4. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the Welsh Government’s childcare pilot scheme? (OAQ51034)

Thank you for your question. All seven early implementer local authorities are open for applications and already children in Wales in these pilot areas are receiving free childcare. Applications are already being processed for additionality to these pilot schemes.

I thank you for your answer, Cabinet Secretary, and I’m pleased to see that a number of the families will be from the Gwynedd area, included within that pilot. I do think that piloting the childcare offer is the right approach. We’ve all seen that some local authorities and other providers in England are having huge problems with rolling out their project. So, do you agree with me that the problems that have already been encountered by parents and providers in England underlined the importance of actually piloting this in the first place?

Of course, and we’ve taken the steady approach, but we have hundreds of young children in our childcare settings across Wales today and we should be really encouraged by the fact that we’ve had very few problems identified currently. I dare say we will encounter problems, but not on the scale that the English model started off with. I do understand that the problems in England were challenging because of the big-bang approach. We haven’t taken that approach, and I’m confident that we are doing this the right way.

Minister, when you were giving your evidence to committee some months ago, and then the education Secretary came in just after you, there seemed to be a little bit of confusion as to exactly how the money would flow around the system to provide this provision when it is universally rolled out from the pilot scheme. How are you taking this across Government because, from my understanding of the evidence you gave, you were looking at the school setting to make some of the provision? Obviously, without additional money being made available, that is going to be very challenging for many schools to provide that provision. So, have you identified the budget lines where this money is going to come from and, indeed, can you confirm today where that money will be in the future?

Part of the pilot scheme process is about learning about how this money will flow. Out of the six models, seven local authorities want a joint pilot scheme. There are all different models of delivery: some are purely school settings and some are school and private settings. So, we are understanding what works best for parents, and, ultimately, that’s what we’re seeking to clarify: what is it that works for families across Wales?

I wouldn’t worry about the finances of this. This will be delivered. We are working with HMRC. Actually, the Member may be helpful to us as well. I will contact the Member in terms of dealings with HMRC. We do have a piece of legislation that we are likely to introduce to ensure that we can use the data package that HMRC are using for families in Wales, to deliver the package as we move forward. It would be of great help if the Member could be supportive in that process.

You’ll know—and I’m sure you’ll sigh when I raise this again—my concerns about the lack of a workforce strategy for childcare workers. We know it was in draft form three years ago, and despite promises to the contrary, we still haven’t seen a strategy in place, and I’ve registered my concerns now that that’s been rolled into the new employability programme, which doesn’t go live until 2019. But in the meantime, of course, the pilots are running and we’re all for that, and the clock is ticking in terms of rolling the scheme out fully and nationally. So, my question is: how can you be sure that without a strong workforce strategy in place that not only do you have sufficient numbers of childcare workers to be able to deliver the fully rolled out childcare offer, but also that those workers are sufficiently qualified and that they are the best childcare workers that we could possibly have?

Well, I pay tribute to all the childcare workers across Wales. They do a fantastic job, and I should declare an interest as my wife is one. I would say that they are the best in terms of delivery of services. Can I say the Member is right to raise the issue again? We recognise that rolling this programme out on a measured basis gives us the opportunity for the sector to be developed as well, and we are working with the sector in order for the right people, the right development of skills, to deliver the childcare pledge. The caring sector not just in childcare, but in adult social services as well, is something that the Minister and I have had several discussions on, about how we develop that, and Julie James, the Minister responsible for the employability programme, will have more details as we move forward.