Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. It's a pleasure once again for me as culture Minister to respond to this debate in the Chamber on our notable national institutions, and, in doing so, may I thank the committee for its report and also emphasise that I have responded in writing in September and noted that we as a Government were very pleased to accept each and every one of the report's recommendations, and that we will implement those? I will emphasise and focus on that in my brief response to this debate. May I once again emphasise that I will write directly to Members on any points that I'm not able to respond to directly this afternoon?

The important message that I have, of course, is that we have listened to the request regularly made for an increase in the funding for the sectors that we are discussing today, despite the gravely difficult financial context in which we work, and, of course, last week, following the demand for funding across the arts and culture sectors, I announced that an additional £10.7 million would be available to support organisations and individuals. In light of the fact that applications were made to us as a Government that we were unable to respond positively to because the number of applications received far exceeded the size of the budget available, we will have to seek ways and means across Government of deciding whether we are able to provide some more funding before the end of this financial year, if that's at all possible, or to plan for that in the next financial years. But the cultural recovery fund has now reached £63.7 million and, as I said, the interest in the grants of all sorts, including the 15-minute heritage grants, has been quite staggering, and I was very pleased to see that.

May I thank the Members who contributed this afternoon for accepting the importance of digital in what we're seeking to do in response to COVID and in developing a way of communicating and making ourselves accessible to the public throughout Wales? I do very much appreciate the way in which public libraries have continued to provide resources throughout this crisis, such as e-books and e-magazines through the digital library. Digital platforms will certainly have a greater role to play in the near future, and we will seek to ensure that we are able to fund, within the financial constraints upon us, the digital developments, and that this is a priority for us as a Government. And improving the digital skills of the population more generally is a very important part of this project, so that people can take advantage of the materials available.

But there is nothing like visiting historic sites in person—not to do so virtually, but doing so in person. And this has been extremely difficult recently. But I have to say that I have had the experience because of where I live, in Llandaff, as have many other people, because we are walking more and travelling less, that we are seeing new things in our own local communities, and have done during this period, and are rediscovering local historical sites. And that has contributed to our understanding of our communities.

Thanks to everyone who has participated in this debate. I'm sure this won't be the first or the last time that we will gather together as Members to give our support to the cultural sector. And the creative criticism and encouragement that I receive from Members in these debates is something that helps to keep me on the right track, as it were. Thank you very much.