○ Rapid progress in declining birthrate

○ The current situation that disrupts people's desire to be married, have children, and raise them

• Approximately 90% of single males/females intend to get married, with the number of children they wish to have being 2 or more.

• Environment surrounding children and childcare, including families, communities, and employment, etc. has been changing.

o Support for child and childcare is inadequate in terms of both quality and quantity

• The percentage of family-related social expenditure of GDP is low (Japan: 1.04%, France: 3.00%, U.K.: 3.27%, and Sweden: 3.35%)

○ Increased sense of isolation and burden of childcare

☐ Serious issue of wait-listed children

○ Shortage of after school children's clubs or “barriers to the first grade of elementary school”

○ M-shaped curve (percentage of females in their 30s in the labour force)

o Vertically segmented systems/financial resources for childcare support

○ Insufficient measures in providing support according to the actual situation of a region

Provision of high quality school education/day-care services at infancy in a comprehensive manner

Quantitative expansion and security of day-care services

• Elimination of wait-listed children

• Support for community-based day-care services

Enhancement of

community-based child and

childcare support

* “School education” denotes education for children before entering elementary school, as stipulated in the School Education Act (school education at infancy), whereas “day-care services” denotes day-care for infants, as stipulated in the Child Welfare Act. Hereinafter the same.

## Purpose and Main Points of the 3 Draft Acts related to Child and Childcare

## ■ Purpose of the 3 draft Acts

Promotion of school education/day-care services at infancy and community-based child and childcare support in an comprehensive manner in consideration of the three-party agreement (*)

* “Confirmation on Comprehensive Social Security and Tax Reform (Social Security Part)” (June 15, 2012 by the Democratic Party of Japan, the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, and the New Komeito at a meeting of the three party leaders regarding comprehensive social security and tax reform (social Security part))

## ■ Main points

○ Improvement of the certified child care center system (improvement of kindergarten and day-care center cooperation type certified child care centers)

• Kindergarten and day-care center cooperation type certified child care centers will involve unification of their certification and guidance/supervision and legal establishment as a school and child welfare facility

○ Creation of common benefits across certified child care centers, kindergartens, and day-care centers (“facility type benefits”) and benefits for small-scale day-care services, etc. (“community-based day-care benefits”)

○ Enhancement of community-based child and childcare support (user support, regional centers for childcare support, etc.)

## Common mechanisms for school education/day-care services at infancy and community-based child and childcare support

○ Basic local government units (municipalities) shall be the primary implementers

• Municipalities formulate implementation plans according to local needs and provide benefits/services

• The government and prefectures shall provide multi-layered support to the primary implementers of municipalities

o Financial support from all of society

• Assumes that permanent financial resources will be secured by the government and local governments through the increase in consumption tax

☐ Promotion system of the government

• Unification of promotion systems of the government that differ across different systems

☐ Establishment of Child and Childcare Conferences

• Establishment of Child and Childcare Conferences as a system in which experts, local governments, representatives of business operators, representatives of workers, those actually engaged in childcare and childcare support, etc. (those engaged in child and childcare support related businesses) can participate in the government process of making childcare support policies, etc.

• Obligating municipalities, etc. to make the effort to establish a council system