3. Statement by the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Sport: The Future of Cadw

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:04 pm on 21 November 2017.

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Photo of Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas Independent 3:04, 21 November 2017

Again, thank you for your very kind remarks. It is always a pleasure to hear you expound the delights of the heritage, especially of the north, where, as you know, I still spend as much time as I can and continue to do so. In fact, I will be working out of the office in Llandudno Junction this week, and I hope that we can meet there perhaps in future.

But I'm not going to engage with the National Trust. I'm an individual member of the National Trust, as I think I'm still an individual member of Cadw—I shall have to check whether I've paid my dues. But the importance of partnership working, on the ground especially, between our institutions and our commercial, third sector, voluntary—and the National trust is an interesting mix of what is a voluntary organisation, with a voluntary membership, which has a statutory basis. So, all these partnerships are tasked, as far as I'm concerned, with collaboration on the ground in their regions. And as we develop strategies linked with tourism and with the historical and built environment, we need to encourage collaboration that is already taking place.

Now, as regards spiritual matters, I tend to leave that to the archbishops. [Laughter.] However, when I will be attending the enthronement of a new archbishop of the church that I belong to, which, as you know, is the Church in Wales, I will certainly seek an opportunity to make sure that the partnership we have between organisations of all kinds—while at the same time, of course, respecting the disestablished nature of the Church in Wales, and the right of people not to belong to a faith community at all and yet to participate as citizens in Wales—are equally maintained. So, not all the money is going to be directed towards one denomination, I can assure you.