, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
Thank you very much. Obviously, children living in poverty is a matter of huge concern to the Government and, as you know, the child poverty strategy will be published later on this month, and we did have a lot of discussion yesterday in the Chamber as well…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
Yes. In our first phase, we exceeded our targets enormously, and it looks as if the second phase is going very well as well. So, it would be wonderful to extend provision from nine months upwards, but we'll see how that turns out in England. But, basically…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
Well, the Flying Start provision is for any child. It isn't limited to working parents; it's for all children who need it. That's for the Flying Start element—the two-year-olds. So, as I say, as far as our co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru, we are…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
Well, obviously, with any money that comes from the central Government as a Barnett consequential, or in any way, it is up to the Welsh Government to decide how it spends that money. And we have had a different approach to providing childcare than the…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
Two of those funding streams are recurrent, and they are being placed in the overall grant scheme in order to make things more rational.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
This is part of our commitment to local government to try to reduce the administrative burden, so that's why we are amalgamating some grants. So, two streams of funding will be added to the budget from 2024-25 on a recurrent basis, and that's the Playworks…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
Just to repeat how challenging the budget discussions and decisions have been, and it's been necessary to make some very difficult decisions, I've protected the children and communities grant as much as I've been able to, as much as possible, and though it's…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
It has been allocated individually to the local authorities, but the policy stream that we have set up underneath the board for eliminating profit, which is led by Albert Heaney, in fact is developing regional provision, and, in fact, we've already developed…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
Well, first of all, I think it's really important to say that both the WLGA and the ADSS are in support of this policy, that they have come out publicly saying that this is, they think, the right thing to do, so we do have their support. In relation to…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
Well, I have those 89 as an increase in workforce staffing within children's services.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
Well, as you note, the grant scheme has been protected and is continuing for this coming financial year. It was three years initially and now it's become five years because of the COVID two years. And, of course, grant schemes are not indefinite. They are…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
Thank you very much, Ken, for that question. We are very aware of the significant challenges in recruitment and retention for social care workers and we are working very closely with the local authorities to try to support positive change. And, obviously…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
There is a commitment across Government to preventative spending, and I think that is illustrated by the nature of, for example, the ministerial oversight board for the transformation of children's services. Because the First Minister co-chairs that with me…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
The impact assessment that we do does, obviously, look at the needs of children, but it is an impact assessment that looks holistically at all the different cross-cutting needs that there are for children.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
I can confirm that those services that I referred to are protected for the next financial year, yes.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
For the children's sector? Yes. Right, well, I'll answer that. Again, as I've said, we had to face difficult decisions in terms of prioritising the front-line services, and we chose not to impose any cuts on our third sector grants, but decided to protect our…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
We work very closely with them, and, obviously, with the overall transformation programme, that is done jointly with the local authorities.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
Well, I think local authorities will have to make difficult decisions about this, about spending overall, in the way that we've had to make difficult decisions in the Welsh Government, but I know that social services are a priority for councils. Obviously…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25 - evidence session 1
Thank you. I'll answer that. Well, certainly, the funding that we're giving to local government is increasing by 3.1 per cent. So, I think that's very important—that in these really, really difficult times, we've managed to maintain and increase what the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Thank you, Gareth. I am very proud of this Government's protection of the most vulnerable people in society and I think we have a record that I am proud to stand on. In terms of the poor patient flow, that's something that we've been working on very…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
Yes. We are certainly working with local authorities all the time. We are in continuous dialogue with them. We've obviously had discussions with them about the budget. We understand their concerns, which have been expressed, and we've done all we can in the…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
I thank Gareth Davies for those questions. I'm aware of the comments of the WLGA and the ADSS, and I'm aware that, in social care, we are working to help and promote the well-being of some of the most vulnerable people in society, so the budget is very…
, Plenary
The Register of Service Providers (Prescribed Information and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2023
The Regulation and Inspection of Social Care (Wales) Act 2016 provides a statutory framework for the regulation and inspection of social care services. One of the aims of the Act is to provide greater transparency of regulated services in Wales. To support…
, Plenary
The Register of Service Providers (Prescribed Information and Miscellaneous Amendments) (Wales) Regulations 2023
Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. I move the motion.
, Plenary
The Regulated Services (Special School Residential Services) (Wales) Regulations 2023
I thank Alun Davies for his contribution to the debate. And I think that the points that he's made have been considered by the Welsh Government. These regulations do create a new regulated service, the special school residential service, and this responds to…
