Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:32 pm on 19 October 2021.
Thank you, Rhianon. You've been such an amazing advocate for the music services throughout your time in this place, and I thank you for your ongoing support for the work that the Welsh Government is doing to try to establish a national music service. I can assure you that those discussions are well advanced. I meet with my colleague the Minister for education on a regular basis. We, in fact, only met just last week to discuss the latest iterations of our options around what the national music service might look like. Because you're absolutely right; we set that our very clearly in our manifesto—the fact that access to music, whether that is through playing an instrument, whether it is being in a choir, whether it is an orchestra or a band, should not be limited by someone's ability to pay. That is very much at the forefront of the discussions that we have about the creation of a music education service. At this stage, I can't tell you exactly when that will be agreed and signed off, but I can tell you it is well advanced. And given that we are still in the first six months of a five-year term, I'm pleased that we have made significant progress towards that.
Similarly, with the cultural strategy—I know that you've raised this before, as has Heledd Fychan—we have committed to a cultural strategy, which will include music, will include the creative industries and will include everything that is in the cultural brief. That will start its work in earnest in the new year, and we will be looking for that to be developed and to present it to this Senedd. From my perspective, it will be more than a document with a few lines about what our ambitions might be. It will be a document that has to be a living document, not just for now and not just for this term, but taking us forward so that it becomes very much part of our life in Wales. Because, in Wales, our life is based around our culture, and that will be reflected in any cultural strategy.