I'm very pleased to rise and speak briefly in this debate, and also to thank the committee for their work and for continuing their attention on this really critical area of social policy, because it's undoubtedly the case—it almost goes without saying, but I'm darn well going to say it—if we get the investment right in the early years provision, in a coherent, unified system of early years provision, then we will transform life opportunities and we do have to build on what we've got there.

I want to start by looking at that and touching on this issue of how we will get to the place we want to be, with a proper unified, coherent early childhood education and care system that goes from the very early years all the way through, with this continuum. And, in fact, that is what was spelt out a couple of years ago when Welsh Government launched its ambition. I note in the letter at that point to Lynne Neagle, who now is a Minister, but was then chairing the same committee, that Julie Morgan wrote to Lynne, saying our ECEC aim is to create a single, high-quality, child-centred approach to early childhood education and care across Wales, one which recognises the value of both early education and childcare, drawing the best of both together in one single experience, with parents able to access services in Welsh, English or bilingually. Now, that's absolutely the ambition and it set a 10-year pathway to do it. Well, we're three and a half years now on from that moment, with that letter.

I do pay, genuinely, a compliment to Welsh Government for trying to build on the framework we have, but we were talking about this three, four, five years ago and more. We do have Flying Start in Wales, and it does a tremendous job, but it doesn't reach every child that Flying Start needs to get to. We do have a very good working-parent focus, although now extended to parents also seeking skills and training or higher education, which extends the childcare offer for three and four-year-olds, but it doesn't go to everybody, so it doesn't deal with that universality.

And, as has rightly being remarked on this, the problem that we have is, when you have something that is this complex mix of supply-and-demand-side approaches from UK and Welsh Government, the ones that tend to lose out are those who find it too complex to navigate, those from disadvantaged areas. And we can absolutely see the graphs that go back years that show in places like Merthyr and Blaenau Gwent and Ogmore, in contrast to Bridgend, for example—north to south of the motorway—the difference in childcare provision, where there's no advantage to childcare and early years providers to open up in areas where there is economic disadvantage. So, we really need to pull some of these together.

So, I'm asking the Minister today to give us an idea how far we've progressed on the development of this single, unified, coherent, ECEC structure. We were never going to do it overnight, but this report, once again, has fleshed out how much further we've got to go. We are building on a sector that is diverse and complex in its provision. We still have a situation where, for three and four-year-olds, it goes from areas and local authorities where there are wholly maintained sectors, like Neath Port Talbot, to other areas, like Monmouth, where non-maintained diverse independent providers dominate this scenario. How do you develop a unified, single, coherent ECEC structure when you have that sort of provision? The lack of incentive to invest in disadvantaged areas means that places like Merthyr are still losing out significantly, and anywhere, if you like, north of the snow line. 

Flying Start isn't everywhere. The means-tested, supply-side approach in Wales, contrasting with the market-driven demand side in England, is really a complex framework. Anybody would have difficulty in navigating this, even with the local authorities providing advice. You've got to have the confidence to go there and then work out what's best for you. Then we have multiple aims in Government. Is this to do with the child's rights-based approach, a child-focused, child-centred approach, or is it to do with tackling disadvantage, or many, many other things, or providing economic opportunities? Actually, it's all of these, but, first and foremost, let's get the narrative clear, let's get the coherent picture, which needs to focus on—. All of the countries that have done this have done it best with a unified vision, one that clearly says, 'The child is at the centre of it, but we're also going to do x, y and z.' That's where we need to be. So, let me just sum up with some questions for the Minister—. And we've got the issue of costs as well. We are probably double or more, throughout the UK, the costs that people should be paying for it.

So, Minister, how close are we to getting to those unified principles for a unified ECEC approach, with children's rights at the top? Can we end the distinction between education and care? Even with these diverse providers, can we end that distinction? Because there's still too much of it out there. Can we establish a clear curriculum, which is also age appropriate and also has play right at its centre, in an age-appropriate way, but a clear curriculum so that there's consistency amongst all providers? Can we put that unified approach on ECEC under a unified—I just ask the question—department, a unified Minister, not split across Government departments? And can we end the ECEC gaps in provision? We're not going to do it all overnight. We're only a third of the way in, which means we've got two thirds of the way to go of this decade to actually change it. And I say this as a former Minister who had the privilege of covering this for the very short period I was Minister. I had some great officials who were putting work into this. It's starting to happen, let's go the whole hog.