7. Will the First Minister make a statement on the support provided to foster parents during the coronavirus emergency? OQ55341

Llywydd, foster carers make a vital, positive contribution to the lives of looked-after children. I am extremely thankful for their continued dedication during these exceptional times. Foster carers across Wales have risen to some really challenging moments and continue to provide crucial support to some of our most vulnerable young people.

First Minister, thank you for that answer. I'd be grateful if you'd join with me in thanking foster parents the length and breadth of Wales for the contribution that they make every day, especially during the emergency. The lockdown has increased pressures on vulnerable families, with job losses and worsening mental health contributing to the potential for family breakdown. So, does the First Minister share my concern at the report from Barnardo's that the number of children in Wales needing foster care has risen by 45 per cent, whilst the number of people coming forward as prospective foster parents has halved? Will he indicate how the Welsh Government can help to bridge the gap and recognise the really valuable contribution that foster parents make and support them in the valuable work that they do?

Well, Llywydd, I definitely want to join Mick Antoniw in paying tribute to the work that foster carers do in Wales and have done during the pandemic crisis. Both he and I have been foster parents in the past and know something of both the challenges but also the enormous joys that it can bring.

I read the Barnardo's report. I think it's just important to be clear that the landscape of foster caring in Wales is different to the UK position. In other parts of the United Kingdom, Barnardo's and third sector organisations play a much larger part in the provision of fostering services than they do in Wales. The use of charitable provision providers in Wales, including Barnardo's, is 3 per cent of the total foster care workforce, and that proportion has been falling. Local authorities in Wales continue to provide nearly three quarters of all foster care.

Care Inspectorate Wales has provided a report on foster care activity over April and May of this year. They report very few breakdowns in foster care, a general stability, and a good level of placement availability. So, the report makes very interesting reading. It's important we think about the issues that it raises. I don't think it tells us what is happening in the bulk of foster care across Wales.

Local authorities, I think, have worked hard to support those foster carers. It's interesting to learn from them that the sort of help that foster carers have asked for has not been funding, per se; it has been help with making sure that they have the equipment that children need to learn remotely, it's for socialisation, it's to keep up contact with families of origin where that is part of a plan for that child. Local authorities have worked hard to assist their foster carers in that.

Once again, I just agree with the point that Mick Antoniw has made about the amazing efforts that those families make on behalf of vulnerable children in Wales.

Question 8—John Griffiths.

Your microphone, John—can you just wait until the microphone's on? Carry on.