Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:26 pm on 22 September 2020.
Thank you very much for those very pertinent questions. Certainly, I have no—. I'm not trying to say, in any way, that the sector didn't suffer during this period, and I think, by the figures that I gave in my statement, I made clear the numbers that had closed. But also it is very encouraging, the numbers that have actually reopened. And although they have smaller numbers actually going at the moment, we're doing all we can to encourage parents to have the confidence to send their children back, because there is a degree of nervousness, and also to stress how it will enable the parents to continue to go back to work, if they're not able to work. And also, I think, as you mentioned, many parents may still be on furlough, so that means that they don't want their children to go back. So, I think there are many reasons why they're not actually there at the moment.
Certainly, there are many grants that are available that the childcare sector didn't fit into easily. They certainly were able to take advantage of the furlough scheme, and many of them did—the UK Government scheme—and they have had access to some other schemes. But we were aware that there was this gap, and that's why we have put forward the provider grant. Now, that is very new—it's only been there a couple of weeks—but that is particularly aimed at the different settings that have fallen in the loops that have existed.
So, I am confident that the childcare scheme will revive; it is reviving already. I think we all know how absolutely essential it is. It's essential for working parents, it's essential for the economy, and it's essential for the children. And I know you referred to Cwlwm today, and I was very pleased that there was a message here today to say that the position of today is that 99 per cent of cylchoedd meithrin are actually open, and we have been very worried in particular about the Welsh language provision, because the Welsh language provision has disproportionately suffered. So, I think that there is definitely hope there, and we are offering as much help as we can.