Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your response on the question. I certainly welcome this initiative as yet another example of the Welsh Labour Government delivering on its manifesto commitments. We’ve heard, increasingly in recent years, of the adverse impact of the Government’s austerity measures and welfare cuts for many in our society. I talked about, yesterday, the in-work poverty becoming a reality alongside poverty experienced by those not in work. For some in work, they’re limited by the hours that they can work and the type of contracts that they can accept, and so, even for those able to take full-time work, the cost of childcare for many is too great.

A recent study revealed that, where the average number of children living in poverty across Wales is 28 per cent, in my constituency of Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney it’s 31.8 per cent. So, that’s of concern to me. So, can the Cabinet Secretary confirm, therefore, that the Government’s childcare offer is being viewed as a key component in the Government’s strategy on improving prosperity across Wales and that reducing the cost of childcare for working parents would be a significant factor in moving more children out of poverty?