Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Local Government – in the Senedd at 1:37 pm on 15 September 2021.
I thank the Member for those points, and I do think that they are well made in terms of the importance of giving local authorities adequate notice of funding that will be available to support various programmes. I share his enthusiasm, though, for what he saw in terms of the activities that took place this year in terms of the Summer of Fun. I think local authorities did a great job, alongside other partners, pulling together some fantastic schemes to ensure that children and young people had an opportunity to enjoy themselves, to meet other people, to get outdoors and do things that they hadn't been able to do for a long time.
Alongside that, of course, we have our school holiday enrichment programme, which has been tremendously successful, and some local authorities also undertake different schemes that seek to address holiday hunger and support families to undertake activities during parts of the year when the children aren't at school. Obviously, I'll take on board that important comment about the timing of funding and I will be considering how we can support these kinds of projects as we move forward.