Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:59 pm on 24 September 2019.
I thank Jenny Rathbone for that comment. Yes, I agree with her about community schools, and I certainly agree about co-location. This is a discussion we have been having. As she says, there are many schools where you would be able to develop childcare provision on site, or you can help add to something that's already on site, and we have done quite a bit of that already with the capital grants that I mentioned. We have been giving a large number of capital grants, and the education Minister is well aware of this. I think that one of the bigger advantages of actually having co-location on the site, which can be a voluntary or independent nursery, is that it does decrease the amount of travelling between the care setting and the school, and I think that is really important, because we've talked about our carbon footprint, and also, for the children, if you have to travel too far I think it is disruptive. So, I think we are well advanced in those discussions and I think she makes a very valid point.