Item 4 on the agenda is the statement by the Minister for Social Services and Public Health on the Welsh Government’s response to the independent review of Sport Wales, and I call on the Minister for Social Services and Public Health to make the statement—Rebecca Evans.

Thank you. In July, I received and published the independent panel’s report on their review of Sport Wales, with a firm commitment to consider the report and its recommendations over the recess and make a statement on the Government’s response in the autumn.

I welcome the review and its recommendations, and I thank everyone who participated in the process. I am particularly grateful to the independent panel members who volunteered their time to complete the review, and for doing so with integrity and professionalism. The resulting report is an evidence-based reflection on the role and purpose of Sport Wales, and how its stakeholders and partners perceive it. It includes recommendations for both Welsh Government and Sport Wales. I agree with the findings of the review and I am pleased that Sport Wales has responded positively to it. The Chair has written to me setting out how the organisation will address the findings and recommendations, some of which they have already started to implement, and I met with the Chair last week to further discuss their response. I have full confidence in Sport Wales to build on the foundation of success recognised in the report and to unite the sport sector to deliver tangible and long-lasting benefits to the people of Wales.

Today, I am responding to the report’s key recommendation for Welsh Government by making this statement to provide clarity, definition and direction about what we expect from Sport Wales and the sport sector, including how we expect them to work, and how we expect them to contribute to our national strategy, ‘Prosperity for All’.

We often talk about the power of sport to unite a nation, and we’ve been fortunate to see it many times in recent years. There’s nothing like sporting success to bring us together and give us the cause to celebrate our culture, heritage and language. Sport nurtures talent and delivers success, and that success is enjoyed by spectators and supporters, as well as the athletes and teams themselves.

The review of Sport Wales rightly recognises the role that the organisation has played in supporting elite athletes and national governing bodies to deliver medal successes for Wales and Great Britain. They should be commended for that, and for the contribution that this makes to our economy and our global image.

Grass-roots sport provides everyone with the opportunity to be active and to enjoy the physical and mental health benefits of sport. According to the national survey for Wales, people participating in sporting activities are more likely to meet the physical activity guidelines. And people who play sport and take part in physical recreation are also less likely to smoke, more likely to eat five fruit and vegetables a day, and less likely to be obese.

The challenge we have as a nation, and one that sport cannot address alone, is that only a third of the population is physically active to the recommended levels. As a Government, we will encourage and support a substantial increase in people’s physical activity as part of our approach to promoting good physical and mental health. To do that, we need sport to continue to play its part and to demonstrate its impact. But, like many other pursuits and pastimes, it has to continue to be relevant and resilient. It has to create an offer for all ages and abilities at times and in places that are convenient. The offer has to be flexible enough for people to build it around the other commitments in their lives. Sport has to embrace and harness technology to engage and re-engage people, and to maintain their interest and enthusiasm for as long as possible. Sport Wales has a crucial role to play in delivering this sporting offer, and our investment through Sport Wales is critical to the future well-being of the nation.

Over the term of this Government I will continue to invest in sport, through Sport Wales, but I will expect the sector to adapt, to become more resilient and to demonstrate better its contribution to our well-being goals and our objectives. The priorities I expect Sport Wales to focus on are: getting more people active at every stage in their lives—while they’re at school, when they leave education, when they get a job, if they have a family of their own, and when they retire; providing children with the best start in life, by helping schools to teach them skills and give them the knowledge, motivation and confidence to be, and stay, active; investing effort and resources where they’re needed most, where there are significant variations in participation and where there is a lack of opportunity or aspiration to be active; helping sport to continue to nurture, develop and support talent to deliver success that inspires people and reinforces our identity as a nation. This includes schools and employers, the media, local government and the third sector. It involves maximising the potential of our active travel strategies. It means our healthcare providers making every contact with a patient count, and we know that brief interventions to promote healthy lifestyles and support behaviour change can be more cost-effective than prescribing drugs to lower cholesterol levels, for example.

‘Prosperity for All’ makes our intention to work differently very clear. We expect the public sector bodies we invest in to do the same. We expect a collaborative approach from all agencies involved in the promotion of healthier lifestyles, and we expect them to draw on Wales’s significant natural resources to increase people’s physical activity. Sport Wales and Public Health Wales were purposely brought together under one portfolio. I expect them to continue to work together in the coming months to develop long-term priorities and actions to contribute to our action plan to deliver the objectives of our national strategy.

