8. How successful has the £122 million invested in Flying Start and Families First been in supporting fathers, especially separated fathers, to fulfil their parenting role? OAQ(5)0167(CC)

Flying Start and Families First work with the whole family, taking an individualised, tailored, and flexible approach to engage and support both fathers and mothers. Many services also provide dedicated support specifically adapted to the particular needs of fathers, including non-resident fathers.

Okay, thanks. I think the honest answer, really, should have been that you don’t actually know, because no data are collected. So, just to prove the point now, in front of everybody in this Senedd, can you give us a figure—a figure—on how many fathers are engaged?

I think it’s regrettable, Presiding Officer, that the Member suggests that my answer was dishonest in respect of that. I would suggest that the Member—. I refer the Member to my first response. Supporting both fathers and mothers to adopt positive parenting behaviour is an integral part of Flying Start and Families First, and I’m extremely proud of the work that they do across all the families across Wales.

So, the answer is: you don’t know.

Mark Isherwood.

Thank you. The 2016 UK annual fatherhood survey found that 25 per cent of dads said there wasn’t enough support to help them play a positive role in family life. In Wales, the Welsh dads survey, which has only just been published, found that although most fathers and father figures do not have problems with their care giving, two thirds still felt their role wasn’t valued equally with the other parent by authorities and society, and nearly 80 per cent think the Government, i.e. Welsh Government, should do more to help fathers. How do you respond to that, where the concerns primarily relate to the way systems seem to work in public sector bodies, rather than the intent of the people delivering those systems?

Of course, and I’m grateful for the Member’s question in terms of how we are able to take this forward. As I said earlier, both organisations, and other organisations, support both parents, families—mothers and fathers of a family unit. I’m not sighted on the detail that the Member may wish to raise with me, particularly in terms of detail on where he seems to feel that there is some lacking support. I’d be happy to have a conversation with the Member, either by letter or otherwise with my officials.

Cabinet Secretary, have you considered how staff at Flying Start and Families First can identify possible parental alienation in children, and have you investigated ways they can help foster healthy family relationships in cases of parental alienation?

Yes, of course, and I think the Member is right to raise this issue. Look, we absolutely get that parental alienation is a factor in the determination of the success of a young person or a family unit, and we recognise that happens on both sides, of mothers and of fathers as well. I am confident that the Families First and Flying Start organisations have the capacity to recognise this and deal with this appropriately. What I would say is that this is a very complex piece of delivery in terms of social intervention with individuals who are in crisis. But I am confident that my teams, including Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service Cymru, have the ability to deal with this successfully.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary.