6. How is the Welsh Government supporting childcare provision in Cynon Valley? OQ58501

Llywydd, I thank Vikki Howells for that. Boosting the most generous childcare offer in the United Kingdom, we announced last week almost £100 million to support the expansion of Flying Start childcare to support investments in improvements and maintenance of childcare buildings and funding to support improved Welsh language provision. Cynon Valley residents will benefit from every aspect of this package.

Thank you for that answer, First Minister. Across Cynon Valley, constituents frequently tell me how important the provision of good quality, locally accessible childcare is to allow them to progress their own careers and contribute to family finances. The significant additional funding of £100 million for childcare settings that was announced last week will be warmly welcomed by families and by childcare providers alike, as further evidence that our Welsh Labour Government is on the side of ordinary, working-class people, unlike their Tory counterparts in Westminster. First Minister, how will the Welsh Government ensure that information about the funding on offer is communicated to childcare settings so that uptake can be assured?

I thank Vikki Howells for that important point that she makes. There are over 200 childcare settings in Cynon Valley constituency alone. The good news is that, because we have extended the 100 per cent rate relief for registered childcare premises to the end of March 2025, we have a direct line of communication with those settings, because they benefit from that scheme as well. Therefore, we're in a good position to be able to make sure that those settings are aware, particularly of the £70 million in capital funding, which means that premises can be extended or improved, because we have a shared ambition, set out in the co-operation agreement, to increase the supply and to lower the age range for the childcare offer so that children from the age of two onwards are able to benefit from it here in Wales. If we're to succeed in that ambition, we don't simply have to find the money for it, we have to find the staff to do it, and that's particularly true looking at the growth in Welsh-medium provision that we want to see, and we have to have the premises that that extra provision can be carried out in, as well. That is why, in the £100 million that we announced last week, £70 million of it is in capital grants, £26 million is revenue, to support the additional places, and nearly £4 million is set aside specifically to improve Welsh-medium provision. All of that will be to the benefit of residents in the Member's constituency.