Education is a key driver for change, and its role is acknowledged in our national strategy. Our schools, colleges and universities have a captive audience to influence, and they have facilities that can and should be shared with their communities. Our local authorities make a considerable investment in facilities and activities to encourage participation in physical activity, and their continued commitment is vital. Their and our investments in infrastructure are crucial if we are to engage and encourage active lifestyles and active travel.

Sport is only one domain in the spectrum of physical activity. A second is physical recreation, such as walking, cycling, running and swimming. Others include more routine activity, such as active travel to work or school, and activities such as gardening, DIY and housework. Sport Wales will continue to focus its effort and resources on the sport and physical recreation domains, to increase further the number of people who participate on a frequent and regular basis. Public Health Wales will continue to promote healthy lifestyles, including the importance of physical activity, and Natural Resources Wales will invest in our natural environment to support the infrastructure necessary for people to be physically active outdoors.

But for us to achieve that step change to reduce health inequalities and to buck the trend in ill health and early mortality, we need all partners working together. For that reason, we have asked Sport Wales and Public Health Wales to be jointly responsible and accountable for the development of a combined set of actions in our ‘healthy and active’ action plan that will increase people’s physical activity levels, and they’ll work with Natural Resources Wales to do that. The actions will be framed by the national strategy and will include: common and consistent measures, performance indicators and shared objectives; clarity of the roles of key agencies and the resources available to support our policy objective to increase physical activity levels; and identified areas where resources and interventions will be aligned to achieve common outcomes.

As with all our goals and objectives for this Government term, the responsibility for increasing physical activity lies with us all in Government. But we will only achieve our aims by working across portfolios, and with all our public, private and third sector partners. So, today I am making clear my intent to maximise sport’s contribution to creating a physically active nation and to provide the mandate for joint actions to deliver a substantial increase in people’s physical activity. I am making clear the value of sport to individuals, communities and our nation, and we will continue to invest in it, to maximise its benefits for us and for future generations. Thank you.

I’d like to thank the Minister for her statement, which underscores, I’d say, the need for much closer working between Sport Wales and the Welsh Government. I also welcome the recommendations in the report. Serious questions were raised by this review as to why Sport Wales was allowed to become so dysfunctional. It is now clear that a greater degree of closer integration between Sport Wales and the Welsh Government is needed. Historically, this has not happened, and Sport Wales has for far too long, I’d say, been allowed to operate at an unacceptable distance from ministerial oversight, which has been to the detriment of the public whom it exists to serve.

Can I ask the Minister: what oversight will you have going forward of Sport Wales’s activities and governance and what does success look like, Minister? What does success look like? Your statement contains a lot of warm words, but no key performance indicators and no targets for which we, as Assembly Members, can hold you and Sport Wales to account. The review recommended that the Welsh Government provides greater guidance on what is expected of them, and there is some uncertainty as to which document should provide the strategic direction for Sport Wales. Can you comment, please, on that as well?

You referred only briefly to the ‘Prosperity for All’ document. Would the Minister consider bringing forward an updated strategy that brings together and refreshes the themes in ‘Climbing Higher: Creating an Active Wales’ and the elite sport strategy, to clarify the overall remit of Sport Wales?

At a time when we’re near the bottom, I’m afraid, of the league tables for diabetes and obesity, and only a third of the population is physically active, it is clear that Sport Wales must have a greater focus on its remit to enhance community sport and public health as well as focusing on elite sport. So, to that end, and given that the report notes that there has been very little joint working between the two teams who lead on these areas in Sport Wales, what considerations have you given to the recommendations that the Welsh Government reviews the community sport and activity programme? Why do you feel that a single organisation is a better model than two separate organisations, one focusing on community sport and a separate elite sport organisation? I’m also aware there’s a great deal of consensus in this Chamber around the national football museum for Wales, potentially located in Wrexham, or indeed why not Newtown, as a founder member of the Football Association of Wales, but certainly in that region of Wales. I wonder if you could provide any update on the potential of this proposal, which of course would help to promote sporting excellence and create jobs and support the tourism industry in that particular region.

