Database of labour market practices
This database gathers practices in the field of employment submitted by European countries for the purposes of mutual learning. These practices have proven to be successful in the country concerned, according to its national administration. The European Commission does not have a position on the policies or measures mentioned in the database.
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Original Title: | Kwaliteitscontrole in de Kinderopvang |
Country: | Netherlands |
Responsible body: | Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid (Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment) |
Name(s) of other organisations involved (partners / sub-contractors): | Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport (MinSoZaWe) (Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport); Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap (Ministery of Education, Culture and Science); Municipalities; Vereniging Nederlandse Gemeenten (VNG) (association of municipalities); GGD (Gemeentelijke Gezondheidsdienst) (Public Health Service); BOINK (Belangenvereniging van Ouders in de Kinderopvang & Peuterspeelzalen): association of parents in childcare facilities and playgroups; Brancheorgan |
Start Year of implementation: | 2005 |
End Year of implementation: | Ongoing |
EU policy relevance: | ~The policy’s purpose is to stimulate labour participation of parents, and in particular mothers, by ensuring good quality childcare. This purpose matches the policy priorities of the Europe 2020 Strategy to reach the national target of 80% labour market participation by 2020, as part of the EU’s overall strategy promoting smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. It also contributes to reaching the Barcelona targets, i.e. providing childcare places for 33% of children under 3 years and 90% of children between 3 years and mandatory school age. Finally it contributes to the key domain of ‘promoting equal opportunities’ of the 2015 Commission’s proposed new package of integrated policy guidelines. |
National labour market context: | Labour participation of women is high (69.7%; Eurostat, LFS 2014). However, since 77.0% of employed women are working part-time the employment rate in full-time equivalent is 48.1%. Furthermore, there are substantial gender gaps in pay (16%; unadjusted) and in pensions (40.0%). Access to good quality and affordable childcare is an important driver for parents, and in particular working mothers, to be active on the labour market. In 2012 46% of children under three years and 89% of children from three years to mandatory school age (which is five years) were in childcare. |
Policy area: | Active labour market policies, Gender equality, Labour market participation, Work-life balance |
Specific policy or labour market problem being addressed: | Concerns about the quality of childcare may also hinder parents’ willingness to place their children in care. Childcare facilities are professional organisations, and may be commercially exploited (with shareholders expecting dividends) or without profit (like by associations or foundations). Since parents may not be able to judge the quality that facilities provide, and market imperfections may have serious consequences for the quality, government needs to ensure that quality criteria are developed and adhered to. The Childcare Act already includes a quality criteria but there are also plans to further increase quality of childcare provisions by 2017. |
Aims and objectives of the policy or measure: | The aim of the Dutch government’s law and policies on childcare is twofold, and equal in importance: stimulating labour force participation of parents by making it easier to combine work and care tasks, as well as providing a |
Main activities / actions underpinning the policy or measure: |
1. organisation (professional, developmental environment, ownership); 2. parents’ involvement (parents’ committee, information exchange, advisory role, complaints management); Non-compliance leads to official warnings to address the shortcomings and ultimately deletion from the National Register. Non registered childcare is marked as illegal childcare |
Geographical scope of policy or measure: | National |
Target groups: | Women, Other |
Outputs and outcomes of the policy or measure: |
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