history alongside their quality ratings as this would be very valuable to families.

While such an amendment is being considered, in appropriate circumstances the NSW RA should consider imposing a condition on a service approval to require the Service to display their compliance history, or otherwise inform parents of their right to request it.

Recommendation 3

The NSW RA should allocate the necessary resources to enable it to publish the maximum amount of information about its compliance actions that it is permitted to publish under the applicable legal limitations. Preferably, such information should be added to the relevant website as soon as possible after such publication is permitted, or on a monthly basis at a minimum.

Recommendation 4

A ‘paramount consideration’ provision be inserted in the National Law that should apply to all entities in the ECEC sector including Providers, Services, their employees and other individuals working in the sector to ensure that the protection of the rights and best interests of children is their paramount consideration in decision making.

Recommendation 5

Consideration should be given to the NSW Government proposing an amendment to the National Regulations that a Conflicts of Interest Policy be added to the suit of policies in Regulation 168 requiring entities to adopt a policy that:

• Highlights the (once implemented) statutory requirement to ensure paramount importance of the rights and best interest of enrolled children in decision-making
• Identifies the likely conflicts of interests that could impact on decision-making by Nominated Supervisors, Responsible Persons, Persons with Management or Control, Board Members, Owners, of Approved Providers and Approved Services.
• Recommends that in any decision-making process where a decision-maker identifies that they have a reasonably perceived conflict of interests in relation to a proposed decision or course of action about how public funds provided to the entity should be allocated or expended, that could substantially impact on the rights or best interests of children enrolled in their Service(s):
  • where the individual is the sole decision maker, the conflict should be identified and recorded, along with any measures adopted to address the conflict, and
  • In any group decision making context, any such conflict should be disclosed to the other decision makers and a decision made and recorded as to any measures adopted to address the conflict.

Recommendation 6

The NSW RA be established as a separate agency under Schedule 1 of the Government Sector Employment Act 2013, either in Part 2, Executive agencies related to Departments or Part 3, Separate Agencies.

Recommendation 7

Having more effective provisions to protect persons who disclose wrongdoing in ECEC services needs to be given some priority. While this matter should be addressed via an amendment to the National Law, a more immediate recommendation is that the NSW Government consider amending the NSW Children (Education and Care Services National Law Application) Act 2010 to adopt appropriate whistleblower protections as a stop gap measure as soon as practicable. Such provisions could have a sunset clause triggered by an appropriate amendment being made to the National Law.

Recommendation 8

The NSW Government considers proposing an amendment to the National Regulations to include a condition on all new Provider and Service approvals relating to the installation of CCTV in all new non-family day care Services, for the purpose of protecting the safety and welfare of children.

Recommendation 9

Furthermore, consideration should be given to requiring the installation of CCTV in specific circumstances in existing non-family day care Services and linked to the NSW RA, as outlined in this report. A range of issues will need to be addressed in respect of this recommendation are identified in the report.

Recommendation 10

In relation to offences that are largely factual or procedural for which prosecution is currently the only avenue available, or in other circumstances where the 2-year limitation period from the date of the offence is about to expire, there should be an option to issue an Infringement Notice, preferably set at more than what is currently allowed under the Act (i.e., more than double the current 10% of the maximum penalty).

Consideration should also be given to additional or alternative mechanisms to impose financial sanctions that support regulatory outcomes that can be administered more efficiently.

Recommendation 11

There is a strong argument that can be made out for a one-stop-shop for the making of (non-Police related) mandatory reports by early childhood education and care entities. To address the legal perspective outlined above, such reports could then be triaged to the appropriate authorities for action.

Should such an approach be adopted, it may also be possible to build in a coordination role given that the jurisdictions and roles of these authorities often overlap and there is no current mechanism to ensure their activities are appropriately coordinated.

Recommendation 12

1. Decisions about the funding of the NSW RA should include an amount indexed to the numbers of Services being approved each year.
2. The NSW RA should be exempt from efficiency dividends.
3. The Department’s Audit Directorate should conduct an efficiency audit of the NSW RA every 2 years.
   

More information

• Independent review into the NSW Early Childhood Education and Care Regulatory Authority

• Contact the department’s Early Childhood Education and Care Information and Enquiries team on 1800 619 113 or email ececd@det.nsw.edu.au.