Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Education – in the Senedd at 1:37 pm on 4 October 2017.
Thank you, Huw. Flying Start doesn’t sit within my portfolio, but you’re absolutely right to draw attention to its crucial role. I agree with you that the earlier we can intervene in children’s lives with positive benefit, the better chances that learners from more deprived backgrounds have later on in life. That’s why we introduced the early years pupil deprivation grant—sorry, it’s the pupil development grant now—in April 2015 to provide additional support for our youngest learners, including support around speech and language development and the early development of literacy skills, which sometimes can be challenging. We augment that work, for instance, with supporting BookTrust Cymru to provide reading materials for families as well as the ‘Parenting. Give it time’ campaign and our Education Begins at Home campaign, where families have access to free resources to help them help their children.