Part of Questions to the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip – in the Senedd at 2:28 pm on 19 February 2019.
Well, diolch yn fawr, Siân Gwenllian. I think the 'State of the Nation 2019' report by Chwarae Teg was very valuable in that it looked at women in the economy, women's representation, and women at risk, and, as you say, the statistics from their report showed very clearly that women are more likely to be economically inactive because they are looking after a family and home. And it's clear that we need to take account of this, as we are in our childcare offer.
Now, the childcare offer is made up, as you know, of an existing minimum 10 hours of foundation phase nursery provision, up to 20 hours of childcare with a registered provider, and it's very welcome that capital grant is now being made available to ensure that there are sufficient high-quality childcare places available to enable all eligible children to access the provision. But, of course, evaluation is critical, as you say, in terms of early implementation—many positive findings from that—but also looking at ways in which we can support not only working parents but remove barriers to employment that parents face. So, encouraging findings from that result, from the evaluation, but also a chance to look at this in terms of ways in which we can ensure that the childcare offer is delivering, so it can reduce those barriers to women who are entering and participating in employment.