Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:41 pm on 24 May 2022.
Thank you, First Minister. Parents of two disabled children in my region have contacted me following their difficulty in ensuring suitable childcare. The children have been attending a Flying Start nursery, where there is support available, but now that they are over four years of age the parents were expected to pay three times more for care over the school holidays than children without additional needs would be paying. So, instead of £44, the cost of the care was £146 per child, and that's a total of £292 per day and it's unaffordable. Following pressure by my office and their social worker, they've heard that there will be some support by the Neath Port Talbot multi-agency early years panel. But it's been very difficult to access information about support, and groups that support disabled children in my region tell me that the lack of qualified and affordable care is a common and long-standing problem that creates a great deal of inequality. I'm pleased to see that reviewing these services and identifying the barriers to support will be a priority in the Government's new learning disability strategy, but how will you ensure that this much-needed support is available, is accessible and that it will be available now for the parents of disabled children?