8. Debate on the Children, Young People and Education Committee Report: 'Flying Start: Outreach'

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 7:05 pm on 23 May 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Lynne Neagle Lynne Neagle Labour 7:05, 23 May 2018

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and can I thank everybody who has contributed to this debate? It's been an excellent and very useful debate, much of which has reflected some of the tensions that are apparent in the report, really. Mark Reckless began by talking about the trade-off between universal and targeted provision, and that is something that is very much at the heart of this report.

Mark, along with a number of other Members, expressed concern at the rejection of recommendation 6, as did Michelle Brown and Hefin David. I think the Minister will have heard today that there is clearly a view that, although we don't want to increase the burden on local authorities, we do need to get more information on how this money is being spent.

Llyr Gruffydd highlighted that friction, again, but also the committee wanting to know more, really, about how the 5 per cent has come about, and that is one of the issues that is the heart of this really—around how we're actually evaluating what the need is and what we're doing with the very significant spend that is involved here.

John Griffiths referred to an example that he used during the inquiry around the fact that Moorland Park families do benefit from Flying Start while Broadmead families, just across the road, can't. Jenny was frustrated about why they couldn't just walk across the road to use them, but the fact is that they're not funded to have that provision, so that's why they can't. But it's a very graphic example of where the system is falling down and what we need to try to address.

Michelle Brown spoke about the geographical tensions again, but also the issue of evaluation, which has been really key to our consideration of this report. It is undoubtedly the case that there have been lots of evaluations, but we still don't really know as much information as we need to know, and that's why the initiatives that the Minister has announced, which will, hopefully, refine some of that information, will be really valuable.

Jenny Rathbone talked about the importance of the outreach element of Flying Start within the Flying Start designated areas. Well, the committee inquiry wasn't intended to look at that. It was a very focused inquiry on what we are doing outside the geographical areas, but what I would say is what you've highlighted about midwives and health visitors is very important, because because the programme only measures the number of people who have contact with health visitors, and everybody already has a health visitor if you've got a child, we are not getting to the heart of the data, so we don't know how many other families have taken up the speech and language assistance, how many have taken up parenting, and that is the kind of information that we need to get to find out how many families are benefiting from this programme in the round. 

Thank you, Hefin, for adding to the concerns about recommendation 6, which the committee has been clear we'd like to see the Minister look at again. 

Rhianon Passmore spoke very positively about her experience of Flying Start in her area, and I have also seen that in my own patch, and I feel as conflicted as many other people, really, because you know that so little of our money is targeted geographically in Wales, and that's important, but you also recognise that we need to make sure that those families who really need it can benefit as well.

Can I thank the Minister for his response and for his engagement with the committee and his ongoing commitment to do that? We will be returning to this, and we are optimistic that some of the measures that he's announced will, hopefully, get us the information that we are looking for, bearing in mind that these aren't easy things to actually evaluate. How can you also evaluate what it would be like if Flying Start wasn't there? So, we've got families that are doing as well as families in more affluent areas and that is, undoubtedly, in some part down to Flying Start.

Can I just close, then, by thanking all the Members of the committee for their continued support and engagement on this and also by thanking our excellent clerking and research team, who, as always, have been absolutely brilliant? It's been an excellent debate, and I'm sure the whole committee is looking forward to returning to this and to ensuring that that very significant spend is delivering for all our children in Wales. Thank you.