Finally, Minister, the report recommended that the Welsh Government should provide longer term budgets for Sport Wales, to offer three-year funding settlements to enable Sport Wales’s partners to develop their business plans more efficiently. Have you discussed this with the Cabinet Secretary for finance and how will you take this particular recommendation forward?

Thank you very much for those comments. I probably—well, I certainly wouldn’t agree with your opening comments regarding the relationship between Welsh Government and Sport Wales. I don’t think they paint a fair reflection and they certainly don’t paint a fair reflection of Sport Wales as an organisation. I’ve been clear all along, with all of the history that we’ve had with the board at the end of last year and at the beginning of this year, I’ve been very clear that Sport Wales as an organisation itself was never dysfunctional. The issues I had really were about the working of the board, which got to a point where it couldn’t continue its work and it needed fresh leadership. So, I think that we need to separate those two issues very carefully, because, actually, during this very difficult period for the organisation, Sport Wales has been continuing day in, day out to undertake some excellent work right up and down Wales. So, I think it’s important to recognise that there is a difference between the organisation itself and the workings of the board, where I had the concerns.

But regarding governance, and, again, this is an area that was looked at by the new interim chair when he first came into post—. He was very clear that he didn’t have concerns about the governance arrangements or the financial arrangements of the organisation. Again, those arrangements are robust. The Welsh Government, as you’ll be aware, has frequent performance meetings with the individuals concerned in the organisation in terms of making sure that we do have that strong governance. We also issue the remit report as well, which sets out clearly the direction that we expect the organisation to take. And, as you’d expect, I meet regularly with both the chair and the chief executive of the organisation as well.

In terms of the strategic direction, you’ll see that one of the key recommendations for Sport Wales itself within the independent report is the creation of a new long-term approach, a new long-term strategy for sport in Wales. That should respond to the direction that we’ve set out today and set out in previous discussions with the organisation about a greater focus on tackling some of the inequalities in health that we have in Wales—inequalities, perhaps, in opportunities to access sport, whilst also continuing the excellent work that they do alongside the sport governing bodies in terms of putting us on the world stage with some of our absolutely excellent achievements that we’ve had at elite level as well.

It’s also important that Sport Wales includes some robust outcomes, metrics and performance frameworks, with ownership clarity and a transparent investment process within that piece of work. That’s one of the items that is specifically referred to within the independent report as an action for Sport Wales to take forward as well.

In terms of the community sport and activity programme, we’re having some discussions at the moment with Sport Wales in terms of how we would take that forward, perhaps looking at delivery on a more regional basis in order to make the most of the different partnerships that do exist within our communities. I’ve asked my officials to work with the organisation to bring these discussions, I suppose, to a conclusion, because I do realise that this is something that we really need to be making progress on now as well. So, I would hope to be able to say more on that in the near future as well.

In terms of the suggestion as to whether or not we should have two organisations, so an organisation focused on grass-roots sport and an organisation focused on elite sport, I know that’s something that has been discussed and considered over a period of time now, and it was one of the issues that the independent review panel looked at. Their strong and clear recommendation was that, actually, there should not be a split between the elite sport and the grass-roots sport in terms of where they sit within an organisation. I think one of the reasons for that is the importance, really, of having those grass-roots pathways all the way up to elite sport as well, so to maintain a clear line of sight between talent spotting at the grass roots and then ensuring that these people have the opportunity to go on and do us proud on the international stage as well.

The national museum, yes, that’s something that Welsh Government has committed to, and I can confirm that the Cabinet Secretary for economy is currently undertaking a feasibility study for that as well. And I think that’s answered all the questions.

We obviously can’t overemphasise the importance of getting our sporting offer right in Wales, not only for national well-being and celebrating our heritage and so on, as the Minister says, but more importantly as a means of getting us healthier, and as we look forward to the formation of the first obesity strategy for Wales—it’s come about as a result of our amendment to the Public Health (Wales) Bill—we know that getting people physically active and engaged in sport also is a must.

