Diolch yn fawr iawn, Dirprwy Lywydd. Thank you very much indeed. Can I thank, first of all, all those who have contributed to the debate today, those on the committee and those who weren't, but also to committee members and the Chair as well for turning a forensic light onto this? This is a flagship programme. It is, as I think has just been remarked, remarked upon internationally as evidence of good practice in family and early years intervention, and I have to say that the Government stands four-square behind it. But the committee has allowed us an opportunity, I have to say, to look at it, particularly on the outreach element, and see, 'Well, could we do things differently? Could we evaluate it differently? Could we do things better?' But let me just put the context of this—Llyr and others turned to this—the context of what we're doing in Wales, compared to what's happening over the border—. No, I'm not doing this for a political reason, but I notice that the Pre-school Learning Alliance, the Sutton Trust and Action for Children have looked at what's happened with the closure of around about 1,000 Sure Start centres, which are a similar model over there, which at one time themselves were groundbreaking and landmarking. The founder of the Sutton Trust, Sir Peter Lampl, said:

'Good quality early years provision makes a substantial difference in the development of children especially those who come from the poorest homes. It is a serious issue that the services that Sure Start centres offer are much more thinly spread than they were'. 

So, it comes to this question of the balance between focusing down on to targeted groups, recognising that there will be some outside, and then: can you make the funding that is currently available—because there is no magic money tree—stretch a little bit further, along with the other programmes that the Welsh Government supports and provides as well, including Families First, team around the family, et cetera, et cetera? Can we also pull those into the support as well?

The programme is based on sound evidence that shows that investment in the early years of children from disadvantaged areas will have an improved impact on their health and their educational outcomes, and longer term, this investment improves the life skills and ultimately narrows that gaps in outcomes for those living in poverty. Hefin, you were absolutely right in saying, where these have been established for a long time—it isn't only anecdotal; I've got one in my patch that's been 13 years going—we know that for the children and the families who benefit from Flying Start we have tangible outcomes, such as the narrowing in the educational attainment gap between those and families of more affluence living outside. So, it's not only anecdotal, but we do need to do more, and I'll turn to that in a moment.

Evaluating evidence already suggests the programme is making a real difference. In the recent qualitative evaluation—and qualitative is good, by the way; it's not weak, it's good research—parents identified a range of improvements in the children's development, and that included talking, reading, counting, as well as improved behaviour and attitudes. The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists in Wales concurred with my view, and they said that when considering the impact of Flying Start on educational outcomes, those children supported by the programme being able to achieve the same outcomes as children outside of areas of high deprivation can itself be deemed a measure of success. And I agree with that.

Whilst Flying Start is indeed the Welsh Government's flagship early years programme, it's not the only intervention. The support targeted at improving children's early years outcomes comes from other interventions as well—so, that whole family approach through Families First, which focuses on early intervention, prevention, providing tailored multi-agency support to families with children of all ages. This programme is making a real difference itself, improving those life chances, helping families become more confident, more resilient, more independent.