, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
We are committed to ensuring that childcare expansion works for families in all parts of Wales, and that's including rural communities, where provision can be more dispersed and can be more fragile. So, we already have some flexibility in the system through…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
Thank you very much for that supplementary question.
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
Thank you. Yes, flexible childcare is crucial, I think, in order to support families with the cost of living, across Wales and in every area, in order to enable parents, as I mentioned, to take up more opportunities to work, to study or to increase their…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
Thank you very much for the question. Using the additional funding we announced earlier this year, I am delighted that Powys is able to roll out the first phase of the Government funded childcare offer of 12.5 hours of quality childcare for all two-year-olds…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
Well, I'm glad that you agree with me and I hope you were listening carefully to the action we are taking on affordable childcare. That's why it's one of our main priorities as a Government and one of the main policies that, of course, I'm working on. It's a…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
Diolch. The Member is absolutely right as regards economic prosperity. Making sure that we have well-paid jobs and jobs that pay fairly and have fair work conditions is absolutely key to making sure that we can lift families out of poverty. But I do reject…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
That is absolutely our intention. You will know, as the former Chair—. I think you conducted an inquiry when you were Chair of the Children, Young People and Education Committee in the Senedd before last. I think you did an inquiry on outreach and on how that…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
I just want to reflect first of all that there seems to be the suggestion that there's some kind of malign motivation behind the fact that we want to evolve this model, and there absolutely isn't. Local authorities, of course, have been engaged with us from…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
We are of course, as I'll reiterate again, absolutely committed to upholding the principles of the armed forces covenant, ensuring fair access to healthcare, housing, employment, education, skills and training for veterans and their families. The covenant is…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
Thank you for the question.
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
The figures will become clear in the forthcoming draft budget. You will be able to scrutinise that, the committees will be able to scrutinise that, and, of course, questions can be asked here of Ministers around their spending plans. You're asking about…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
Perhaps you can write to the EHRC to get clarity.
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
You can. You can use your second question to do that.
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
I think there's a fundamental misunderstanding here. The Equality and Human Rights Commission's code of practice for services, public functions and associations, which came into force on 5 August, means that we have to comply with our legal duties as a…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
Thank you for the question.
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
I can absolutely give you that guarantee. Obviously, we do see a lot of families taking up the Flying Start offer, but, because it's limited geographically, there are many families, especially, we know, and there are more children in poverty who live outside…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
Thank you, and I recognise as well the campaigning that the Member has done on the availability and cost of childcare and the effect of that not only on families in poverty, but also in terms of gender inequality that affects women mostly. You mentioned the…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
I'm extremely grateful for that question. I think you've put your finger on it there, Mike. We have received letters from constituents—and this comes from all areas—and many Members of the Chamber have also emphasised that very point, welcoming the…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
Thank you for the question. Funded childcare must be flexible for families and deliverable for providers. We are working with local authorities and registered providers to expand provision sustainably. Moving towards 20 hours a week will enable longer, more…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
Thank you very much for that supplementary question, specifically about Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, which is a constituency, of course, that I share. But, as I said, we as a Government are determined that the support that we can provide does reach those who are…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
Diolch yn fawr. I do recognise the specific way that poverty and deprivation can affect rural areas in particular. So, one of the things that I did was make sure that, when I announced funding for local authorities that provides support for wider poverty…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
We are supporting households across Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd through targeted measures, including cost-of-living support, access to the Warm Homes programme, free school meals expansion, childcare, and funding for local authority and community-based schemes that…
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Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
Thank you for the question.
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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…
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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…
