4. What is the Welsh Government doing to support library services in Mid and West Wales? OAQ(5)0092(FM)

In 2016-17, we will provide over £600,000 of grant funding to support the modernisation of three libraries in Mid and West Wales.

I don't know whether the First Minister is aware that Powys County Council plans £0.25 million in cuts to the library budget between now and 2019, which will involve cutting half the local running costs of the library service and the possible closure of 11 branch libraries. Will the First Minister join me in regretting this sense of priorities, because libraries must surely be regarded as a vitally important part of the wider education service of this country?

It is a matter, of course, for local authorities as to how they organise their library services, though I am aware that one of the libraries that will receive money is Brecon area library in order to modernise it, but it is for local authorities to decide how to provide library services.

First Minister, as you’ll know, library services are a valued community asset, so much so that, in Narberth, and also in Newport in Pembrokeshire, local communities are working with Pembrokeshire County Council to keep libraries open as a community-managed resource in the face of Tory austerity cuts. Would you join me in thanking those volunteers for their efforts in supporting the remaining opening of those libraries and, in particular, to thank them in those rural areas that do need that extra support?

Yes, I would join the Member in thanking those people. I've seen an example of it myself in Briton Ferry, where volunteers are now running the library, and I know that the library service is—. Well, one of the stories I was told there is that people are now more likely to use the library—some people thought the library had closed years ago. And it's hugely important, then, that volunteers were able, not just to ensure that the library continued running, but also to ensure that knowledge about the library was more widespread in the community.

First Minister, during the week that we commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the battle of the Somme, it is vital that we celebrate the important role that county archives services play, particularly in helping today's generation keep in touch with their past. First Minister, I'm sure that you are aware that Carmarthen's archive is currently being restored, having been severely damaged due to poor housing in an inadequate building that allowed valuable documents to be covered with mould and have all sorts of other unfortunate things be visited upon them. Will you join with me in welcoming the restoration of this important cultural archive in Wales, and will you outline what your Government is doing to help other libraries, other valuable archives in Wales, to be restored and kept for the future of the nation?

Well, I can say that the example that the Member gives has been helped by funding from Welsh Government, and another example I can offer is the relocation of the rent archives in Ebbw Vale at a brand-new building, a hugely important resource, and a resource that is particularly accessible—part, of course, of the redevelopment of the old steelworks site.