Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 2:34 pm on 28 November 2018.
Thank you for that response, Minister. But I have to say, it was a matter of disappointment for me to understand last week that you had rejected £1 million for the national library, which would attract, of course, additional money from the Heritage Lottery Fund of about £5 million, with the support of the Welsh Government, to allow the development of a national broadcasting archive for Wales. Is it possible, therefore, to have confirmation on a couple of questions that follow from that? Is there confirmation that there is a commitment of £5 million to the plan from the lottery in May 2017? Is that factually correct—£5 million towards a national project of £9 million to create a national broadcasting archive, including archives from the BBC, ITV, S4C and independent companies? There is a richness of Welsh heritage there in both languages from the twentieth century, and, of course, the emphasis of this plan is the availability and the access for the public. We’re not talking here about tapes stored in some faraway warehouse, or even being destroyed, because that is the threat now.
Now, there is supposed to be a formal request to be submitted in the week beginning 18 December to the HLF. Why have you left it so late to say ‘no’ in terms of the £1 million of capital and that strategic support? Is the Welsh Government, in principle, against establishing a national broadcasting archive for Wales? Can the Government look again at this to see how any concern you have could be worked out, so that that £5 million of HLF funding is not lost for Wales, because that’s the threat now, and that the people of Wales will have access to a real national archive? Because we are talking here about building a nation, and about the memory of a nation—that’s what an archive is. Yesterday, we heard of the importance of establishing national bodies, and there is a real need for a solution to this situation now, otherwise a very valuable archive will be lost forever. How about it, Minister?