Call to give free childcare to non-working parents
THE Welsh Government has come under attack for excluding non-working parents from a proposal to provide those in work with 30 hours of free childcare a week for three and four-year-olds.
Plaid Cymru’s Llyr Gruffydd told a Senedd debate on the general principles of the Childcare Funding (Wales) Bill: “Plaid Cymru doesn’t oppose offering free childcare – indeed, one of the cornerstones of the Plaid Cymru manifesto was to offer this free childcare universally to three and four-year-old children.
“My problem is that the Labour Government is restricting that offer.
“It’s not right that families earning up to £200,000 a year can get free childcare when, of course, the poorest children from workless households are excluded from enjoying those very same benefits.
“We know that the poorest children, by the time they’re three years old, are already 10 months behind their better-off peers in terms of vocabulary, literacy and speech development. Indeed, the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists tells us that the poorest 20% are, in fact, 17 months behind the highest income group by the time they’re three years old.”
Mr Gruffydd said that by not giving those poorest children access to high-quality childcare, inter-generational poverty was entrenched: “It doesn’t break the cycle – it makes it worse,” he said.
“That’s not a sentiment that just I and others hold here in this Chamber – the Children’s Commissioner shares those concerns.
“She’s described the policy as a ‘large subsidy for some of Wales’ highest-earning families’, which is likely to reinforce inequalities in outcomes for social groups.
“Save the Children and other children’s organisations have expressed concerns, as have, in fact, some of the teaching unions as well.”
Labour AM Lynne Neagle, who chairs the Children, Young People and Education Committee, which has scrutinised the Bill, also expressed concern about the exclusion of non-working parents from the Welsh Government’s offer. She said: “In the evidence we received, some significant concerns were expressed that restricting the Bill to this group only could increase inequality between the children of nonworking and working parents, particularly in relation to the school readiness gap and educational attainment.
“To mitigate the impact on some of Wales’ poorest families, we recommended the Minister extend the Bill’s provisions beyond working parents, particularly to those undertaking education and training linked to securing employment. We are disappointed that the Minister has not accepted this recommendation. We recognise that other programmes exist to support non-working parents, including PaCE (Parents Childcare and Employability) and Flying Start, and welcome the Minister’s commitment to making clear what support is available and to whom.
“However, we remain concerned that such programmes do not currently reach all who need support. After all, our recent inquiry into Flying Start showed the majority of children living in poverty fall outside defined Flying Start areas. I urge the Minister to reconsider this recommendation.”
Children’s Minister Huw IrrancaDavies responded: “I’m very aware of and very sympathetic to the challenges all parents face in accessing affordable childcare when they need it, but this offer is aimed at the working parents of three and four-yearolds. Welsh Ministers do have the powers to bring forward additional programmes of support, as required, subject, again, to the relevant funding being available.”
The general principles of the Bill were passed by 41 votes to 11. It has further stages to pass before becoming law.