Written question WQ93767

We invest more than £100m every year in childcare – it is a priority for this government.

Our Childcare Offer for Wales provides up to 30 hours per week of funded early education and childcare for the three and four-year-olds of eligible parents for 48 weeks of the year. In September 2022, we expanded the Childcare Offer to include parents in education and training.

Our Flying Start programme provides fully-funded childcare to parents of all eligible two and three-year-olds for two-and-a-half hours a day, five-days-a-week for 39 weeks a year. We are making excellent progress in rolling out this offer to all two-year-olds across Wales This is a phased roll-out, starting with areas of greatest deprivation, and takes account of the capacity within the childcare sector across Wales.

We continue to work with all local authorities to improve access to affordable childcare. Local authorities have a statutory duty to ensure there is sufficient childcare available to help parents to work or train including parents working atypical hours and improving the availability of Welsh medium provision.

Local authorities carry out childcare sufficiency assessments every five years to assess the supply and demand for childcare in their area, and produce action plans to address gaps in provision. The most recent assessments were carried out in 2022.