Part of 4. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:45 pm on 8 July 2020.
I thank Hefin David for that question. The budget for the offer was repurposed from April to fund childcare for the pre-school children of critical workers and vulnerable children under the coronavirus childcare assistance scheme. So, unfortunately, this meant that we had to close the offer to new entrants temporarily. We are working now with our key stakeholders, especially the local authorities, who are administering both the childcare coronavirus assistance scheme and the offer in their local areas to see when we can reopen the offer to new parents. We very much hope to be able to restart both the education and childcare provision under the offer in the autumn term. This is obviously subject to the data on the virus over the summer, but we are aware how important this support is for both families and childcare providers. So, we do aim to make an announcement as soon as possible.