I’d like to draw attention and just ask a few questions about things that are not in the statement, if I could. Firstly, if I could ask the Minister to comment on what is expected of Sport Wales now in terms of tackling a number of inequalities. Gender inequality in sport as a first one: the need for more women to get involved in sport and exercise, and what Sport Wales should be doing, for example, fair funding; ensuring safe facilities; challenging stereotypes. The same could be said about disabilities. I don’t think I’ve heard what is expected now of Sport Wales in terms of tackling inequalities there. Also tackling racism: certainly a barrier still towards the uptake of sport. Inequality, I think, is only really mentioned in the context of Sport Wales being asked to invest resources where they’re needed most in terms of tackling social inequalities, but there are other examples of inequalities—some I’ve mentioned there. Also, there are inequalities caused by charging for facilities. So, perhaps I could ask for a comment about means of reducing those costs where possible.

The statement also says Sport Wales has to work with a whole range of partners: schools, employers, active travel, third sector and so on. How do we make sure, though, that that actually leads to more sporting opportunities being provided? It’s not just about having meetings between those bodies. Who will be ensuring that these new partnerships actually lead to more happening on the front line, as it were, and whilst the more partners we have taking part in the provision of sporting opportunities the better, where does accountability lie if everybody is to take more responsibility? And, finally, sport is all too often a victim of tightening purse strings at local government level, and of course I sympathise with councils trying to make ends meet, but I wonder what measures you are investigating to help local authorities make investments in tough financial times, for example, with additional funds, perhaps, made available where current sporting facilities are safeguarded for the use of local communities.

Okay, thank you very much for those questions. I was very pleased to be able to work with Plaid Cymru to include that amendment within the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017 in terms of introducing a national obesity strategy for Wales. I’m pleased to inform you as well that it’s one of the areas of the Bill that I do take as a priority. So, it will be one of the Parts of the Bill that I’m really keen to give a very early commencement order date for as well. So, I’m prioritising that particular part of the Bill.

With regard to women and girls, Sport Wales continues to target investment in opportunities for women and girls, particularly through their Calls for Action programme, and they’ve invested around £1.5 million specifically in projects to increase female participation. I was also really pleased to see in August that they launched Our Squad. That’s a campaign aimed at celebrating active women and girls from right across Wales, and signposting new participants to new opportunities as well. That campaign is also about challenging some of the stereotypes about women in sport, and about what kind of sport is a suitable sport for women and so on. It’s about giving women role models and a vision for themselves to see themselves in a different way in a sporting context as well.

One of the projects that tackles the issue of getting more women involved, but also women specifically in more disadvantaged communities, is the Us Girls Wales movement, and that was set up by StreetGames Wales and funded by Sport Wales. That continues to increase participation in sport by young women in those more deprived communities across Wales. Again, that’s a really positive programme as well.

As I said in the statement, it’s not all for Sport Wales. Actually, I think that the sport governing bodies and other sporting associations have a really strong and important role to play in this as well. I know that the Welsh Rugby Union, for example, are doing some good work to try and encourage more women to think about taking up rugby. Equally, in football as well, the Football Association of Wales has done great work encouraging girls to take up sport. Actually, the game is growing at a much faster rate for women and girls in Wales at the moment than it is for boys, so I think that’s really positive as well.

In terms of disabilities and the role of Sport Wales there, I’m really pleased to have announced recently that the new vice-chair of Sport Wales is Pippa Britton. Pippa Britton is also chair of Disability Sport Wales, so that gives those two organisations a really close link. Disability Sport Wales has supported over 1 million opportunities for disabled people to take part in sport and physical activity, and they have 17,500 members attending over 750 clubs and sessions across Wales. But, their real ethos is about inclusive sport, and that’s something that I thoroughly support, in terms of making all sporting opportunities open to people with disabilities as well. So, it’s not about having particular clubs and so on—actually, it’s about having a truly inclusive ethos as well. Disability Sport Wales also has around 5,000 coaches and volunteers supporting young people to undertake sport in the community, and I think that’s certainly to be commended as well.

In terms of facilities, the Welsh Government’s keen to give local authorities opportunities to develop their facilities. We do this knowing that people are operating in a very constrained financial time. So, our interest-free capital loans scheme has generated over £5 million of investment in sports and leisure facilities this year in Conwy, Wrexham and Cardiff, and that’s one of the examples of the innovative ways that we’re trying to maintain and enhance our facility infrastructure for sport and physical activity.

