Barnett Consequentials

Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office – in the Senedd at 1:57 pm on 15 May 2024.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 1:57, 15 May 2024

We're focusing on a roll-out of our childcare measures in a way that is focused, structured and budgeted for, and a way in which the sector is there ready, if you like, to deliver on, which isn't the case in England, which I think we can all agree has been quite chaotic in terms of its attempts to roll out the policy. In Wales, we're investing more than £100 million in childcare provision across Wales. That's through our Flying Start offer, and also our childcare offer, but alongside that, £70 million capital in the sector, and also providing support for the workforce directly through training, skills and development and so on.

Also, I know the Conservatives are always very interested in non-domestic rates relief. We're providing 100 per cent business rates relief for registered childcare premises here in Wales, and that goes through until March of next year. That will save registered childcare providers around £10 million in their overhead costs. And also, we're working with Social Care Wales to respond to the challenges of recruitment in the sector, which I think is also really important.

But in terms of our roll-out of our programme here in Wales, we're very much focusing resources on our most disadvantaged communities in the first instance, ensuring that that support reaches the families who are in greatest need at the earliest opportunity. Ultimately, our ambition is for Flying Start childcare services to be available for all two-year-olds in Wales, and we're working with the sector to build capacity to deliver that.

Cabinet

The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.

It is chaired by the prime minister.

The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.

Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.

However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.

War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.

From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.

The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.

Conservatives

The Conservatives are a centre-right political party in the UK, founded in the 1830s. They are also known as the Tory party.

With a lower-case ‘c’, ‘conservative’ is an adjective which implies a dislike of change, and a preference for traditional values.