Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I move the motion formally.

I’m very pleased to open this Stage 4 debate on the Childcare Funding (Wales) Bill. We introduced this Bill to the Assembly in April because we wanted to create a simple, once-for-Wales process to check a person’s eligibility for the childcare offer. What we have before us today is a Bill that is going to enable us to do just that.

During the passage of this Bill, we’ve gathered valuable evidence and we’ve debated in some detail matters of detail, matters of current and future policy that are beyond the parameters of this narrow Bill, but I’m really grateful to members of the Children, Young People and Education Committee for participating throughout in this debate and for their thorough scrutiny of the Bill. I’d also like to place on record my thanks to the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee and the Finance Committee for their valuable input, and I’m grateful to key stakeholders as well for the written and oral evidence provided, which has helped to inform and develop our thinking.

I’m grateful also to all three committees particularly for those recommendations during Stage 1 that quite rightly made us reflect on the drafting of the Bill and which ultimately led to Government amendments during Stage 2 and Stage 3. May I also thank all Assembly Members for their engagement and their observations during the Stage 3 proceedings only last week. 

Now we've seen this Bill evolve over recent months and I consider it to have been considerably improved thanks to the input of stakeholders and Assembly Members. What we have in front of us today is a Bill that imposes a duty on the Welsh Ministers to provide funding in respect of the offer, leaving beyond any doubt this Government's commitment to the offer. We have responded to calls for greater clarity of purpose by passing amendments that make it clear who we consider to be eligible children for the purposes of the offer. And we've built into the Bill a provision that will require the Welsh Ministers to review the effectiveness of the Act and the arrangements for the administration of the offer and to publish a report. I'm also pleased we've been able to address some minor technical and drafting inconsistencies along the way.

Could I also extend my thanks to the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Secretary of State for Wales, the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions for their support in developing this Bill. I am particularly grateful to HMRC officials for having worked so closely throughout and so constructively with my officials during the pre-introduction and the scrutiny stages. I'm pleased that we are now in a position where all the necessary Minister of the Crown consents are in place, and I look forward to working with UK Government departments and with the Secretaries of State as we develop subordinate legislation to give effect to this primary legislation. I'm also delighted to be able to help steer this Bill through its final stages and onto the Welsh statute book.

My final thanks, Dirprwy Lywydd, go to the unseen and often unsung small heroes in the offices and corridors of Cathays Park and Tŷ Hywel—the policy and legislative and other officials and advisers who do so much to bring forward our legislation, aided and sometimes brought forward despite the challenges posed by Ministers and others. They know that our approach is to reach out and to work constructively with AMs and others to start with a good Bill and to shape an even better piece of final legislation. I believe we have, all of us, done so, and I therefore commend this Bill to the National Assembly for Wales.