2. Will the Welsh Government consider introducing free part-time childcare for children from nine months to their third birthday to all parents regardless of work status? OQ56753

Supporting families with childcare costs is one of our main priorities, in line with our vision for a single system of early childhood education and care. We are committed to funding childcare for more parents in education and training, and supporting Flying Start as part of that ambition.

Diolch yn fawr iawn. Minister, research from the Learning and Work Institute and Gingerbread suggests that the pandemic has hit single parents very hard—loss of work and income, home education, and loss of childcare and caring support. These are workers typically concentrated in low-paid and part-time work and in those industries hit hardest by the pandemic—144,000 lone parent families in Wales, 118,000 of which are lone mother families. Could I ask the Government what support is being made available to lone parent families across Wales as part of the Government's COVID recovery programme? Diolch.

Thank you. We do recognise that parents—and that, of course, includes lone parents—and their children may need additional support following the coronavirus pandemic. The type of support needed may vary, so I would encourage anyone who does need support to contact their local family information service so that they can be signposted to the correct support and advice within their local authority area. Our 'Parenting. Give it Time' campaign website also provides advice and support, and is able to tell people where they can go for further information. That includes nationally available support through helplines and online support, such as Parent Talk Cymru and Family Lives.

I'd just like to take the opportunity to pass on my condolences to the First Minister and his family during this period.

Minister, according to Public Health Wales, almost 27 per cent of children in Wales are overweight or obese, and this is a 4 per cent higher rate than in England and Scotland. This health concern is worse in areas of higher deprivation, where children are significantly more likely to be obese than the Welsh average. Obesity is a crisis for younger people and can affect mental and physical health in later years. Parents often struggle to support sports activities for children because of the cost and time, and this creates inequality amongst children, where those children with access to sports have more confidence, resilience and better self-esteem. Given the need to support parents in providing after-school childcare provision, and thinking of the health and well-being of our future generations, will the Minister make a commitment to provide additional resources so that all schools can provide free sports activities after the school day? 

Well, obviously, I can't make that commitment today, but the relevant Minister will be in the Chamber, either physically or virtually, and will hear your request. Obesity and tackling obesity is something that the Welsh Government takes very seriously and has been a priority, and we have schemes to encourage healthy eating in particular. I think the point you make around sport is very important. That's why sport in our schools is so important, and, again, I'm aware over the last term of Government there was a focus on ensuring that children took part in sport. And we know that as children go and become young people and go through school there is a drop in those who take part in physical activity. So, that is something that we've had a focus on. 

It surprises me how little priority early years education and childcare is given by this Government. Studies show how vital the creation of full provision is in deprived communities for the benefit of the education of children and to raise families out of poverty. And yet, the Government's model and the defective childcare scheme is based on demand rather than need. Do you agree that we need to rethink the whole strategy for our youngest children urgently? 

I don't agree with Siân Gwenllian. We're very committed to supporting all our young people, and our childcare offer provides 30 hours of early education and childcare to three and four-year-olds whose parents work, for instance, for 48 weeks of the year. In our programme for government, we've already committed to fund childcare for more parents in education and training, and, of course, to continue to fund and support our Flying Start programme, which I think is one of the best schemes that we have here in Wales.

In 2019, we launched our vision for early childhood education and care. That will reform the provision of early education and care in Wales to ensure that every child in Wales gets the best possible start in life. Of course, the childcare sector has faced several challenges, like all sectors, during the pandemic, and we know that many settings have closed temporarily. But, at the moment, 90 per cent of all settings are open and we continue to support them.