We now move to the short debate. So, if Members are intending to leave the Chamber, please do so quickly and quietly. 

Diolch, Deputy Llywydd. I wish to give a minute of my allocated time in this debate to my Welsh Labour colleagues Mick Antoniw AM and Mike Hedges AM. Deputy Llywydd, this is a timely debate to bring to the Chamber of the Senedd as, today, the Welsh Government has formally launched Creative Wales to champion the creative industries in Wales. Members will know that I am a passionate advocate for the role that the creative sector plays in Welsh life, enshrining Wales not only financially, but even more importantly enriching the soul of our citizens and our nation. Lord Elis-Thomas AM, Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism, states in his written statement issued today that:

'Creative Wales will offer a streamlined, dynamic and innovative service to the creative industries sector, aligned to the needs of the industry. It will look to capitalise on the benefits that the sector brings from two directions—economic and cultural.'

The actions, therefore, by the Welsh Government in launching Creative Wales will fulfil an important manifesto commitment made by Welsh Labour in 2016. In Wales, we are recognised internationally today as a universal force in film, drama and television production. Shows produced in Wales, such as Doctor Who, Sherlock and His Dark Materials, have gained recognition across the globe. The flowering of the Wales screen industry has been one of the great success stories of devolution. Since 1999, gross valued added of motion picture, video and tv programme production in Wales has grown from £59 million to £187 million, an increase of 217 per cent, with much more to come.

It is right that we celebrate the successes in this sector, often in partnership with Welsh Government support. Y Gwyll/Hinterland and Un Bore Mercher/Keeping Faith are examples of bilingual productions originally made for S4C, but have succeeded well beyond Welsh platforms. Such important universal visibility has also given exposure of the Welsh language to a global audience. In discussing Welsh television, it would be remiss of me not to mention Gavin & Stacey—the Christmas special with 17.4 million viewers, the UK's most-watched programme in a decade—this alone has brought thousands of visitors flocking to Barry each year to visit some of the show's iconic locations.

The creative economy brings economic benefits, not just through production spending, but other sectors such as tourism, helping to attract visitors to Wales. Creative industries are promoting Wales across the world as a destination to visit, live and work. We have built a strong base for our screen industry in Wales, but it has potential to bring even more economic benefit. The Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee inquiry identified a potential skills shortage in the industry. The new Creative Wales must help to tackle this and promote clear career pathways for home-grown talent.

Minister, therefore, how can Creative Wales help our youngsters progress in careers in our thriving film and tv industries? Doctor Who or Sherlock are a success for the Welsh industry, but often Welsh locations are used as substitutes for London or other parts of the UK. We must do more to support Welsh productions that celebrate our fantastic landscapes and thriving cultures. Can the Minister clarify how Creative Wales will support platforms that celebrate our beautiful landscapes and identity?

Deputy Llywydd, Members will remember, previously, I celebrated Welsh musical performance culture in the National Assembly for Wales. We hosted a performance event of our spectacular home grown Welsh musical talent, and large crowds of invited guests and members of the public gathered to hear the very best of young Welsh performers. It included musicians from Caerphilly music service, Ysgol Gymraeg Cwm Gwyddon in Abercarn, National Youth Arts Wales, Cardiff county and Vale of Glamorgan music service, as well as the internationally renowned harpist and composer Catrin Finch. The purpose of that event was to highlight the fundamental importance of allowing young Welsh musical talent to flourish—to view the outcome.

Deputy Llywydd, I am a committed socialist. In the arts and the creative sector, as in every facet of Welsh life, I believe natural justice demands equality of opportunity. Where more so than in accessing educational and cultural opportunities, so that all our pupils, irrelevant, surely, of parental income, are able to blossom and grow, whether it's in confidence or well-being or advanced musical skills or access to career pathways? Nobody can guarantee equality of outcome when a child picks up a musical instrument or a vocal tuition offer. We know that. But every child in Wales, irrespective of where they live and irrespective of their family wealth or their ability, must be given an equal playing field and opportunity to learn.

The world knows Wales for its unique contribution to musical heritage. There is a reason why we are known as the land of song, as the report I commissioned by Professor Paul Carr outlines very clearly. There is no doubt that the policies of austerity inflicted on Welsh public life by the UK Tory Government over the last decade placed a fundamental threat to our ability to ensure that there are no barriers to being Welsh and being able to access and discover the wonder of musical participation.

