Welsh Government
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£19 million boost for Flying Start
The Welsh Government will expand the Flying Start programme to double the number of children benefitting from 18,000 to 36,000 by 2015 through support for families, health visiting and childcare places. This capital funding comes in addition to £55 million over the next three years to support the expansion of Flying Start.
Local authorities were invited to submit bids identifying the changes needed to achieve the target of doubling the numbers of Flying Start children as well as demonstrating that their proposals represented the best value for money. Bids were submitted for projects in all 22 local authority areas.
Flying Start is a programme for families with children up to four years old, which is targeted at Wales’ most deprived communities. The programme encompasses free childcare, parenting support, intensive health visitor support and support for early language development.
Early evaluation evidence of the programme found that Flying Start is leading to improvements in language and cognitive development; emotional and social development; parental confidence and engagement; and health.
Deputy Minister for Children and Social Services Gwenda Thomas said:
“We must remember that the areas in which Flying Start runs are among the most disadvantaged areas in Wales and families within them some of the hardest to reach.
"Flying Start is starting to have a real, positive impact on children. When they go to school they are ready to learn and more confident at mixing with other children. Recent evidence shows that Flying Start parents report seeing positive changes in their child’s behaviour and that their confidence as a parent has increased.
“The increased investment is an exciting opportunity for us to build on all this good work. We can make a real difference for a much larger number of families and children.
“The current climate makes it vitally important that we continue to prioritise the needs of the poorest and protect the most vulnerable against poverty and marginalisation.
“Our Tackling Poverty Action Plan sets out a clear national agenda for how the Welsh Government and our partners can prevent poverty in the long term as well as helping people out of poverty and mitigating the impact of poverty.
“From conception through to early adulthood, our aim is to reduce inequalities at the earliest possible stage and break the link between socio-economic disadvantage, educational underachievement and the impaired life chances that this can lead to.”
