Flying Start and the early years

Anna BrychanPlaid

15 September 2026, Plenary

Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language: The Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Plan

…Minister as well, because the key thing about this is that our childcare offer and health services, health visitors, and all the people who have key information about families and learners already exist in our system. The bringing together of that data and information to inform schools is a piece of…

Tagged for: “health visitors”Official Record

Anna BrychanPlaid

15 September 2026, Plenary

Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language: The Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Plan

…the range of partners that have a role in our shared effort to raise standards. Parents and carers, early years practitioners, teachers and education practitioners, leaders of schools and settings, and support partners all play a pivotal role in literacy and numeracy development across the age…

Tagged for: “early years”Translated from WelshOfficial Record

Lynne NeagleLabour

15 September 2026, Plenary

Statement by the Deputy Minister for Skills and Tertiary Education: Review of Higher Education

…combining higher education and further education, and I think that is the right approach. It runs from early years right the way through people's life course. However, what we have here is one part of the system hived off, and that is in sharp contrast to the approach taken by the previous Labour…

Tagged for: “early years”Official Record

Ken SkatesLabour

15 September 2026, Plenary

Questions to the First Minister

First Minister, I agree it is not acceptable and health visitors should have had justice within the first 100 days of your Government being elected. Yes, you've inherited this challenge, but during the election many of your Members were telling those health visitors that it would be resolved with…

Tagged for: “health visitors”Official Record

Ken SkatesLabour

15 September 2026, Plenary

Questions to the First Minister

…Trump and Vladimir Putin. It will not please the vast majority of people in Wales, including the many health visitors who are here today. Those health visitors feel snubbed by your Government. Those health visitors are questioning the integrity of your Government after being promised an end to their…

Tagged for: “health visitors”Official Record

Sera EvansPlaid

14 July 2026, Plenary

Debate: The First Supplementary Budget 2026-27

…data on the progress being made in terms of delivering the current 12.5 hours of childcare under the Flying Start programme for all two-year-olds throughout Wales, so that we can see what is left to deliver and how much this will cost. The committee is also eager to scrutinise the impact of health…

Tagged for: “Flying Start”Translated from WelshOfficial Record

Sioned WilliamsPlaid

14 July 2026, Plenary

Statement by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice and Equality: Update on Early Years Childcare and Play

Thank you very much to the Member for the question, and thank you very much for the support and for the campaigning work that you and others in this Chamber have done on this crucial policy area. I'm pleased that you share our ambition for the children of Wales, and I know you do. In terms of that…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Early Years”Translated from WelshOfficial Record

Jane DoddsLib Dem

14 July 2026, Plenary

Statement by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice and Equality: Update on Early Years Childcare and Play

I do welcome this statement. Thank you very much for all of the work that's gone into it. You've said that you've got a laser focus on delivering this, having had the ambition that many of the parties here in this Siambr had. So, I really take issue with Reform UK and your spokesperson criticising…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Early Years”Official Record

Sioned WilliamsPlaid

14 July 2026, Plenary

Statement by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice and Equality: Update on Early Years Childcare and Play

Thank you for the question. I think I just answered the question in that we absolutely recognise the need for better benchmarking; we simply haven't got that in place. It exists in parts, but it isn't satisfactory and isn't measuring what we think we need it to measure. Having seen learning from…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Early Years”Official Record

Sarah Cooper-LesaddReform

14 July 2026, Plenary

Statement by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice and Equality: Update on Early Years Childcare and Play

…Last week, the Minister told this Senedd we're not able to measure the difference in Wales that having early years education makes. You stated last week that early years provision transforms children's potential, but I'm asking about benchmarking, yet she has told us Wales cannot currently measure…

Tagged for: “early years”Official Record

Sioned WilliamsPlaid

14 July 2026, Plenary

Statement by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice and Equality: Update on Early Years Childcare and Play

I absolutely agree that childcare costs across Wales are prohibitively high. One of the reasons for this policy is understanding that it will be a mitigation against the high cost of living for families. It will put money back in people's pockets, and parents, especially mothers, of course, can find…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Early Years”Official Record

Zaynub AkbarPlaid

14 July 2026, Plenary

Statement by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice and Equality: Update on Early Years Childcare and Play

Cabinet Minister, families in Cardiff already face some of the highest childcare costs in Wales, with average fees significantly above those in other areas. One constituent of mine in particular, Lizzie, recently told me that she is paying £92 a day for a local nursery. She says, in her words…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Early Years”Official Record

Sioned WilliamsPlaid

14 July 2026, Plenary

Statement by the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice and Equality: Update on Early Years Childcare and Play

This statement is specifically on the childcare expansion, but I accept, of course, that these things are linked. Play is within my portfolio; I'm not speaking about that today, but I would encourage you to ask me questions about that when I am here to answer questions on my broader portfolio. But I…

Tagged from the title of its item or question: “Early Years”Official Record