7. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the Welsh Government’s commitment to extend entitlements to free childcare? OAQ(5)0129(CC)

Our childcare offer aims to provide working parents of three and four-year-olds with 30 hours of Government-funded education and childcare for up to 48 weeks a year. We will begin piloting the offer in specific areas of seven local authorities from September of this year.

I’m well aware of the pilots, and I want to thank the Government for making the statement about those very recently, but I am concerned—very concerned indeed—at the National Day Nurseries Association’s comments this week regarding the capacity of the private sector who want to work with the Government, as you will know, to achieve the delivery of this very important commitment. I am concerned about the capacity of the sector to meet those demands, and the fact that there’s no plan currently between the private sector and the Government in order to work that capacity up over the next few years so that you can meet this challenging commitment. What work are you doing behind the scenes in order to make sure that there is capacity so that you can deliver on this important promise?

Well, I also read your press release, and I also read the comments in the newspaper. The comment says,

30 hours of free childcare scheme may not be possible’ which doesn’t mean it isn’t possible. The fact is that the NDNA are part of the working group moving this forward. It surprised me also that they made comments in the media as opposed to coming to talk to us.

May I say that the working group is working well? The private sector is not the only option in terms of the delivery of this model, and therefore we have many options moving forward. The pilots will give us a better sense of delivery, but I’m confident that we’ll be able to deliver the most comprehensive childcare programme in the UK by this Government by the end of this term of government.

The Welsh Government’s commitment to extend entitlements to free childcare will, of necessity, lead to an increase in the number of childcare providers across Wales. This creates an opportunity for us to consider the positive community impacts that could arise from the growth in employment within this sector. What consideration has the Cabinet Secretary given to embedding the principles of the foundational economy into the childcare delivery offer and raising the social ask of providers in order to further benefit communities?

This is a great question in terms of the childcare plus agenda, making sure that this is not just about childcare and warehousing of children in some shape or form, but actually building an economy and the opportunity for the childcare sector to grow, but also the issues of procurement, food processing, retail distribution, transport—all of those things that feature around this one specific piece of work. It is something I’m working with my Cabinet colleagues on, and indeed the sector, which surprised me even more when I read the comments in the newspapers this week.

Of course, quality is as important as quantity, and we know that falling behind early, particularly in cognitive development, can have long-lasting effects for children, particularly in later childhood, and indeed in later life. I’ve pressed you previously about the early years childcare and play workforce plan, and you indicated it would be available in the spring. Well, here we are, and I was just wondering whether you could give us an update as to when we’re likely to see it, and whether its publication is now, in fact, imminent.

That work plan is being worked upon by ourselves, but also the commissioners as well. We’ve asked them to come in to talk to us about future planning. I think it’s only right that we do that.

We shouldn’t not acknowledge that this is going to be a huge challenge for the sector as a whole—to make sure we’ve got capacity within the system to deal with all these young people coming through. I agree—on the total childcare programme that we’ve been running, the two areas that have been most prominent are quality and flexibility, and it’s very wide ranging in that context, but we are working towards that. Delivery will be started in September, but I will give a more definitive answer to the Member when I’ve got some more details that I can give him.