Wales' children's minister has announced 15m over the next three years for childcare and early years services.
Jane Hutt said the cash would break down into an extra £3m to help local authorities meet the requirements of the Childcare Act, £8m for the Flying Start early years initiative and £4.2m ringfenced for out-of-hours childcare in community schools.
The money for Flying Start will help provide free childcare for up to 17,600 two-year-olds from deprived areas. Hutt said it would lead to a 10 per cent increase in the number of children benefiting from the initiative.
She said: "This extra funding will also help us reach our goal of eradicating child poverty by 2020."
- See Analysis, p13.
