4. Statement by the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Sport: Accessible Monuments for All

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:01 pm on 24 April 2018.

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Photo of Mr Neil Hamilton Mr Neil Hamilton UKIP 4:01, 24 April 2018

I'd just like to follow up, as Dai Lloyd started his questions, by asking the Minister whether he agrees with me that history is not something that should be read but should be experienced by each generation so that it understands how it fits into the continuum of a nation's history. That's absolutely vital to the success of any nation. As Alexis de Tocqueville wrote nearly 200 years ago, as the past ceases to shed its light on the future, the mind of man wanders in obscurity. Therefore, national monuments and accessibility to them is absolutely vital in the education of any civilised person, but also it's essential to the understanding of how the nation has developed as it has and where we all fit within it. 

And so I'm delighted to welcome the success of Cadw and its events programme and to laud the extent to which Cadw has been able to popularise its monuments and its activities through re-enactments and art exhibitions and live performances. History, when I was young, was taught as a kind of dry-as-dust subject and it's vital that we get away from that if we are to enthuse the younger generation to understand the importance of these things, not just for the economic value, although that's vitally important as well, as Suzy Davies pointed out earlier on, but the revenue that is raised is for a purpose, and that is to bring the monuments that we inherit from the past into a better state of repair and also to make them even more accessible to future generations than is the case in ours.

I realise it may be a little premature for the Minister to make any comment on the recommendations of the culture committee very recently on the historic environment, but the collaboration with the National Trust is a very important element, I think, of Cadw's success for the future, to increase its revenues and improve its digital interpretation tools across historic sites in Wales, and I wonder if the Minister is able to give us any further update upon what Cadw intends to do in this respect.

My second and last point is to welcome the last part of the statement, where the Minister mentioned Cadw's track record of working with partners to deliver events that bring history alive for communities and his affirmation that these relationships will continue to be built upon. In our report of the culture committee, in recommendation 10, we requested that there should be a clear timeline of progress, measurable milestones, for the development of the Historic Wales partnership, and I wonder whether we're in a position as yet to give any indication of what those timelines and measurable milestones might be today or in the near future.