Thank you very much, Llywydd. This is the first time I've spoken, and I congratulate you on your appointment to your role as Llywydd and also congratulate the First Minister on his election. 

7. Will the First Minister make a statement on the outdoor pilot scheme for mass gatherings in Wales? OQ56554

Llywydd, congratulations to Mr Giffard for his first question here at the Senedd this afternoon. 

Llywydd, we worked closely with event organisers to establish a programme of test events, which take in a range of different locations and event types. The initial feedback from those events has helped inform the resumption of large outdoor activities in Wales, which I was able to confirm on Friday.   

Thank you, First Minister. I'd like to welcome the decision by Welsh Government to resume outdoor sporting events. As he will know, it's a vital source of income for many sports clubs in my region and across Wales, which have struggled throughout the pandemic. Will he comment on what further action he will take to ensure that more fans will be allowed to be present at these events in the future and what further support he will give these clubs?

Thank you very much to Mr Giffard for that question. Well, as he knows, as a result of Friday's announcement, standing events outdoors of up to 4,000 people, 10,000 people in a seated arena, will now be possible in Wales, subject always to a risk assessment in any individual venue. What we will do beyond that is to have a further pilot set of events in which venues where a risk assessment would have a ceiling below those figures can go beyond that ceiling where they can demonstrate that additional mitigation measures are possible and are being piloted in that venue.

So, there's lots of work still to do with the sector to make sure that we can continue to allow it to reopen, that they can welcome more people back to those venues, but always that it is done in a way that protects the health and well-being of people who turn up to watch those events or to participate in them. That does mean that further help will be necessary for the sector beyond the help that has already been announced, and the Member will be aware that in the last financial year, the cultural recovery fund was a fund of over £63 million. Ten million pounds of that went directly to the events sector. On 22 March, we announced a second phase of the cultural recovery fund; an initial £20 million set aside, a further £10 million potentially available as necessary. Six hundred applications have been received to date for that next phase, and 50 per cent of them come from the events sector. So, I can assure him that we will be working with that sector using that money, because even though Friday's announcement was good news from the sector, and I hope we'll have further good news if circumstances allow in another 10 days' time, there still will be a period in which the sector isn't able to operate at full strength and we will want to go on supporting it on that journey.

Finally, question 8, Joel James.