The Welsh Government has always had a strong focus on children. Successive Governments have placed the rights and needs of children high on the agenda, from the appointment of the first Children's Commissioner for Wales in the UK to leading on the promotion of children's play and the introduction of a child-centred curriculum. The Welsh Government values Wales's children and young people and is committed to making Wales a wonderful place in which to grow up. And in Wales we have excellent childcare provision across the early years and a long-established and well-regarded early education offer for three and four-year-olds. And our approach to early childhood education and care is building on these foundations, and at its core is the aim that all children will have a high-quality, stimulating learning and care experience in any education and care setting they attend, in Welsh, English or bilingually. The type of setting they attend is irrelevant if they are being supported and nurtured as they need. And in response to Huw Irranca-Davies's contribution, I am confident that we are moving towards a future where all children right across Wales will be able to attend stimulating, exciting and beneficial childcare and play experiences, and this will enable their families to make the most of the opportunities afforded to them. So, we are on that journey to ECEC that I know as Minister he was very supportive when he was in this role, and later in the summer, we will be publishing a more detailed description of how we're going to reach there. But I want to reassure the Chamber that we are on this journey and that we think it is one of the most important things that we need to do.

Supporting families with childcare costs is one of our main priorities, and I'm very pleased that our co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru supports us in this ambition, because access to affordable and flexible childcare is an important part of supporting parents, and as we've heard today, particularly mothers—I was very pleased to hear from Sam as well—to overcome one of the main barriers that prevent them from working or from progressing further in their careers, and that has been illustrated in this debate. Because childcare in all its forms does just that: it gives parents choices, choices about whether, for example, they can go for a promotion, make a career change, work longer hours to bring in more income in these increasingly challenging financial times, because childcare is an enabler, helping increase economic growth, tackle poverty and reduce inequalities. And at this particularly awful time, when so many families are struggling, funded childcare is a crucial element in the fight against poverty, and I think Sioned talked about the really difficult circumstances that so many people are in here in Wales today, and I see childcare as a crucial way of tackling those huge difficulties that people are experiencing.

Delivering a mixed model of provision to suit the needs of different families is challenging, and I'm pleased that we've got a broad spectrum of services in Wales to support those different needs and provisions through the mediums of English and Welsh. But I'm also conscious that the options available to families can be influenced by a huge range of factors. For example, in rural and in less affluent areas, we see that there's definitely less choice for parents and there's more we need to do in terms of Welsh-medium provision right across Wales. Jenny raised in her contribution at the beginning about the issue of children, disabled children, perhaps being moved around between different types of provision, which is obviously what we would want to avoid, and we are encouraging childcare provision on school sites, and I hope we have the support of some headteachers to continue to do that, and also our capital grants, our capital childcare grants, have enabled further provision of childcare on sites.

Just to say at this point, several Members have made a point that lots of people don't know what childcare is available, and I think that this is a very important point that the committee has raised. We do depend a lot on the family information service, because we think it is good to have the information in one spot. And we're working hard with the family information service to ensure it is as wide as it can be. We're also working with Cwlwm to make sure that what's on the website is reaching as widely as it possibly can. So, I do think that's a very important point, that we must know what is available.

We have committed to fund childcare for more parents in education and training through our childcare offer for three to four-year-olds, and we are also, as has been mentioned lots of times here today, and very widely welcomed, expanding childcare to all two-year-olds in Wales, with a particular emphasis on strengthening Welsh-medium provision, and that's a commitment in the co-operation agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru.

So, phase 1 of the expansion will include all four elements of Flying Start being offered to around 2,500 additional children. And the two-year-olds will receive the funded childcare. I think it's really important to note that the research that's been done on Flying Start has shown that it has narrowed the gap, that it has been really successful. And that's why we decided that we would expand the two-year-old provision through Flying Start, because the combination of the four elements of Flying Start has bridged that gap, and it's bridged it very successfully. So, I think that we've made the right decision that we're going through Flying Start to expand.

And in the summer, we'll come forward with our plans about how we will proceed with expanding Flying Start, because we do have the aim of having all two-year-olds having access to funded childcare in the three years of the co-operation agreement—by the end of the three years. And it is very ambitious—it is a very ambitious plan. I think I'll just say that we have to work, in ensuring that we fulfil this plan, in genuine partnership with the sector in order to achieve this. We absolutely have to talk to all the different organisations that are involved in the sector to bring this about successfully. And there are many interconnected cogs in this system, and we want to ensure that improvements made are the right ones for the children of Wales, and to offer services that are inclusive of all needs and experiences.

I thought it very important to make the point that, as a Government, we are committed to creating an anti-racist Wales. That is one of the areas that we want to look at in relation to the childcare sector. Because the race equality action plan will be published, I believe, and the Minister of Social Justice is here, by May 2022—