Equally, through our twenty-first century schools programme, we’re trying to ensure that our investment in schools is actually an investment in the wider community as well. So, we’re trying to ensure that that investment is there after school hours for after-school clubs and for the adults in the community to use as well. I’ve been really pleased to see the leadership that the Welsh football association, the Welsh Rugby Union, Hockey Wales and Sport Wales have shown, in terms of their third generation collaboration group. They’ve invested, between them, more than £2 million in school sports facilities. So, despite increasingly austere times, there is good investment going on in facilities.

You’ll be aware also that Ken Skates has asked for a facilities review—so, looking at the more elite-level facilities that we have in Wales—in order to try to attract further high-profile major events to Wales in future, because we’re certainly getting a reputation for being fantastic hosts for those kinds of events.

Minister, I’m very pleased about the direction of travel and your statement today. In Newport, as I know you’re aware, we’ve been working towards bringing leisure, sports, health, local authorities, the voluntary sector, professional sports clubs and grass-roots sports together, with a series of meetings to try to get a more active local population and to try to address that wider health and quality of life agenda that sport lends itself to. I do believe there is a need to refocus Sport Wales, Welsh Government and others’ efforts in Wales towards that wider agenda, because we do have a lot of health challenges. I think many would recognise that if we are to get on the front foot with health and have a more preventative agenda, then this is exactly the set of policies and strategy that we need to consider and follow. So, I’m very pleased about that.

I wonder if you could say a little bit about how Welsh Government, Sport Wales and others might encourage local initiatives like the one taking place in Newport, whether it’s through new developments such as well-being bonds or any other opportunity, to look at where there is good practice and to support it and hopefully then roll it out further afield. I wonder if you’d also recognise initiatives such as the one by Newport Live, which is a very active and strong partner in that local development in Newport, as the trust taking forward leisure services. They’ve recently launched a swimming initiative, Draig Dŵr, which Jayne, Jessica Morden, as MP for Newport East, and I attended last week. It’s a programme to engage people more actively and strongly in swimming, to then progress and set goals for themselves, to benefit from coaching and tips to improve their technique and to monitor and facilitate that progress. That’s just one of a number of initiatives that Newport Live are taking forward at the current time, which makes them a very active and strong partner in that local initiative.

I wonder also if you would agree that park runs right across Wales are a very strong model of how you can use engagement techniques, such as websites, such as allowing people to monitor their progress by timing their runs, and having a range of social activity, how perhaps we could look at that model for running and see if it fits other physical activity, which would help us get the more active population we want to see.

On active travel, Minister, I wonder if you could just say a little bit about how you’re working with ministerial colleagues across Welsh Government to ensure that active travel is effective and does deliver on this agenda. I was very pleased to hear you mention it in your initial statement.

Finally, on community-focused schools, it’s long been a belief of mine that community-focused schools should be more universally available right across Wales. If they were, I think it would make it much easier to engage our local population around physical activity and make the progress that we’d like to see. So, again, I wonder if you could give us a flavour of how you’re working across Welsh Government to make sure that community-focused schools are available right across Wales and the norm rather than good practice.

Thank you very much for those questions and comments. Having heard you speak previously with such passion about Newport Live and the potential that it has and what it’s already delivering, I was really pleased to go along and see what they did for myself. I was just as impressed as I expected I would be after hearing you speak about them. At the same time, over one side, we had people training at an elite level and also we had groups of schoolchildren doing activities and learning about healthy eating and so on. So, it had really the whole spectrum just on one site. It was really inspirational and exciting. It’s certainly something I would encourage other areas to look at and learn from what’s been happening in Newport Live because it really is quite exciting.

You mentioned well-being bonds and this is one of our programme for government commitments. We’re developing the ideas at the moment for well-being bonds and, again, this is something that I know that you’re keen that Newport Live has a discussion about, to see what we can learn from them as we start developing that. There are different models that we’re looking at at the moment. So, we could be looking at loans, for example, or payment-by-results models. There are different models out there, but at the same time there aren’t any set and established ones that we know absolutely will do the job that we’re after. So, I’m keeping a very open mind as we develop those Wales well-being bonds.

