3. What consideration did the Minister give to the sufficiency of childcare places when setting the Welsh Government's budget for 2022-23? OQ58454

Yes. The provision of adequate childcare support is one of our key policies to support families. The most recent final budget included increases of £100 million to cover the capital and revenue programmes for both childcare and Flying Start for the current three-year budget period.

Thank you very much for your response, Minister. We all know how important childcare is to families, particularly families struggling at the moment, and how important it is for our parents and our carers to get back to work. So, I just wondered if you might consider extending the provision of childcare so that all children aged nine months and over could receive that free childcare. Thank you—diolch yn fawr iawn.

Llywydd, I'll ask my colleague, the Minister with responsibility for childcare and the provision of childcare, to perhaps provide a written answer to that, because those are not discussions I've had directly with the Minister, and I think that would be a policy choice for her to make. So, apologies that I can't give a more detailed answer.