1. Will the First Minister make a statement on what the Welsh Government is doing to support leisure centres across Mid and West Wales? OAQ(5)0246(FM)

Yes. Local authorities are responsible for public leisure centres. They provide funding for leisure centres through the revenue settlement and, of course, it is for them to decide the pattern of services across their county areas.

I thank the First Minister for his reply. He is a well-informed chap, and I am sure he knows that there is a public meeting tonight in Knighton to consider the proposal by Powys County Council to close the leisure centre in Knighton. This will be very bad news for the town, of course. Mary Strong, the headteacher at the primary school, says that the school uses it every single day; that it keeps the community together, which is important, as communities like Knighton have lost so much over the years; and also that it is very difficult to travel by public transport in this part of the country, so having this on the doorstep, of course, is a vital local resource. Will he encourage Powys County Council to keep the Knighton leisure centre open?

Indeed I would. I mean, they have had a better settlement that they would have expected. Even if they are not able to continue funding the leisure centre, there are examples across Wales where the local community has managed to take the leisure centre over. Nevertheless, given the fact that their financial situation is better than they would have expected, then I would encourage them to examine every way of providing a service to the local community.

Of course, First Minister, leisure centres play an important role in rehabilitation. People who have had heart attacks or strokes, suffer from diabetes, or have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are people who, very often, will go to a leisure centre after they have done their six mandatory weeks of physiotherapy. How do you square that public health need with the fact that so many leisure centres are under threat by local authorities at the moment? And what do you think that your Government could do to ensure that local authorities realise that this is a very important part of somebody getting better and leading a more secure, happy and integrated life, going forward?

Well, indeed, we know that social prescriptions are hugely important and that pharmaceutical intervention is not the be all and end all for people. That’s why it’s important that a network of leisure centres is maintained across the whole of Wales. While leisure is not a statutory duty for local authorities, leisure is, nevertheless, a hugely important issue, both locally and important in order to enable people to continue to live healthy lives.

First Minister, do you agree with me that we often see very many claims that are disputed afterwards by highly paid consultants about the transference of providing a service. I am talking particularly here about the Unison report against the transfer of the leisure facilities services in Pembrokeshire, which is, in their words, not in the best interests of the people who would want to access those services. Neither would it be, necessarily, in the best interests of those people who currently work within those services. Could I ask you, First Minister, to seek some assurances from Pembrokeshire County Council, when they are trying to negotiate their way through transferring what, in my opinion, shouldn’t be transferred in the first place?

Well, it’s a matter, ultimately, for the council, of course. But, from the perspective of the Welsh Government, we would never want to see a situation occur where staff find that they have inferior terms and conditions as a result of changes to the way a service is delivered. Our preference would be for services to be delivered in-house.

It’s difficult to see how we can achieve the objectives of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 if young people, and people more generally, in our communities cannot access leisure centres, and specifically swimming pools, as swimming is part of the national curriculum. As has just been mentioned, the school council at Knighton school have written to me and many other Members, expressing their disappointment, in a border town that is a long way from other towns, that they should be losing such an important resource. I welcome the fact that you have said that this resource should be kept open. They have had a better financial settlement, partly because of the agreement between Plaid Cymru and the Labour Government. So, what can you as a Government do to provide specific advice to Powys County Council on the possibility of moving this resource into the community’s hands, because it is clear that the community does treasure the resource and wants to keep it open?

We have made it clear that it’s for the council to consider in detail the possibility of keeping the leisure centre open, but, if not, they should consider ensuring that there is an opportunity for the community to run the centre itself. There are examples of that across Wales. Of course, what nobody would want to see is the centre closing without those options being explored.

Question 2 [OAQ(5)0247(FM)] has been withdrawn. Question 3, Hannah Blythyn.