Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:44 pm on 10 June 2020.
Can I start, Minister, by affirming on behalf of the Welsh Conservative Party that black lives matter? I do hope that the brutal death of George Floyd is seen in future as an axial moment, when something happened not just in the United States but all over the world, and especially in our case in Wales and in the UK, when we did examine our own history and particularly our attitudes and our striving for greater equality, but how that falls short particularly in terms of racial equality.
I'm reminded of work that Helen Mary and I helped do 20 years ago, when the then first equalities committee—it was thought to be very innovative then, incidentally, when we had devolution for the first time—looked at the Lawrence report and we did recommend that the curriculum examine the role of the Bristol channel in the slave trade, which, whilst it was based on Bristol, did involve the south Wales ports as well. It's sobering to think that, 20 years on, there's still a huge amount to do, although we have made progress as well.
Can I just say that I do think it's for each generation to decide how their most prominent public spaces are used and how they're used to commemorate or celebrate particular personalities or wider collective causes? I think it should be done with reflection and deep consideration, because it needs to be a learning experience for everyone, for wider society. Therefore, I do not like the thought that these matters are settled on impulse, however strong and sincere that is, and not with a proper process. I hope the culture committee meeting tomorrow will start to look at this heritage aspect of who is celebrated and where and how we have an appropriate way of dealing with these sometimes very contentious issues.
I just, in my first set of questions, want to ask one specific on tourism. I think there is a consensus now in the Chamber that self-catering accommodation can be opened up, and that now needs to proceed quickly. There is a question about many caravan and motorhome parks that have shared facilities but could close them and then allow caravans and motorhomes in, and they, having their own facilities, being able to use pitches would at least permit a level of business in those parks. I have raised this issue already in a written question, and I do hope that there's a fuller answer and a fuller policy so that we have the flexibility for those that can show they've closed the shared facilities that they have on site, so that they can open then just for the self-catering units that are there. But I do ask you to look at that specific question when the next lockdown review occurs in a week or so's time.