Written answer
Childcare Services
The Department acknowledged persistent HIVE performance problems, with Pobal implementing fixes while a long-term digital system review progresses.
1040. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she is aware of continued frustration among childcare providers regarding the use of the HIVE system (details supplied) and the impact this administrative burden has on busy providers; and if she will commit to reduce such a burden. [65040/26]
Comment on this
The Department is aware of an issue with HIVE, ongoing since 26th August, leading to longer than usual page load times and slow system performance. The Department has been engaging proactively with Pobal on the matter.
Pobal carried out an emergency deployment on 28th August following investigation and review. That deployment delivered some measurable performance improvements over that weekend. However, as system demand increased and significant volumes of concurrent requests were received, further reports of poor user experience began to re-emerge.
Since then, both DCDE and Pobal have continued to investigate the issue and have engaged additional expertise wherever there is potential to assist in identifying root causes and solutions.
On 2nd and 3rd September, Pobal deployed a further series of improvements and are closely monitoring system performance following this deployment to assess its impact, particularly during periods of peak demand.
The Department and Pobal recognise the impact these issues are having on services and the importance of restoring confidence in system performance. Resolution remains a priority and regular updates on this matter will be provided as remediation work progresses.
Digital systems are central to the administration of early learning and childcare programmes and schemes. To this end, Simplify and Support contained a number of commitments to deliver phased upgrades to the HIVE and other key systems.
An independent third party was appointed in April to review options for a long-term digital system for early learning and childcare, including the option of modernising the existing system or developing a new system and carry out a detailed analysis of the proposed long-term-digital system identified to include functional and non-functional specifications.
This project is a priority action for the Department and has progressed at pace over the past number of months.