National Evaluation of Flying Start

Welsh Government wishes to commission a three-year National Evaluation of Flying Start. Flying Start is the Welsh Government’s targeted Early Years programme for families with children under 4 years of age who live in some of the most disadvantaged areas of Wales. Flying Start aims to make a decisive difference to the life chances of children by mitigating the impact of poverty, which is linked to poor life outcomes in early childhood, including health outcomes. The Programme comprises four elements:

• Funded part-time, high-quality childcare for 2-3 year olds;
• Enhanced Health Visitor support;
• Access to parenting support; and
• Support for speech, language and communication development.

The evaluation will build on the previous evaluations by gaining a greater insight into the experiences of Flying Start families, particularly in relation to any perceived differences and impacts the programme may have made. This evaluation will also explore the possibility of and look to undertake a counterfactual analysis using data that will be available through the Secure Anonymised Information Linkage databank (SAIL) on Flying Start services in each Local Authority.