The health ministry is asking for 1.04 trillion yen in the fiscal 2003 national budget to support child-rearing in a bid to curb the declining birth rate, ministry officials said Thursday.

Of the total, 223 billion yen would go to paying personnel to travel to municipalities across Japan to gather information on child-rearing and provide the data to parents.

The information would cover topics such as day-care facilities, groups of parents with small children and helpful services provided by nonprofit organizations.

The ministry is also considering setting up child-rearing support panels in all areas with elementary schools.

Local entities introducing temporary jobs and community services for retired people will promote options for elderly people to provide services related to child-rearing. This would include taking preschool children to and from nurseries, cooking for kids and helping with their studies.

Another 500 billion yen would be allocated to enhance nursery school services so they can accept more children on a temporary basis.

The ministry also envisions granting one-time payments of 1 million yen to companies that encourage employees to take child-rearing leave.