Including culture in developing the economy will be at the very heart of the aspirations of what we call Creative Wales, and there is no conflict at all, in my mind, between those two kinds of creativity—the creativity of business and the creativity in development and innovation.

Partnership and collaboration are key to successful delivery. We work very closely with the creative businesses and industry, working with stakeholders and working as a Government to develop the sector by listening to what those businesses have to say to us on the basis of the long-term experience that many of them have in the creative industries.

We also want to ensure that we develop the right skills across the sector, which is vital, and there are partnerships in that with other Ministers within the Government, but all these aspects are considered together when we do develop our plans.

Raising standards, also, in collaboration with industry is also a priority. This must include developing commitments in terms of good employment from every partner in relation to inclusion, fair pay and working practices. Diversity and responsibility is an essential part of being creative.

We are also in the process of simplifying our funding support for the creative industries and trying to ensure that we have a way to respond quickly to the sector. That's why we're moving to provide our funding through an economic contract, which is happening across Government, ensuring public benefit following these public investments.

Also, we are trying to draw upon our experience with Visit Wales and the development of the Wales brand, leading on marketing and promotion of the creative industries in Wales to the world, under the new Creative Wales brand. That is coupled with the Wales brand generally. Through the new brand, we will be promoting the contribution that the creative sector makes to our culture, and also the contribution of culture to the perception of Wales and its reputation and success around the world. 

All of this work is being done by officials in discussing priorities with the sector, and those discussions will continue over the coming months, and I consider this statement today a key part of that process because we want to focus on the issues that we as a Government can make the most difference on. Following another period of stakeholder engagement, there will be findings and priorities that will be shared with you as Assembly Members as soon as it's practically possible.

In the meantime, we continue with our support for the sector and continue to focus on the great successes that we have achieved in recent years. Although we have focused extensively to date on film and tv, and particularly high-end tv drama—and one series, with a second series almost appearing on our screens as I speak—this has certainly had an impact on the Welsh economy and created a new interest in the creative industries and in culture in Wales.

Following meeting representatives of this company recently, I'm pleased to announce to this Assembly that I'm looking forward to announcing shortly a new partnership with NBCUniversal, which, as you know, is one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies. A number of their directors hadn't been in the Vale of Glamorgan until recent weeks, but they now know the value of Dragon Studios and the possible use that they could make of the current three studios, and possibly more platforms. And there is expenditure of about £20 million likely to come to the local economy because of that activity. Also, alongside that, the company wants to bring its globally recognised boot camp for production assistants here to Wales. That means that we can raise standards in the sector as well, and that is certainly very important news. 

Of course, the creative industries sector in Wales is much more than film and tv, and Creative Wales, as it develops within the Government, will mean significant growth in the tech industry in Wales, which now employs more than 40,000 people and is worth over £8.5 billion in turnover to the Welsh economy. And particularly in that, I'd like to refer to the games industry, which is such an important part of the digital sector, including Tiny Rebel Games based in Newport, Sugar Creative in Cardiff, the University of South Wales, and their international partner Potato, which were successful in securing funding through the moving image category in the Audience of the Future programme that is funded by Innovate UK. The project will work with Aardman, a renowned intellectual property service, in order to deliver this exciting project.

We have also developed a strategy for music, and that is something that we are eager to develop strongly under Creative Wales, and by that, I mean all kinds of music, in particular moving forward with the work that we're doing to map venues across Wales, where live music, particularly popular music and rock and folk music, is staged. We're in an important partnership here with PYST, the digital distribution and labelling service primarily for Welsh language music, and that work is developing. To date, artists on this platform have achieved over 5.5 million streams on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, and the record for listenings to Welsh language music has been broken by these developments, with Alffa, a rock band from Caernarfon that you've heard me mention before in this place, having delivered over 2.5 million of those streams, including a large number in South America. I'm also pleased to announce today that we're extending the work of PYST. We want to collaborate with them to take nine Welsh language artists to play in major UK cities. This exposure will be of great significance to these artists across the UK.

And finally, I want to emphasise that it will be easier for people to engage with Creative Wales once the body is established clearly within the Government during the next two months. It will be possible to engage with the creative industries as effectively, I hope, as it is to engage with any business services in the Government more generally. Thank you very much.