I met with the education Minister, Kirsty Williams, last week to discuss the Welsh Government's publication of their music services feasibility study. We know that this is a very complex area, but actually there are some very simple solutions. I am convinced of the urgent and pressing need for Wales to develop a Welsh music performance strategy that is underpinned by sustainable Welsh Government financial support and a development plan to grow and cascade quality music services that schoolchildren can access throughout Wales in a uniform, consistent and planned manner. We cannot allow the financially imposed austerity from London, which today is severely impacting on non-statutory services as local authorities battle to fund front-line services, to denude Wales of what makes us proud to be Welsh.

I shall be pressing my party to explore and commit in its next manifesto a commitment for Welsh Government to take responsibility for ensuring that local authorities can call on Welsh music support services to provide our children with the very best in instrumental and vocal provision. The Welsh Government's pledge today—that one of the main priorities for Creative Wales will be to take a lead role in the marketing and promotion of the creative industries in Wales to the world via a new Creative Wales brand—fully illustrates the will and the fundamental importance of ensuring the grass roots of our Welsh creative culture are safeguarded. What good is proudly displaying to the world a fantastic blooming flower if those roots are in danger of slowly dying?

I know that the Deputy Minister Lord Elis-Thomas will commit himself and his officials to exploring every way in which Welsh Government can support the youngest members of Wales's creative communities, and I know that the Deputy Minister and I will closely follow the work of the music education study consultation group, which met as recently as yesterday, to examine the efficacy of a national plan for music education. It is required, Deputy Minister. The time is now. And if we value all that is rich in our unparalleled heritage and our global musical reputation, we must act.

To conclude, Deputy Llywydd, I welcome the funding announcement of the £120,000 for grass-roots music venues funding. Actions like these are vital to ensure the safeguarding and blossoming of Welsh creative industries for the future. But I also believe that we all in this place will support the strengthening of Creative Wales and, equally, we cannot turn a blind eye to the underpinning foundational skills that are needed to sustain and fully realise our true and powerful national potential.

Thank you for the minute. Music and dance enriches lives. It promotes peace and friendship around the world. I believe, with the cultural and musical assets that we have within Wales, our responsibility is to evangelise the world with Welsh culture and Welsh music. In this post-Brexit world that we're going to be in, I think never has there been more reason to actually do so: to engage, to forge new links.

We have the fantastic Cory Band, which I know I mention very regularly. We have choirs. In my constituency alone: the Llantrisant choir, the Pontypridd choir. We have the fantastic Dawnswyr Nantgarw appearing all over the world, in countries where it is clear we have economic and cultural interest.

It seems to me that what we now need to do is develop a proselytising strategy whereby we engage with other countries, we support our cultural organisations going out into the world, and gain the benefits from that, which is part economic, but it's also the benefit of culture, peace and friendship.

Can I also thank Rhianon Passmore for giving me a minute of her time? I represent a constituency with a great choral tradition. Currently in Swansea East, we have the following major choirs: the world famous Morriston Orpheus, Morriston rugby club, Swansea Male, Phoenix Wales—which are all male choirs—Morriston Ladies Choir, where I have the privilege to be president, Tabernacle mixed choir, and Twrw Tawe children and young people's choir.

These choirs, apart from their importance to health and well-being, are both the choristers and the audiences who regularly attend, and they also promote Swansea and Wales abroad. They bring tourists and they actually get our name out there. We become associated with high-quality singing.

When you think of the number of different places where choirs—such as Morriston Ladies and especially the great Morriston Orpheus Choir—have actually performed across the world, including the Sydney Opera House and New York, you get to realise just how important these choirs are.

Thank you. Can I now call the Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism to reply to the debate? Dafydd Elis-Thomas.

Thank you very much, deputy speaker. Before I begin this debate, it will come as no surprise to Mike Hedges or others here that I would like to mark the passing of a great champion of Welsh culture in Sybil Crouch, to whom we will say our final farewell—in this life, anyway—tomorrow in Swansea, and to extend our condolences to David Phillips, and all her family, and her hundreds if not thousands of friends in the Swansea area.

I'm very grateful to Rhianon Passmore for choosing this very timely topic, and I will be responding by addressing some issues relating to Creative Wales. I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to do that in this Assembly before I do it down the road at Cardiff and Vale College.

Before I do that, I would like to respond to the general points that have been made about the importance of the music industry, and I'm glad that both my colleagues Mick Antoniw and Mike Hedges mentioned the value of our choral tradition, because all these traditional aspects of our life are something that we must continue to celebrate.

I also understand the passion with which Rhianon Passmore is dedicated to music education. I will certainly be willing to co-operate with my colleague the Cabinet Minister for Education, and herself, and any other Members in or outside the Assembly who wish to pursue the possibility of a new strategic approach. Because I do recognise that, unless we have a strategic approach, there is no point in having a creative industry strategy if we don't have the creative people, particularly in music, to fulfil that role.