Park runs, I’m really glad that you mentioned those because, again, they bring together people of all levels of experience: people who were previously inactive but turning up because it’s in a park, it’s a local, well-known, fun environment with welcoming people and so on, right up to people who just do 5, 10, 20 km and don’t even break a sweat. So, it brings people of all abilities together and I really welcome that. Another good example would be the Breeze cycling groups for women. That’s specifically bringing women together in a really safe environment, often beginners again, taking that first step into physical activity, and that’s another great example of work that’s already happening up and down Wales.

Active travel: that is extremely important in terms of creating the infrastructure for physical activity, because I think there are two sides to this. There’s creating or giving people the inspiration, but then also giving people the opportunity, and the infrastructure’s part of the opportunity. Our integrated network maps will be submitted by each of the local authorities to Welsh Government by November of this year, and I’ve been very clear with them. Indeed, I’ve written to them to stress the point again fairly recently that, actually, those integrated network maps have to be about active travel rather than just aspirations for more recreational routes in future, because, if we are going to change the way that we do move and that we undertake our travel and our short journeys then, actually, we have to be very clearly focusing on active travel routes.

In terms of our work across Government, I’ve been working closely with the Cabinet Secretary for Education to see what more we can do to use our school assets that we have and what we can do in the school day to encourage children to become more active as well. We’ve had some really good success in terms of the daily mile. Now, thousands and thousands of children in Wales are doing the daily mile every day. We know that it has great impacts on the children’s behaviour in school, on their attention in class and so on. The teachers love it; parents love it. Parents say, ‘If you weren’t doing the daily mile in school, we’d be doing it anyway now because I’ve seen the difference that it makes for my child in the way that they’re learning in school as well.’ So, there are lots of innovative ideas happening at the moment and a real keenness to work across Government on this important agenda.

Thanks to the Minister for her statement. There have obviously been some issues over the running of Sport Wales, which Russell George alluded to earlier, and we, as Members, don’t have the inside information to understand all of what it was about. But it seems to me that part of the problem with the organisation in the past year or so has quite probably been about its remit. Now, we did touch on this earlier on today, but I will just quickly go over a couple of the points that have been mentioned. Traditionally, Sport Wales tended to specialise at the elite end of sport and it’s only in much more recent times that it’s been given any kind of responsibility to oversee grass-roots sport. It seems to me that, although it may sound like a good idea to group the two sectors together, in practice they are very different, and this can cause problems for an organisation like Sport Wales.

Now, there was some evidence in the independent review that some stakeholders believe that Sport Wales prioritises elite sport at the expense of the grass-roots level. My first question was going to be: given that situation, did you still think it was viable to have one organisation representing both the elite and grass-roots levels? I think you answered that, to be fair, in your fairly strong response to Russell George’s questions. But, given that there is this idea from the stakeholders that the elite level tends to get the priority, how can we overcome this? And how can you ensure that there is equal consideration given to the grass-roots level as well as to the elite level? If there are disputes over spending, over resourcing, how is that going to be resolved? Now, you did mention in your response to Russell that we needed to create a pathway to elite sport for everybody. And, yes, of course, the elite athletes have to start somewhere. I think in reality, perhaps, the children who eventually make it to the elite level of sport will generally be the ones coming from families who already have a keen interest in developing their children’s sporting activities. But what we have to ensure is that we increase the take-up of ordinary physical activities by the rest of the population or, as the Welsh Government’s ‘Taking Wales Forward’ programme puts it, increase the physical activity levels of Welsh citizens in those groups that currently have very low physical activity levels.

Now, John Griffiths spoke about park runs, and I think that’s exactly the kind of activity that we should be encouraging, so I’m also encouraged by your supportive remarks, and I hope that, in future, initiatives like parkrun, if they need financial support, hopefully they can get it, although I guess, with parkrun, perhaps the one thing that they may not need a lot of is financial support. But things like active travel, that certainly will need help with resourcing.

