Cabinet Secretary, thank you for your statement this afternoon. This is an area that, obviously, we looked at in committee last week, when you were suffering with a heavy cold, so it’s good to see you looking in better form today, Cabinet Secretary. I am grateful for the statement that you have given today. Obviously, childcare was an important consideration at the recent election. All the parties had different offers that were contained in the manifestos, and, obviously, your good selves as the governing party now are charged with implementing the particular offer that the Labour Party had before the electorate. I do note from your committee presentation last week, Minister, that you did say that you did feel that this was, most probably, one of the biggest challenges—if not the biggest challenge—that sits in your portfolio for delivery, and for very good reason, in fairness. The financial implications, as well as just the logistics of delivering this across the whole of Wales, will consume a considerable amount of your time and, indeed, a considerable amount of your resources as, in fairness, I think you’ve acknowledged.

I’d like to pose several questions to you in relation to the statement that you have made today, starting with, obviously, the financial considerations of delivering this policy area. There have been various observations made that, potentially, if it is universally taken up across Wales by the maximum amount of individuals—families, should I say—who could benefit from it, the actual financial consideration could be somewhere north of £200 million. I think in your evidence that you acknowledge that somewhere between £100 million and £125 million is a more realistic figure. I’d be grateful if you could give some certainty as to the budgeting proposals around this commitment. Because, whichever way you look at it, in the disposable income, shall we say, that is available to the Welsh Government, that is a considerable sum of money to find on an annualised basis. I would be interested—especially as you have linked in the foundation phase here, which obviously sits in the Cabinet Secretary for Education’s portfolio—in how the resources will be allocated to deliver this commitment. Is it specific to your budget, or will there be budget lines in both portfolios to deliver, and exactly how will those budget lines be accommodated, going forward?

I would also like your comments on the Public Policy Institute for Wales’s consideration as to the merits of the policy and the net benefits, given that the Government is keen to implement this policy—and understandably so, because, obviously, it was a manifesto commitment—and are going to put considerable resources behind it. The Public Policy Institute for Wales clearly identified what they believed were very small gains both in employment opportunities and other gains back for the money that you’d be investing. Do you recognise the observations that they have made, and how would you rebut the potential limit of the gains that they see in policy and delivery of this initiative?

I’d also like to know how the successful councils were chosen for the pilot areas—six, I believe this statement alludes to. Seven, sorry. No, six it is, sorry—six, the statement alludes to. How many authorities did actually tender or express an interest that have been unsuccessful? Because you do allude to the fact that there were other authorities that weren’t successful in being taken into the pilot. And how long do you envisage the pilot running for? You indicate that it will start in September next year. I’m assuming it is a 12-month pilot, or is it longer? Again, I think it’s important for us to understand how long the pilot will run. Because, again, in committee last week, you did indicate that this commitment will be fully implemented and delivered by the time of the next Assembly election, which, obviously, as we all know, is May 2021. So, that sort of timing will, I would suggest, pose a real challenge to the Minister to actually get the pilot done, undertaken and implemented.

I’d also like to know exactly what work the Cabinet Secretary for the Economy and Infrastructure and himself have done in assessing the current position for the capacity to deliver this, because your statement talks about the work that you have undertaken to date, and I’m assuming that, as a party, and as a Government, before making this commitment, you did undertake some preparatory work so that you could see what the capacity is. What is your understanding of the current capacity that is available to meet this commitment, and then how much extra capacity does the Government believe that it needs to build into the system to deliver this 48 weeks of 30 hours of childcare here in Wales for families with children that are 3 to 4 years old? So, with those questions, I look forward to hearing the answers, in particular around the resourcing and the capacity of the care sector to actually deliver on the commitment the Government has made.