WRITTEN QUESTION P-3499/02

by Franz Turchi (UEN) to the Commission

(2 December 2002)

Subject: Centre for disabled children of European officials

The European Union provides early childhood centres for children of its officials based in Brussels, which are funded entirely from the Community budget.

It also provides European schools for those of its officials' children who are of school age. These schools, the first of which was opened in 1957, are partly funded from the Community budget.

Lastly, it provides day-care facilities outside school hours and during school holidays, which are funded entirely from the Community budget.

Given that for many years now the European institutions have provided day-care facilities for normal children of pre-school and school age, both during and outside school hours, why have they not yet set up a day- and night-care centre for disabled children of European officials, funded from the Community budget (heading 5)?

If the administration is planning to open such a centre, when does it intend to do so? If it is not, what are the reasons for this lack of interest in the disabled children of European officials, and should this attitude not be seen as discriminatory?

Answer given by Mr Kinnock on behalf of the Commission

(13 January 2003)

The Commission would like to underline first that none of the childcare centres available to European Union officials are financed entirely by the Community budget. Fees paid by parents provide a significant part of funding. For one child enrolled full time, the parental contribution for the crèche may vary from 5 % to 9 %(1) of the total family income and from EUR 57,67 to EUR 158,60 per month(2) for the after-school childcare facility. A fixed sum of EUR 43,30 per week per child has to be paid by parents for the school holiday childcare facility.

All these facilities are located near the European Institutions premises or European schools, and opening hours and holidays coincide with the working hours and holidays of the Europeans Institutions. The European schools did not provide for any after-school childcare facility until recently.

Admission to the care and educational facilities is subject to certain conditions and not guaranteed. There is a list of nine criteria for admission to crèches and, regrettably, long waiting lists because demand from qualified parents exceeds supply of available places.

The European schools only provide the standard curriculum (leading to the European baccalaureate). As the Honourable Member rightly states, since 1957 the Commission contributes to the budget of the European schools (58,6 % in 2002) and is represented by having one place in the InterGovernmental Board of Governors which manages the European schools. A total of 18 285 children are currently enrolled in European schools in Brussels, Luxembourg and other locations. In 2001, 126 students qualified for special educational support because they were recognised to have various forms of disability. A Community budget of EUR 334 814 was allocated. In 2002, the Commission's social services have held 2 meetings with the European schools and parents' representatives for the specific purpose of discussing the needs of children with disabilities and their education in the European schools.

In the course of the current financial year, apart from statutory benefits such as double child allowance and special provisions for reimbursement of medical expenses, between 65 and 75 individuals have been in receipt of support from the interinstitutional budget heading A-4103(3). This budget heading provides, within the framework of the provisional guidelines(4), financial assistance for the costs of staying in an establishment or reception centre for people with disabilities; costs of special schooling or training regarded as necessary to alleviate the effects of the disability; costs of nursing care; travel and/or transport costs and certain kinds of equipment. Only 21 beneficiaries claimed reimbursement of expenses for residential costs (e.g. boarding schools for special educational needs) or costs for special institutions in 2001. The annual average amount spent from the Community budget for non-medical costs is around EUR 700 000 (i.e. an average of ± EUR 10 000 per year per person). The support is not limited to a specific age because in several cases the disability is, unfortunately, lifelong.

The groups of children catered for in the existing childcare facilities provided by the European institutions basically have the same abilities and needs (for example, age difference in a group in the crèche normally does not exceed a few months). The potential relevant group for a centre for children with disabilities whose parents are Union officials would vary, however, in age from young children to adults, and the type and gravity of the disability would also extend over a wide range from children, young people or adults with learning disabilities to children, young people or adults needing nursing care.

Belgium and other host countries, as well as the countries of origin of officials, provide specific and specialist facilities for people with disabilities(5), and those facilities are adapted to the specific needs of children, young people and adults with regard to their disability, age and language. Recognising that does not imply any unwillingness to mainstream pupils with special educational needs wherever possible. It does mean that, because the European Schools are not equipped to deal with the needs of many of the individuals with those needs, provision for children, young people and adults with special needs in host country or country of origin schools is superior.

Until the end of 2001, the Commission had never been approached with a request to open a centre for disabled children of European officials, apparently because officials used facilities in the host country or in their country of origin and, in addition, amongst the children of officials there were fewer who had special needs(6).

In 2001, a group of parents of adults with disabilities submitted a project to the Commission proposing the creation of a centre for adults with disabilities. The estimated budget for this project per year/person is ± EUR 96 000. It is clear that if such a project was pursued the current budget line would require significant adjustment. The Commission is currently undertaking a feasibility study on the creation of a centre for children of European officials who have disabilities. The study and its results will be submitted to Parliament.

The Commission is fully aware of the difficult situation of parents of disabled children and is consequently undertaking specific research (including visits to centres, collecting pedagogical projects, identifying available places, etc.) in order to offer help to find the best suitable places in existing facilities.

(1) depending on number of children in family (1-4).

(2) depending on the family income; scale for 1 child enrolled full time.

(3) A-4103 = Special aid for the disabled covering non-medical costs resulting from a disability.

(4) Adopted by the Collège des Chefs d'Administration in 1994 and modified in 1999.

(5) Day centres, night centres, for adults or for children, for mental handicaps, for physical handicaps, centres for disabled who wish to work, specific schools, residential centres, etc.

(6) Thanks to medical progress, handicapped people enjoy a longer life-expectation now.