The first baby bundles have been given to new parents – but why has it taken six years?
In the last few days, the first “baby bundles” have been delivered to new parents in Wales. The bundles include essential clothing, blankets and bibs, a thermometer and a book, plus maternity and nursing pads. They’ve mostly been warmly welcomed by new parents, early years groups and political parties alike, as a help with the costs of having a new baby as well as a recognition and appreciation by wider society of the newborn.
The baby bundles have been a very long time coming. The idea was included in Mark Drakeford’s Leadership Manifesto with the Welsh Government confirming that ‘Baby Bundles’ would be piloted in 2019.[1] The first items were received by new parents in Swansea a year later, in October 2020.[2] Following an evaluation of the pilot, the Welsh Government reaffirmed its commitment to a universal Bwndel Babi in 2022.[3] A procurement exercise was undertaken in July 2023 with a view to deliver bundles to new parents from January 2024.
Any parent hoping for items for their newborn that winter would have been disappointed. Instead, the Welsh Government’s 2024/25 budget cut the programme by £3.5m and announced that provision would be ‘targeted’.[4] Financial year 2024/25 went by with no obvious progress, and by the time of the 2025/26 budget another £1m had been shaved off the programme. Things did however begin to move, and in summer 2025 a contract to supply baby bundles was awarded.[5] Midwives began taking registrations for new bundles from November 2025[6] and the first bundles were delivered this week.
Welcome though it is that some new parents can finally get a box of baby essentials, it took more than SIX YEARS to do so. Bear in mind that there are only around 6,000 babies a year born in Flying Start areas, the items are simple to provide, and the cost is a mere £2.5 million.
Quite why the Welsh Government dragged its feet so spectacularly, despite the policy being a commitment of the then First Minister, having provision in successive budgets, and being positively evaluated, is a mystery. And to do so at the same time as declaring that ‘Tackling poverty and inequality are fundamental to the purpose of the Welsh Government’[7] is even more puzzling.
In this protracted process, the Welsh Government has gone from offering baby bundles to all newborns as a ‘welcome to the world gift’, as the bundles were initially described, to targeting on deprived areas. I am not against targeting in itself, but making bundles available based on where a family lives, and not the family’s household income, is a nonsense. Many more babies are born into low-income families outside Flying Start areas and so miss out.
Baby Bundles / Bwndel Babi is an example par excellence of a good idea gone sour in delivery. It could, and should, have been different and so much better.
Sources
[1] Julie Morgan AM, Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services (2019) Written Statement: Update on baby bundles pilot Welsh Government, 30 September, https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-update-baby-bundles-pilot
[2] Welsh Government (2020) Baby bundle pilot begins in Wales, press release 1 October. https://www.gov.wales/baby-bundle-pilot-begins-wales
[3][3] Julie Morgan, Deputy Minister for Social Services (2022) Written Statement: An update about progressing a national baby bundles scheme Welsh Government, 20 July. https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-update-about-progressing-national-baby-bundles-scheme
[4] Julie Morgan MS, Deputy Minister for Social Services (2024) Written Statement: Bwndel Babi Programme – an update on progress Welsh Government, 11 March. https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-bwndel-babi-programme-update-progress
[5] Dawn Bowden MS (2025) Minister for Children and Social Care. Written Statement: Baby Bundles – Award of Contract to Baby Bundle Supplier, 17 July. https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-baby-bundles-award-contract-baby-bundle-supplier
[6] Dawn Bowden MS (2025) Minister for Children and Social Care. Written Statement: Baby Bundle Programme – an update on progress, 18 November. https://www.gov.wales/written-statement-baby-bundle-programme-update-progress-0
[7] Welsh Government (2022) Child poverty strategy 2015: progress report 2022, https://www.gov.wales/child-poverty-strategy-2015-progress-report-2022-html
Leave a Reply