Dawn Bowden: Thank you very much for that question, Joyce. And you're absolutely right, because the strategy that we're talking about, the visitor economy strategy, is about emphasising the importance of addressing the spread of benefits, encouraging increased spend in our economy, right the way across Wales. It's what the marketing strategy is all about, and that has led to the increase that we're going...
Dawn Bowden: Our strategy, 'Welcome to Wales: Priorities for the visitor economy 2020-2025', sets out our direction and ambition for tourism, and Visit Wales promotes destinations equally across Wales. Mid Wales and west Wales are integral to that activity.
Dawn Bowden: Can I thank Janet Finch-Saunders for that supplementary, because I think she raises an important and interesting point? I've made it very clear that Visit Wales, as far as we're concerned, as part of Welsh Government, allows us much greater accountability for the work that Visit Wales undertakes. They're directly accountable to me, and, through Visit Wales, I have direct engagement with our...
Dawn Bowden: Thank you, Janet Finch-Saunders, for that question. There are no plans to reform Visit Wales. We have an exciting and ambitious strategy, 'Welcome to Wales: Priorities for the Visitor Economy 2020-2025', for the development of tourism. We're working closely with the sector to achieve those collective aims.
Dawn Bowden: I think that's a fair challenge, Tom. We've seen a number of small businesses, small industries, that want to grow in Wales, and some of them do find the grant process very difficult. By the very nature of the process, it has to be thorough. We are talking about dealing with public money at the end of the day. We can't just willy-nilly hand over money to organisations that we don't do due...
Dawn Bowden: Thank you, John, for that supplementary question. I think probably it would be helpful if I set out initially some of the support that Creative Wales has been giving to the sector. We've got a strategic objective of ensuring that there is a good supply of studio space throughout the nation, for the incoming and indigenous productions. And we've recently supported capital investment projects...
Dawn Bowden: Thank you for that question, John. Both the Minister for Economy and I are committed to working together to maximise Wales’s growing reputation in the film and tv sector, and in promoting Wales on the global stage.
Dawn Bowden: To turn to Welsh, the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language has already spoken in the Chamber this afternoon about the significant work that’s being done to promote the Welsh language and culture across Wales.
Dawn Bowden: I’m aware of the brilliant work that Menter Iaith Casnewydd are doing in Newport for the Welsh language. The £60,000 in grant funding that we provide to Menter Iaith goes towards promoting and increasing the use of Welsh in Newport communities, and I know that one of their priorities is to increase the use of Welsh amongst families, and to provide more opportunities for children and young...
Dawn Bowden: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thank you, John, for bringing this debate to the Chamber. Thank you also to everyone who's contributed to the short debate this afternoon. It truly feels like a celebration of Welshness here in the Chamber, with many statements, contributions and a number of debates to mark St David's Day.
Dawn Bowden: Sorry, I was getting feedback in my ear on the translation. Apologies. So, my colleague, Jane Hutt, the Minister for Social Justice, spoke yesterday about how Wales is a community of communities, and her statement to the Senedd spoke about how the Welsh language and culture are something to celebrate and how we as a Government and our partners should embrace our Welsh identity and language...
Dawn Bowden: The support for team sports goes through the national governing bodies. Individual support can be afforded, as I've said, for individuals if they are referred through their national governing body through to Sport Wales.
Dawn Bowden: Of course, the vision for sport is the replacement strategy, so the strategy that you're talking about hasn't been updated, it's been replaced. We now have the vision for sport that seeks to promote Wales to the world through the performance of our elite athletes and our sporting excellence. The Sport Wales sport strategy aims to deliver that success for Wales on the world stage through a...
Dawn Bowden: Sport Wales is the national organisation responsible for developing and promoting sport and physical activity in Wales and is doing so in line with its vision and strategy.
Dawn Bowden: First, I think I have to go back to my original point and a point that you have acknowledged: local authorities have their own democratic mandate. We can’t direct local authorities to do what they want to do with money that they have within their rate support grant. They will have to make their own decisions and make their own priorities. We can’t direct them in that area. What we have...
Dawn Bowden: I'm very well aware of the pressures on many of our local authorities and public bodies. We have done whatever we can to support both national institutions and the local authorities. The local authorities, as you know, have had the best financial settlement in a long time, and much higher than they had anticipated, and how they utilise that budget is a matter for them. They have their own...
Dawn Bowden: I was coming on to some of the points that you've raised earlier.
Dawn Bowden: Okay. So, Sport Wales I think is the point that was majored by Alun Davies, which concerns participation in sport and providing equal access. I spoke about this in committee last week, on the funding for Sport Wales and the way in which our funding is set out very clearly—our direction to Sport Wales is set out very clearly in the remit letter. Part of that remit letter sets out very...
Dawn Bowden: —the Books Council of Wales and the independent creative industries in Wales.
Dawn Bowden: In respect of other recommendations raised in the debate today, our responses are as follows: on working with the national library to preserve its collections in recommendation 1, the Welsh Government is working with colleagues at the national library and providing additional support, where possible, considering the impact of rising costs that we've seen in recent months. An additional...
