Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Diolch yn fawr, Jayne. That was an inspirational address that summed up so much of the cultural activity that is taking place now in Wales, and I'm so glad that you've put it on the Record for the future.
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: So, may I thank Jayne for that address? May I also thank her for her support for the arts and the importance of the arts in the political life of Wales throughout her period as an Assembly Member? I'd also like to thank her for referring to the range of activities happening around Newport, and I've been pleased to have the opportunity to join her in visiting some of the centres that she made...
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Diolch yn fawr. My ministerial colleague and I established a tourism taskforce at the outset of the pandemic, meeting weekly to discuss all items affecting the industries, including the impact of COVID regulations. We have a parallel series of meetings with hospitality, events and wedding stakeholders.
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Well, I mitigate this on a weekly basis, because I meet with my UK colleagues in all the sectors for which I have responsibility. Visit Wales has worked very closely with UKHospitality, the Wales Tourism Alliance and the Welsh Independent Restaurant Collective. All these representative bodies of Welsh tourism are regularly in contact with the rest of the United Kingdom. Obviously, I take a...
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Thank you very much, Huw. We are providing significant financial support to community sport clubs and organisations across Wales, especially via the main agency in this field, the public body Sport Wales.
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Diolch, Huw. You've given me a challenge to which I can't say 'no', because one of my main missions throughout this crisis is to ensure that we look for points of recovery, points of creative response, and if we can have that in the area of sport, that would be so important. The current figures are very good. The community rugby union clubs receive over £188,000, community football clubs...
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I thank the committee for preparing a comprehensive report in such a short time on an issue that's of vital importance to us all in a public health emergency, as we are in at present. The report shows the challenges that face the media sectors in Wales as a result of the global pandemic, and it also does remind us of the problems that have been...
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Our test events programme is currently on hold and we will look to resume when public health conditions in Wales allow.
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Thank you very much, acting Chair. May I first of all thank and acknowledge Andrew R.T. Davies's contribution to this debate, and also, if I may say, for the good neighbourliness—for which he is well known—in the Vale of Glamorgan? But, perhaps he won't agree with much more that I have to say today, because the first message that I have to restate today on behalf of the Welsh Government...
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: May I first of all acknowledge the wonder of the speech that we've just heard—one of the most staggering in the history of this Senedd? But I am not surprised, of course, because, as Neil Hamilton mentioned very kindly, we were both Members of another Parliament in Westminster. I won't seek to respond to the broad international and philosophical canvas he chose to paint for us. But I will,...
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and thank you to the Chair of the Petitions Committee, Janet Finch-Saunders, for taking this through the petitions process and bringing forward this debate today. My feeling is that, although this debate comes through a parliamentary process, it's a debate that's perhaps happened too early. But having said that, it is an opportunity to respond on behalf...
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: May I first of all thank Laura Anne?
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: I'm very grateful to you for bringing this debate forward. It's very timely. It's timely for me, as the current sports Minister, but it's also timely in this crisis, because nothing has more demonstrated the importance—the essentiality, I would say, the essential need—for physical exercise, and to give people a choice of physical exercise, than the crisis that we've been through. I will...
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: As I said, this has been a very challenging time, and sport has been hit particularly. I was pleased to be able to announce a package earlier this week of £17 million, which will mean that the total funding for the sector will be more than £40 million since the beginning of this crisis. We are entirely supportive as a Government of what was said earlier during this debate. Wales, according...
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'd also like to thank the committee for the report and for contributions made this afternoon. I was very pleased that of the 31 recommendations we've been able to accept the vast majority. Those that we haven't been able to accept were those that were outside the Government's responsibility. So, may I just briefly explain what our approach is in...
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Formally. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer.
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. You won’t be surprised that I won’t be responding to any rhetoric or personal attacks. I have spent more time in the national library, possibly, than any other public building in Wales, apart from the Senedd itself. I am disappointed that nobody locked me in overnight, although I do understand that that did happen, or almost happened, to Neil...
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: The Government has been working closely with the national library and the museum for an extended period of time in order to understand the long-term requirements of these institutions. We have also been studying in detail the tailored review. It's important to explain, perhaps, what a tailored review entails, because it's an independent review, an audit on how an institution works, and that...
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Thank you very much for such a timely question, Huw. We continually engage with the sector—all tourism sectors, in fact—through the tourism taskforce, which meets on a weekly basis, and the next meeting is to be held this coming Friday. And we also of course have the four regional forums in place. And the tourism barometer will be published early next month, and I do want to ensure that...
Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Diolch, Huw. I'm very much taken by that suggestion, and, indeed, Visit Wales is already working on the lessons learned from last year's reopening with the local authorities to see what we can do. There are interesting and difficult planning issues, of course. The 28-day rule already allows landowners to use land for tented camping only without formal planning permission, but I'm very keen...
