29/10/2015 - Written Assembly Questions and Answers

Published 23/10/2015 | Last Updated 03/11/2015

Written Assembly Questions tabled on 22 October 2015 for answer on 29 October 2015

R - Signifies the Member has declared an interest.
W - Signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh.

(Self identifying Question no. shown in brackets)

Written Questions must be tabled at least five working days before they are to be answered. In practice, Ministers aim to answer within seven/eight days but are not bound to do so. Answers are published in the language in which they are provided, with a translation into English of responses provided in Welsh.

To ask the Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty

Leanne Wood (South Wales Central): What is the Welsh Government doing to ensure that deprived families living in affluent areas are not excluded from the Flying Start scheme? (WAQ69324)

Leanne Wood (South Wales Central): What are the factors that determine Flying Start catchment areas? (WAQ69325)

Answer received on 3 November 2015

The Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty (Lesley Griffiths):

We are supporting as many families as possible through Flying Start and although this programme is targeted geographically, the Welsh Government has ensured the targeted areas are those which are most at need. Flying Start areas are determined using income benefit data provided from the Department of Work and Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs. This data provides Local Authorities with information on geographical areas with the highest proportions of children under four years of age living in income benefit households.

As Flying Start is geographically targeted, Local Authorities receive a small element of 'Outreach' funding as part of their Flying Start grant to deliver elements of the programme to children across the wider Local Authority.

Children in Wales, under 4 years of age, can have access to elements of, or all, Flying Start services, through Outreach funding, if they have an identified need and the resources are available.

Outreach broadens the reach of Flying Start outside of the targeted areas and provides an element of flexibility to the delivery of the programme. Outreach also ensures continuity of support to children and families moving out of Flying Start areas. Flying Start teams can also use their Outreach funding to target the children of specific communities of interest in their Local Authority. These might include women's refuges; traveller communities; homeless shelters; Flying Start women in prisons.

Leanne Wood (South Wales Central): What is the Welsh Government doing to address the fall in the percentage of children taking up Flying Start provided childcare since 2014? (WAQ69326)

Answer received on 3 November 2015

Lesley Griffiths:

Our guidance to Local Authorities is clear every effort should be made to ensure all parents with eligible children are offered and encouraged to take up the Flying Start childcare provision. Welsh medium or bilingual childcare is also actively promoted to families. It is recognised Health Visitors, Flying Start professionals (including speech and language therapists, parenting support staff or language and play providers) as well as the childcare team, all have a key role in working with the families and to emphasise the benefits of the Flying Start childcare provision.

Our National Evaluation of the Flying Start programme identified the importance of understanding the barriers on the uptake of childcare and to understand the reluctance of some parents to accept the childcare element. Earlier this year, Welsh Government established a task and finish group with local Flying Start co-ordinators to address some of these issues. This resulted in all Local Authorities developing and submitting an attendance policy as part of their 2015/16 delivery plan. We are continuing to work closely with Local Authorities on the delivery of the programme and further workshops are being held as part of the Flying Start National Learning Event in December this year. We continue to monitor take up of childcare to work through any issues which may arise.

Leanne Wood (South Wales Central): What is the Welsh Government doing to address concerns raised about the caseloads of health visitors, particularly as some health visiting services are finding it difficult to meet the caseload ratio of one health visitor to 110 children? (WAQ69327)

Answer received on 3 November 2015

Lesley Griffiths:

Whilst there is no specified caseload for health visitors working in the generic service, the agreed caseload for health visitors working in the Flying Start Programme is 110. This figure was agreed with health visiting services to reflect the greater intensity of high need families which the Flying Start health visitor will have on their caseload and the greater intensity of the programmes of intervention they are required to deliver.

The Welsh Government monitors the number of health visitors working in Flying Start and their caseloads. Local Authority returns for 2014/15 indicated the average caseload for Flying Start health visitors across Wales was 113, within the agreed 10% tolerance for health visitor caseloads. The Welsh Government has discussed this rise with Local Authorities who are confident their successful recruitment of additional health visitors, from the latest qualifying cohort, should reduce the average caseload over the coming months.

The Welsh Government will continue to work with stakeholders to ensure there are sufficient health professionals to meet the demands of both its programmes and generic services. It has made a significant additional investment in training health visitors. Since 2011 over £7m of extra funding has been made available for health visitor training and this has enabled the training of almost 200 additional health visitors.

To ask the Minister for the Economy, Science and Transport

Andrew RT Davies (South Wales Central): Will the Minister confirm when Links Air was first informed of any safety concerns, issues or requirements regarding the north-south Wales air service underwritten by the Welsh Government? (WAQ69328)