This brings us on to the issue of the difference between sport and physical recreation. The 1972 royal charter that established the predecessor body to Sport Wales clearly uses the term ‘sport and physical recreation’. But more recent documents associated with Sport Wales have only sometimes used both terms. Sometimes, they only mention sport in relation to Sport Wales, but contain no reference to physical recreation. Now, the report states, and I quote:

‘This inconsistency is very confusing for Sport Wales’ partners, some of whom claimed the organisation is “changeable” and lacking in clarity of purpose. It is equally confusing for Sport Wales’ staff’.

So, my next question is: does the Minister think that Sport Wales staff themselves are given a clear enough steer by their parent body on where their remit lies? And does the Welsh Government need to clarify somewhat the position? There is also another issue, which is the gap between sport and health. The danger is that the all-embracing approach could leave Sport Wales’s best efforts falling in the cracks between sport and health.

Now, the stated intention in 2015 was to develop a new strategy that aligns Sport Wales’s measures with the chief medical officer’s physical activity guidelines. However, quoting again from the report,

‘despite the introduction of a Memorandum of Understanding with the NHS Confederation very little progress had been made to establish a platform…between the sport and health sectors.’

Now, I see that, in the Minister’s statement today, she does mention Sport Wales and Public Health Wales and the idea of working jointly together towards joint targets. But, just to clarify that point, does the Minister think that the Welsh Government needs to give us more information on how exactly sport and health should interact? And which body does the Minister think should be taking the lead for researching and overseeing physical activity—Sport Wales or Public Health Wales? Thanks.

I thank you very much for those questions. I think you’re right in the sense that the review itself did recognise that there is some work for Sport Wales to do in terms of its relationships with stakeholders and how they manage those relationships. So, one of the recommendations for Sport Wales within the review was for it to consider how it manages those relationships with the national governing bodies and local authorities so that the level of check and challenge is proportionate and balanced with providing advice and added value. So, hopefully, that will address some of those issues in terms of an understanding of the role of Sport Wales and how it relates to its partners.

I also like the recommendation in the report that suggests it considers adopting a formal relationship with further education and higher education for gathering insight, commissioning research, and discussing areas for collaboration as well. I think that’s a really positive step as well.

I agree: sport should be for everyone. So, we shouldn’t have a situation where it’s only those people who’ve been supported by sporty parents from a very young age and guided into a particular sport that are able to take advantage of all the knowledge and the pathways that are available. Actually, it should be for everyone. So, when there is young talent identified, be it at school or in a local club, for example, those pathways should be there to take them if they want to, and if they have the skills and desire to, all the way through to the elite pathway as well. And the national governing bodies do have those really strong, robust pathways in place as well. So, the aim, really, is to ensure that, as we get more people more active, those people will have that opportunity to rise up the ladder if they so wish.

In terms of the definition, I hope I’ve been able to provide some clarity in the statement today that we’re talking about sport and physical recreation, so active recreation, as well. I don’t expect sport or Sport Wales to start getting people active who live completely sedentary lives at the moment. I don’t think that’s either fair on them as an expectation, or even realistic or achievable. Where I see the role there, I see a role there very much for Public Health Wales and the NHS more widely, so looking at the role of the directors of public health within the health boards and so on. I think there are roles there, using those short interventions and so on, to be having conversations to get people along the first step of that journey.

So, I hope that there’s a clear, I suppose, role set out there for Sport Wales. But, in terms of the platform that you referred to between sport and the health sectors needing to be much more clear in future, I think that the purpose behind the response, really, today was to mandate Public Health Wales and Sport Wales to work more closely together in future, so to work together to inform our ‘healthy and active’ strategy in terms of the actions that need to be undertaken and by whom, and what the outcomes we expect of them are as well.

I had the opportunity to meet with the incoming chair of Public Health Wales yesterday, and I took that opportunity to stress the importance that we put on the role that Public Health Wales has in terms of increasing physical activity, but particularly amongst those who are the furthest from activity at the moment.

