I would like to thank the Chair and members of the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee for their report. I had the pleasure of serving on the committee during some of the inquiry and would like to add my thanks to the clerks and all those who took part in the inquiry. It provided us with much valuable insight.

The film and tv sector is a vital part of our economy and Wales has a long tradition of producing high-quality content and being the backdrop for some of the world's most popular films. The creative industries sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in the UK. The likes of Netflix, HBO and Amazon spend as much time on tv production as some Hollywood studios do on movies.

The future of the sector doesn't lie in enticing Hollywood to come to south Wales; it lies in developing home-grown talent such as Bad Wolf. What Julie Gardner and Jane Tranter have done is truly inspirational. Wales is world-class at producing tv shows and, if we are to capitalise upon the growing sector, we need to take the right approach, learning the lessons of past failures. It is essential that we embrace the changes in the creative industries sector that have occurred in the last 10 years; essential that we move away from the old paradigms; essential that we nurture our own home-grown talents rather that entering a bidding war to entice Hollywood to Wales. We can compete with the rest by being the best. We just need the investment. We need to advertise our Welsh talent.

I am therefore grateful that the Welsh Government have accepted the majority of the committee’s recommendations—recommendations that will help us avoid making the mistakes of the past, avoid another Valleywood debacle, and another Pinewood fiasco. The challenge now is to ensure that we keep up with the changing market. As traditional studios try to compete with the likes of Netflix and Amazon, we are seeing an explosion of subscription streaming services. Even the BBC is getting in on the act. The danger with a plethora of competing services is falling consumer demand. So we have to ensure that the traditional studio rush to recreate the US cable networks for the cord-cutter generation does not damage the entire market. We must ensure that Welsh companies continue to produce high-quality content for all platforms, and we have to ensure our indigenous industries have a competitive edge by offering a low-tax economy backed by high-tech digital and physical infrastructure.

Wales is ideally placed to excel in the creative industries sector. We are small enough to be agile and big enough to bring scale. It is now up to Government, both here and in London, to ensure that we have the right conditions to support creative industries and equip future generations with the necessary skills. And we might not be able to compete with Netflix, but we can ensure that its programme line-up is full of content created or produced in Wales. Diolch yn fawr.