8. What are the next steps that the Welsh Government will take to improve the early years experience of children in Wales? OAQ(5)0047(CC)[R]

I thank the Member for his question. A review and refresh of ‘Building a Brighter Future’, our early years and childcare plan, is under way to ensure our policies and programmes continue to support and improve the lives of children and their families across Wales.

Yes, Cabinet Secretary, obviously some children are very fortunate to be born into warm, loving, supportive, secure and stable families, but too many children are not in that fortunate position. I wonder if you could say something about Welsh Government policy on early language acquisition, which I think is vital to life chances, particularly in terms of disadvantaged children. So, what will we do to support the workforce to a greater extent than is currently the case? What will we do to support parents more strongly and what will we do in funding terms? If you could say a little bit more about children zones in addition to your earlier remarks in that context, I’d be very grateful.

The Member raises a very important issue, and yesterday was an example of where I spelt out that there are many programmes that we need to do and wrap around the family and the young person. The adverse childhood experiences profiling, as I suggested in yesterday’s statement, is an important one, where we tackle the very issues that give instability to a family or to an individual. If we can tackle those issues, we know that the outcomes are much better, both morally and fiscally, for Government long term.

The issues around language acquisition are important ones. I’ve met with the language therapists and we’re looking at how we can build that into the system of making sure that we give young people the best start in life. I believe absolutely that if we make our investments in the early years, it will save us lots of money in the long term. My Cabinet colleagues are somewhat coming to my way of thinking too, and I’m very grateful for that.

Cabinet Secretary, I wondered how confident you are of the monitoring system that looks at the change of ownership in nurseries because, of course, a business can easily be sold to another business or individual who may not have the appropriate skills and understanding or even the appropriate checks in place, and, even if it is a hands-off transfer, I still think we need to be reassured that there is a strong monitoring system in place to ensure that some of our youngest and most vulnerable individuals are totally protected.

I would agree with the Member. I will write to the Member in order to give her confidence that we have a system in place to deal with the very issue that she raises.