Thank you. And, finally, Hannah Blythyn.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you, Minister, for updating us here today. I’ve got a few points and questions to raise in respect of your statement today, the review, and some wider issues as well. In your statement you’re right to recognise the role of sporting success to unite and excite the nation, and the review also rightly acknowledges the role Sport Wales has played in supporting and nurturing our elite athletes and helping us bring home medal successes. Of course, we should want to and should build on this, but Sport Wales also needs to reach out across communities and across the country, as we’ve been discussing today. I think it’s really important to make sure we’ve got that equity of support and opportunity to access services, as well as investment, not simply in and around the capital and south Wales. Many people in my area will often have difficulty accessing those opportunities in Cardiff, just because of the geographic distance; you’re not going to travel three and a half hours for a one-hour training session or whatever, and there are obviously cost barriers involved with that. I know it’s relatively easy to travel to access facilities in the north-west of England, but I think there are opportunities to look at how we can develop those services that are already there in north-east Wales, and perhaps, further down the line, to see further investment to enable opportunities and to support younger people in particular in the region.

Minister, the review refers to Sport Wales—. I welcome the comments today in terms of looking at delivery on a more regional basis, and I hope that those concerns could be taken on board as part of that. The review refers to a sport north Wales initiative, and how plans are currently on hold. I wonder if there’s any update on that and, obviously, if you agree with me that we need to make sure we ensure that equity of opportunity across the nation.

I’m also pleased to a see a strong emphasis on partnership working between local government, the third sector, and education facilities, particularly including greater links with schools, and I know, in a previous response, you said about how we invest in schools and encourage collaboration. I’m aware that there’s sometimes some understandable trepidation on the part of schools in terms of opening up their facilities to the community. I wonder what role there is for Sport Wales or other similar bodies in acting as a facilitator to actually address any of those issues, and if we can find ways to share best practice when it has been successful and where, ultimately, it could be in the schools’ interest if they’re able to raise revenue from opening up their facilities as well.

Last but by absolutely no means least, Rhun ap Iorwerth touched on the issue of gender equality in sport, and I think I want to really raise and emphasise today the role Sport Wales and other national sporting bodies across the piece in Wales should be playing in both getting more women involved in sport, but also giving equal recognition, treatment, and parity of support for women’s sport in Wales. We need to be clear, over and over again, that sport is not just for the boys, and elite sport is not just about the men’s teams. Whilst I recognise there have been multiple drives and campaigns to get more girls and women active and involved in sport, they are always going to have a limited effectiveness if we don’t have that visibility to aspire to on the public stage. Young girls can’t aspire to be national rugby players for Wales or to be elite footballers if they haven’t got—you know, they can’t see that that is an aspiration that they themselves could reach one day. It’s 2017 and I’m sure you’ll agree, Minister, that action is needed to deal with this, and what action can be taken to make sure that we provide a platform, a better platform, for women, and better support for women’s sport in Wales?

Thank you. Finally, Minister.

I thank you very much for those questions and comments. You particularly referred to the importance of having the right mix of facilities in the right parts of Wales, and that’s certainly something that the Cabinet Secretary for economy’s facilities review is looking at, in terms of what do we have at the moment in Wales already, but where does the investment need to be in future in order to both attract those major events, and also then to have the right infrastructure for sporting opportunities available for people within our various communities in Wales. I agree that we do need to make progress on that regional approach, so this is one of the priorities that my officials and I are taking forward in partnership with the interim chair of Sport Wales in terms of bringing that particular piece of work to a conclusion, because I think it does hold lots of opportunities for us. So, I think that we need to move on with looking at that regional approach and what we can do best there, because I know that the partners locally are very keen to get working together, and I think that is, in itself, a really positive sign.

I would encourage all schools to consider what they can do in terms of opening up their facilities outside of the core school hours for the community. As you say, there are opportunities, certainly, to ensure that they support the physical activity of the community more widely. I think, sometimes, the issue is perhaps that school governors are a bit too cautious. So, I think that Welsh Government, and sporting organisations as well, can be sending a message that, actually, this is something that we welcome and would expect schools to do as part of their role at the heart of their communities.

I will certainly join you in absolutely celebrating the success of our women sportspeople, at all levels, as well. I agree with you that they need to be given the kudos and respect and sheer admiration for their achievements in just the same way as we would admire men for their sporting achievements as well. So, we need to be working on that as individuals, celebrating the successes that we see locally, but also encouraging the media as well to continue to promote women in sport.

Thank you very much, Minister.