As I said earlier on, we are launching Creative Wales this evening, and although every industry in Wales contributes in a vital way to our society, the creative industries have a unique way of contributing. Not only do creative industries create jobs and wealth as part of the economy, like other industries, but it also contributes to creating an identify and national brand for Wales on the international stage. And promoting that brand, identity and the culture of Wales raises Wales’s profile on the global stage.

I know that the Minister responsible for international relations and her department are very eager for us to collaborate and to do so with the education Minister too, on that part of our work, because it’s a direct way for us to contribute. As with other similarly sized nations, we can use our culture to celebrate not just our own identity, but to contribute that unique culture beyond our borders.

It’s also important, as Rhianon said, to repeat the fact that the creative industries sector is a very important business; it has grown faster than any other similar sector over the past few years. And, as we heard, the direct contribution made by the creative industries to the Welsh economy is significant with around £2.2 billion a year of turnover, with over 56,000 people being directly employed in the industry.

It’s also important to stress that the economic impact of the creative industries extends beyond those industries, as other parts of the economy can benefit from the skills and outputs of those who work in the creative industries sector. For instance, the automotive, artistic design and digital engineering industries all benefit from experiences in the creative industries, especially in training.

Now, as we heard from Rhianon, Wales is recognised internationally as a centre of excellence for television, drama and film and has become a centre, as I’ve heard from no-one less than NBC Universal several times over the past year. And Amblin Television, which is also responsible for broadcasting the work that we’ll see very soon, with Brave New World—I look forward very much to seeing that new series for television, which will be broadcast globally and is being produced in Dragon Studios not far from this place. These productions demonstrate that Wales is just as dependable, indeed, can be more dependable than London and the south-east when it come to the screen industry. And I’ve heard a number of companies, over the past few years when I’ve been in this post, saying how excellent the experience of working with the teams that we have here in Wales has been.

During the period between 2016 and 2019, expenditure in Wales in the screen industry has increased from £35 million to £55 million and there’s no sign of this slowing down.

We are just as eager to ensure that we have support for the successful bilingual publishing industry in Wales, because this is also part of the wider economic growth strategy for the creative industries in Wales. The publishing industry, and the Welsh Books Council in Wales in particular, contribute directly to supporting literature in both languages, but also the stories that are written in Wales, such as the work of Philip Pullman recently, which demonstrates that so much of what happens in the film industry on our screens begins between the covers of a book. And I think it’s important that we always celebrate that. I’m sure that His Dark Materials is a very good example of that at the moment.

As we heard from Rhianon very eloquently, it’s not mythology to speak of Wales as the land of song. And the contribution of the music industry to our economy continues to make a mark. Of course, in our stadia—whatever the plural of ‘stadium' is in Welsh—these huge venues and different performance arenas that we have attract tourists here from all parts of the United Kingdom and beyond and I’m sure that that will continue to happen. Cultural tourism is a central part of what we are pursuing at the moment, as a Government, and we see the importance of these major events, as we call them, but these major events are seen as a vital way for people to see Wales as a platform and a place worth visiting.

The development of economic infrastructure for music on this major level is going to continue to assist the development of music on our streets, in our towns and cities and everywhere across Wales. And, as mentioned by Rhianon—and I know that this is something that is held as a common belief across the Assembly—the loss of live music venues is a cause of great concern, and that’s why we made the announcement today that we are going to invest and invite proposals to revive or create anew live music venues across Wales.

The reasons why these venues are being lost are often complex, and financial difficulties aren’t always the reason, but without live music in venues, without the unique experience of being able to see the performers and be part of these events, I don’t think we would have musical life here in Wales. That’s why the grassroots music venues fund is going to be vital to developing those venues.

Finally, may I say that I agree entirely with the possibility of a young person, regardless of their background, being able to enjoy access to music education and opportunities to develop? We always have to ensure that creative young people—and I speak as the father of one who is a very creative musician, but is also a performer in terms of dance—we have to give the opportunities to these young people to develop, because, without these opportunities, we don’t have substance or a basis to our creative industries. So, I’m very grateful for this opportunity that has been offered to discuss in this Assembly what we will be doing later on—

Something I prepared earlier—

These are priorities for developing the creative industries sector in Wales, and this will be launched down the road—you’re welcome to join us—in Cardiff and Vale College in the next half an hour. Thank you very much.

Diolch, and that brings today's proceedings to a close. Thank you.

The meeting ended at 19:24.