Annual Report 2005-2006 - Waverley Council

Waverley Council
Meeting Our Statutory Requirements
r. Other Regulatory Information
A Overseas Visits by Councillors and Senior Council Staff.
Council contributed to the cost of one overseas trip by a Council officer in 2005/2006
Date of Trip: 4-7 April 2006
Council Officer: Malcolm Edwards
Cost to Council: Council covered accommodation in Amsterdam for 3 days. Mr Edwards paid airfare
and remainder of trip was annual leave.
Purpose: To attend Intertraffic Amsterdam 2006, the leading exhibition for infrastructure, traffic
management, safety and parking in Europe. The exhibition attracted 23,890 visitors as well 690
exhibitors from 41 different countries.
B Statement of the Total Remuneration.
Council has six senior staff. Details of their total remuneration are listed in Section (g) on pages 99 -
100.
C Details of the Activities Undertaken by the Council during the Year to Develop and Promote
Services and Programs That Provide for the Needs of Children.
Council Centres
Waverley Council’s three long day care centres and family day care scheme provided child care to 490
children for the year. The average daily utilisation of care for the Council’s 3 long day care centres
was 173 full time children per day using care. This means that care was provided to 99.5% of the
available child care places that Council is licensed to fill on any one day.
The figure is higher than projected for the year due to the fact that Bronte Child Care Centre increased
its license numbers by two children and Gardiner increased their license numbers by one child.
Family Day Care has 32 carers with two new carers being recruited over the last 6 months. The full
time equivalent number of children in Family Day Care for the first six month period was 177 and for
the final six months it was 170 children. The actual number of children enrolled was 250. This
excellent result is timely as the Federal government is introducing new measures to assess funding
levels which are expected to impact detrimentally on services. The results in future will be calculated
on the number of occupied places as opposed to the full time equivalent number of children.
Over the last twelve months, each of the children service centres have been involved in the process of
licensing or accreditation or both. As a result, the services’ policies and procedures have been
reviewed and are satisfactorily addressing the new regulation requirements and working continually for
a high standard of care for the children and families. From July 1 2006 the accreditation process will
have ‘announced’ validation visits. The aim is to strengthen the accreditation process and to provide
greater certainty for parents that good quality care is being achieved and continuously maintained.
Children’s Services Regulations were updated and the new legislation, Children’s Services Regulation
2004, has been implemented from January 2006. One of the changes introduced involves a process
of ‘unannounced’ visits to the service by a Department of Community Services Children’s Services
Advisers.
Cost of Care
Council’s fees were analysed in January 2006 and remain among the most affordable in the area.
Council fees increased by $3.50 a day to $51.00 for babies and $48.00 for 3-5 year olds in July 2005.
The average local fee for 2005 was $64.67 per day. At $49.50, Council’s average fee was within 23%
of the local average. Two other community based centres had lower daily fees at $41 and $49
respectively.
Annual Report 2005//2006
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