Will the Cabinet Secretary confirm the Welsh Government's total spend on childcare in 2025-26, across Flying Start childcare and the childcare offer for Wales, and from which BELs this funding derived?
The total spend for our childcare programmes is not yet available for 2025-26. The budget allocations for these programmes are set out below.
The Childcare Offer for Wales has a budget of £77m and sits within the Support for Children & Play BEL 310.
This is a demand-led programme and support is made available for all eligible parents that apply. If take-up exceeds the budget allocation, we are committed to making funding available.
The Children and Communities Grant has a budget of £222.278m and sits within the Children and Communities Grant BEL 1087. Of this, £197.097m is Flexible Funding (FF) covering eight programmes, including core Flying Start and phase 2 of the expansion of Flying Start childcare.
The remaining £25.181m is ringfenced for phase 3 of the expansion of Flying Start childcare.