Press Conference by the Prime Minister regarding His Visit to Chiba Prefecture
[Provisional translation]
(On what efforts he believes should be made to ensure that the All Children’s Daycare System will be effective enough to accommodate children under safe and reliable circumstances after visiting a spot where the system has been introduced）
Today, I visited the Shinmatsudo Nanbu Hoikusho, a day-care center run by the municipality of Matsudo, where I heard valuable opinions from those involved in operating the All Children’s Daycare System on the frontline of childcare services and guardians using it, as well as municipal officials in charge. Among them were guardians and parents who said taking advantage of the system has made them feel easier and enabled them to spend more relaxed time with their children; and that they felt their children have been encouraged to grow up thanks to the positive influence of other children and day-care nurses, unlike the one-to-one communication between parents and children on a regular basis. With the significance of the All Children’s Daycare System in mind in offering assistance to all children with anxiety and concerns and households raising children, I heard day-care nurses and municipal officials say they find it rewarding to be engaged in the services and add that parents tend to be pressed for time in using the system, making it more important to have better communication among those concerned when they leave and pick up their children at day-care centers.
Exactly one month has passed since the enactment of the revised Act on Child and Childcare Support, and I renewed my sense of the significance of the All Children’s Daycare System, one of the signature measures under the act, as well as my sense of need for more efforts in this regard to ensure its further promotion. Under the tentative project launched this fiscal year, we have provided additional unit prices in cases where disabled children are accommodated, and we now plan to add two more reviews to expand the coverage of the system to include children in households in need of support, such as cases involving suspected abuses, and those in need of medical care, given the system is aimed at helping all children to grow up. Firstly, we will establish a system to provide additional unit prices for cases where children from households in need of support are accommodated, including those with suspected abuses. Secondly, we will establish another system to significantly raise additional unit prices for cases where children having difficulty leaving home, like those in need of medical care, are accommodated, while also assuming home visit services.
Among your questions were those regarding the utilization time limit and securing human resources in the childcare sector through the improvement of workplace conditions and other means. I believe that we will have to consider more additional measures to further improve the system, while also listening to various opinions, as well as voices pointing out needs on the ground, with a view to the full-fledged introduction of the system based on the implementation status of the tentative project.
We will continue to make preparations and conduct more study toward the full-fledged introduction of the system while considering various needs and voices. That’s all from me. Thank you.