Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:38 pm on 22 September 2020.
I thank Mark Reckless for that question. And yes, we did deliver the childcare offer a year ahead of time and I know it has been very warmly welcomed.
I think he does make a very important point about the interaction between before and after-school care in the schools because, certainly, many of the schools have not yet introduced the breakfast clubs and the after-school clubs. There is an absolute duty, as the education Minister has made clear, that the breakfast clubs, which are free and are provided by Welsh Government money ultimately, will be coming back. But with the after-school clubs, I know that there is some concern from the headteachers about having another group, possibly, in the school that is not managed by the school at this point. And I absolutely understand that, because I do think that headteachers have been anxious and have been preparing very carefully for the children to come back to school, and, as you say, it has been very successful. But, certainly, I know of headteachers who have said that they are reluctant to have the after-school clubs back yet, but we hope that they will be introduced soon. So, I think that that is something that we will have to look at very carefully. We are in touch with the local authorities, asking them to encourage headteachers to reintroduce after-school clubs, but obviously that does relate to younger siblings and attendance. So, again, it's something I think he's right that that could contribute that.
In terms of the provider grant, I think that we were looking to try to fill in gaps where groups were not actually eligible for some of the grants that were available, because their premises didn't qualify and they were not eligible. Certainly, it is possible for them to have two separate grants from Government as long as it's not for the same thing. So, you can't apply for two different pots of money for, for example, the salary for one person, but it is possible to cover different areas. So, we are doing all we can to look for ways of supporting the childcare sector, because, as you say, it's absolutely crucial to the recovery.