2. Will the Minister make a statement on the future of the free swimming scheme for children and pensioners, please? OAQ53285

I'm very grateful to my friend and former colleague Mohammad Asghar for that question. I thought I'd get that in. [Laughter.]

A review of the free swimming programme was completed in September 2018. And, as part of the recommendations of that review, future options for the programme are being developed and I expect them to be submitted to me very shortly. I will then determine the future direction of the programme.

Thank you very much, Minister, for the reply. A recent report from Sport Wales found that the free swimming scheme for children and pensioners is no longer fit for purpose and that it needs a radical change. It went on to say that the scheme only cost half of the annual £3 million of funding provided by the Welsh Government, but that councils rely on this income due to cuts in their budgets. Minister, what discussions have you had with Sport Wales regarding the findings of this report, and will you confirm that you remain committed to supporting this scheme, which brings great health benefits to the young and elderly in our society?

I certainly remain fully committed. Indeed, I'm very keen to develop an overall programme of physical activity in Wales, and I do recognise that swimming is a fine physical activity to be encouraged widely, along with other physical activities. What I'm very keen to see developing is the option for more people in Wales to participate. It is not our intention, in any sense, to reduce the amount of funding on the promotion of physical activity, but to broaden the possibilities. 

As has been said, there are substantial benefits to swimming in terms of health—fighting obesity, reducing the number affected by type 2 diabetes and, something we don't talk about often enough, helping people build muscular strength, especially after they've left hospital. It is, along with other exercise, an excellent way of reducing current and future health problems, and aren't we better off trying to stop people being ill than dealing with them when they are? 

I am grateful for the support from my present colleague, Mike Hedges, on this issue. I'm very keen to see the response to the activity of Sport Wales in assessing the first report that it has produced, and there has been a sub-group—the free swimming initiative steering group—on which local authorities, Swim Wales and Welsh Government are represented, which has been undertaking this work. I have had discussions with some members of that board already and I hope to consider their report to me as soon as I receive it. Welsh Government has contributed some £30 million towards the free swimming programme. As I said earlier in response to Mohammad Asghar, there are no plans to scrap free swimming for either the 16-and-under age group or the over-60s. However, there are issues surrounding the effectiveness of the scheme, which are set out very clearly in the reports I've already received, and as soon as I have some information I will make a further statement to Members.

I just wanted to ask the Deputy Minister if he would look at the way in which the free swimming is promoted in your review, because I recall last summer, in my constituency—Pentwyn leisure centre is a great facility, but it was very poorly advertised in the super-output areas of deprivation that are alongside the leisure centre, and they are the people who most need to be informed of when they can go swimming for free, because they simply don't have the money to go swimming unless it's free. So, I wondered if you'd look at that, because, if money is limited, it's crucial, it seems to me, that those people who can't afford to go swimming otherwise are the ones who are prioritised for this information.

Well, we are now increasingly working across Government and with local government in the promotion of all forms of physical activity, and I will certainly remind the local authorities through the relations with us directly within the group that's been studying this issue that there is no point in having a scheme that is not taken up because of a failure to promote. And, therefore, in the overall work that we are now undertaking in promoting physical activity across Government, we will pay particular attention to those areas of deprivation, which, along with all the other areas of our society throughout Wales, could benefit most from these schemes and from greater physical activity.