1. A wnaiff Ysgrifennydd y Cabinet ddatganiad am gefnogaeth ar gyfer chwaraeon proffesiynol yn ne-ddwyrain Cymru? OAQ51719

As it's within my portfolio, I'm delighted to be able to respond, especially on this day, when I must begin by answering your question: yes, I am looking forward to a great success from Newport County this evening. 

Just like Swansea last night.

Thank you. And having secured total agreement on that early part of my reply, I'll carry on.

The development of professional sport is the pinnacle of a pathway system, and I have never seen any contradiction between investing in community sport and professional sport, because it is out of communities that the professionals grow. The Welsh Government provides funding for the Welsh Football Trust, for example, to support the development of football, which enables young people to have better quality opportunities to play, and can lead to progressing, as I said, to the professional level. One million pounds, including lottery funding, went to support Welsh football last year, channelled via Sport Wales to the FAW Trust.

Thank you, Minister, and thank you for the support, and for the enthusiastic support from around the Chamber. Tonight, Newport County AFC look to build on their fantastic performance at Rodney Parade, to replay Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup at Wembley. Following on from our great escape last season, this has helped to inspire a new generation of supporters who will forever be Newport County AFC fans. Professional sport can galvanise and bring people together, but it goes further than the first-team players. The county and the community programme, led by Norman Parselle, delivers sporting projects to schemes in Newport, Torfaen, and Monmouthshire. They've increased participation from ages three to 83—men, women and children, of all abilities and all backgrounds. So, how can the Welsh Government work with clubs like Newport County AFC and their community team to expand the benefits of professional sport? And will you join with me in meeting Newport County and their community team to see some of the excellent work, on and off the pitch?

I will be delighted to join you at such a meeting, obviously, and hopefully celebrate a success tonight. The key investment that we make, through the Football Association of Wales Trust, is to the development of football in Wales, and systems for developing the game enable more to play, reach a higher level of competition and progress through. And, at the top end, Sport Wales invests £7.4 million a year, across the board, in elite sport, and that also includes National Lottery investment, and this equates to about 17 per cent of Sport Wales's total income from Welsh Government and the National Lottery. So, what we do in football and in rugby, and in cricket to a lesser extent—but I'm hoping to address some of those issues—and certainly in hockey, to mention some of the governing bodies that I have met, what we invest in these national governing bodies are investments that permeate, as you implied in your question, throughout the whole community, and that happens across Wales. I'm delighted, as someone who began trying to play rugby on football pitches in the north, at the success of Rygbi Gogledd Cymru, which is another example, in another sport, of what can be achieved at the regional level.

If I could also pass on the best wishes from the Conservative group to Newport County as they play at Wembley this evening. Perhaps they can take some inspiration from Swansea's performance last night. With the Welsh Rugby Union having taken over ownership of Rodney Parade late last year, will Welsh Government support the continuation of ground sharing between Newport County and Dragons once the current lease expires in 2023?

Well, we will in any way—. I haven't discussed this issue with the relevant clubs, but within any particular needs that the individual football and rugby clubs have, we would be very willing to support further shared spaces. The important thing is that the shared spaces don't suffer from overuse, and this is a key issue that we have to address, about what is happening at the Liberty, what happens at the Cardiff City Stadium, what is happening now in Rodney Parade, and what happens, of course, in the example I quoted, in the north in Parc Eirias. These are ways in which we can develop further, as well as the further investment coming in in Wrexham. These are ways in which we can develop maximum use of our facilities. And I do believe it's very important that public facilities, whether they're in education or in any other part of our lives, which have been put together with Government funding for public use, are available, not 24 hours, but at least throughout the evenings and weekends to ensure that people can participate.