Dawn Bowden MS, Minister for Children and Social Care
The Welsh Government is committed to supporting children to have the best start in life. I am therefore pleased to provide an update on progress with our Programme for Government commitment to expand early years provision to include all 2-year-olds, with a particular emphasis on strengthening Welsh medium provision.
Phase 2 of the expansion of Flying Start childcare, to go beyond the original Flying Start postcodes, began in April 2023. It focussed on the delivery of high quality childcare to 2-year-olds. During 2023-24 and 2024-25 we invested £46m in expanding Flying Start childcare.
I am delighted that the latest Flying Start childcare data shows that over the two years of Phase 2 delivery (2023-24 and 2024-25), we have exceeded our target to support 9,500 additional two-year-olds to access quality Flying Start childcare. The latest statistics show that, in this period, we have offered childcare places to over 13,400 children and families across Wales. Over 10,000 of these children have benefitted from the programme by taking up a Flying Start childcare place. The latest data shows, that in 2024-25, over 80% of children took up their Flying Start childcare place.
In Welsh-medium early years settings, children also experience the benefits that often come from being bilingual. In the first two years of Phase 2, more than 2,000 of all places were taken-up in Welsh-medium settings.
These statistics demonstrate the value of the additional childcare provision to families right across Wales. I’m proud of the dedication of our Flying Start childcare workforce and grateful to them for their role in supporting children and families in Wales.
We remain committed to delivering our Programme for Government commitment to expand early years provision to include all two-year-olds, with a particular emphasis on strengthening Welsh-medium provision. In 2025-26 we are investing an additional £25m to support the further expansion of high quality Flying Start childcare across Wales. This will bring Wales a step closer to the universal provision of childcare for all two-year-olds.
This additional funding will make a significant difference to the lives and outcomes of thousands of children across Wales, in all local authority areas and offer opportunities for more children to access Welsh Medium provision.
All local authorities have set out plans for how they will continue to expand Flying Start childcare in their areas. The additional funding we are investing will enable us to expand the reach of Flying Start childcare, making childcare available to the majority of two-year-olds identified in those plans in 2025-26.The number of additional children reached by Phase 3 Flying Start will depend on take-up rates, but we would expect Phase 3 to reach more than 4,000 children in 2025-26.
I look forward to providing a further update on the programme’s progress in due course.