The purpose of an activity-based audit is to identify opportunities to improve the activity reviewed, leading to enhanced organizational economy, efficiency and effectiveness. Therefore, the emphasis is on reporting issues affecting current performance of the activity and highlighting the benefits of implementing the recommendations put forward.

The Early Childhood Commission is an agency of the Ministry of Education and was established by the Early Childhood Commission Act of 2003. It has overall responsibility for early childhood development in all early childhood institutions, including day care centres, pre-schools, basic schools and infant schools, across the island. The Commission’s mission is: “An integrated and coordinated delivery of quality early childhood programmes and services, which provide equity and access for children zero to eight years within healthy, safe and nurturing environments.

The audit was designed to ascertain whether the Early Childhood Commission was effectively monitoring early childhood institutions to ensure satisfactory Early Childhood Development. To accomplish this objective, the audit focused on determining whether the Commission had:

A system in place to ensure that all early childhood institutions are registered.

Mechanisms in place to monitor effectively early childhood institutions, ensuring adherence to the terms of the Early Childhood Commission Act, Regulations and established Standards.

A system in place to aid the transitioning of early childhood institutions with the goal of achieving the 12 legal standards as stated in the Early Childhood Commission Regulations 2005. Paragraphs 1 to 7 outline the key findings.