And we will now move on, because we do have an agenda item remaining: the short debate to be introduced by Mabon ap Gwynfor on the topic, 'The more I practice, the luckier I am: sports facilities in our rural communities'. And I call on Mabon ap Gwynfor to speak to the topic he has chosen, and I urge Members, if they are leaving the Chamber—

If Members are leaving the Chamber, do so quietly. Mabon ap Gwynfor.

Thank you, Llywydd. I have agreed that five other Members should take part in this discussion. James Evans, Sam Kurtz, Jane Dodds, Sam Rowlands and Laura and Jones have expressed an interest in contributing, and I'm very grateful to them for that.

Llywydd, it isn't every day that a Member has an opportunity to put forward debates in our Senedd, and today I have the honour of putting forward two debates on very different issues, yet very important issues for my constituents in Dwyfor Meirionnydd and, indeed, to people across Wales. I'm grateful that there isn't a vote at the end of this debate, following what happened with the previous debate. [Laughter.]

But to go on to the title of my short debate: 'The more I practice, the luckier I am'. That's the title of today's debate. I'm sure that you will have come across this expression in some form or another over the years. Its origins are unclear, truth be told. Some say that Gary Palmer is the true author. But whoever coined the phrase, its message is perfectly clear: if we are to succeed in any field, especially sport, we must practice, practice and practice to perfect our craft. That brings me to the thrust of this debate, which is the lack of resources in our rural communities to enable people to refine their talents and to go on to compete at the very highest level. 

To be able to practice and perfect talent, resources must be available; that stands to reason. Now, some will point to athletes from disadvantaged backgrounds who triumphed in their fields, despite their backgrounds, and there are laudable examples of this, of course. But, on the whole, they are exceptions to the rule. It's no surprise that it's the countries that invest most in their resources and athletes that succeed in winning medals in whichever field that might be. The same is true on every level, be it international sport or on a more local level. To anyone who doubts the value of small investments, you only have to follow the successful cycling coach from Deiniolen, David Brailsford, who promoted the marginal gains. The little things, as St David said, make a difference.

I had the pleasure of going to speak to a group of pupils at Ysgol Glan y Môr, Pwllheli, about 10 days ago—talk about informed, curious and welcoming young people. It was a pleasure to be in their company. Anyway, one of them, Elan Davies, asked me the following question:

'I love sport'—

Elan said—

'but I see a lack of equal opportunity for young women. What opportunities do you see for girls in Wales in the world of sport, and beyond this, in their daily lives?'

Now, this isn't a political point or political point scoring, but these are the real lived experiences of our young people in rural Wales today, and it speaks to the amendment put forward by Heledd Fychan in a debate here at the Senedd on sport back in June. And Elan is speaking the truth. Shortly after being elected, Porthmadog women's football club contacted me to ask for any support possible to improve the resources available to them in Porthmadog, as they didn't have a 3G pitch, and very often during the winter they had to cancel training sessions and had to go play elsewhere because the pitches were far too muddy.

What about swimming? We have excellent swimming clubs in north Wales, and some of the coaches have spoken to me about the incredible talent we have there. But if one reaches the highest level of competition, they have to travel down to Swansea, and their families have to take time off work and pay for accommodation in Swansea for that period of training. And why? Well, because we don't have an Olympic-sized pool in the north of Wales, and such a resource is vital to be able to progress and compete at the highest level.

Dwyfor Meirionnydd, and indeed Wales, are very fortunate to have many beautiful beaches, with tides that produce waves and surf that are recognised as being amongst the best for surfing. But to ensure that this local talent can reach the next level, and to see more surfers from Wales competing on the international stage, we must ensure that the coaches are here and that people of all backgrounds can access the sport.

The same is true for cycling, be it road cycling or mountain biking, and every other kind. We have a record to be proud of, with new cycling clubs burgeoning following Geraint Thomas's success. I had the privilege of visiting the wonderful Beicio Dyfi centre, Athertons, in my constituency recently, which attracts thousands of people from across the globe, not to mention the excellent work being done by Antur Stiniog or Coed y Brenin in Dwyfor Meirionnydd. 

We have an extraordinary landscape and natural resources, but it is an expensive process, and many people cannot take up cycling because of their financial circumstances. We must ensure that people can access these sports at an early stage, so that they can try them out, or practice before going on to bigger things having perfected their talent.

The most prominent of example of failure, of course, is the failure to establish competitive regional rugby in north Wales, and create a clear pipeline for local talent to be able to develop through the ranks. There are children and young people with all kinds of sporting talents in Wales, from boxing, to swimming, to football, but more often than not the vital resources and facilities haven't been provided to enable these talents to reach their full potential. Of course, the rationale for making this investment is much greater than seeking local prestige and praise. As we heard in the debate on obesity last week, there are a whole host of health benefits to be had from developing sporting facilities in our communities.

Now, let's look to Norway for inspiration. Norway has started to produce many successful athletes. Not only are they expected to top the table at the Winter Olympics in Beijing this year, but they have tennis players, golfers, footballers and other sportspeople coming to the fore. How? Because in Norway, they have implemented a policy called 'the joy of sports for all', where children are encouraged to take part in as many sports as possible and the cost of participation kept low by the Government. Furthermore, research from Norway shows that developing sporting programmes in rural areas had attracted young women from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, giving opportunities to them and to people who otherwise would not have received them.

So, I welcome the Deputy Minister's recent announcement on the investment of some millions of pounds that will be given, and I look forward to hearing that announcement being reconfirmed today, but what I would like to hear today is whether the Minister will ensure that a fair proportion of this funding will be spent on developing facilities in rural Wales. I'd also like to hear what ambitious plans the Government has to assist in the development of an Olympic-sized swimming pool in north Wales, or a velodrome or a centre for sea sports in our rural areas. What is the Government's aspiration to ensure that there are clear pathways for the children of Wales to be able to pursue their dreams and develop their inherent talents?

I would like to hear specifically the Minister's response to Elan's question, namely what opportunities she perceives are there for young women in Wales, and in rural Wales in particular, with regard to sport and beyond that in their daily lives. And finally, will the Deputy Minister join me and Elan on a visit to one of the communities of Dwyfor Meirionnydd—perhaps Pwllheli, Elan's own community—to see the extraordinary talent that we have there, and also to see the need to invest. Thank you.

Mabon has agreed to share his time with five individuals. If you could all be brief and keep to a minute, then I can call all five. James Evans.

I'll try, Llywydd. Diolch. I'd like to thank Mabon ap Gwynfor—

You will do more than try. [Laughter.]

I'll try. I thank Mabon ap Gwynfor for bringing this debate forward. The more I practice, the luckier I am, but as somebody who practices darts a lot, I'm not sure that's quite true on a Friday night. [Laughter.] But in our community, our sports facilities are the heart of the community, whether that be rugby clubs, football clubs, netball clubs, cricket, bowls—you name it, they are the heart. I was very fortunate to be a part of Gwernyfed RFC in Talgarth, the great community sports club that has a women's side and all the junior sides and does fantastically well. That club taught me a number of things: it taught me respect, it taught me team work, it taught me to appreciate other people and also how to have a very good time.

Our clubs provide the opportunities for young people to come together. They build community cohesion and help the well-being agenda and help improve the health and well-being of the nation. And I agree with you, Mabon, that more resources should be put into rural communities, because we've all seen how our young sports stars have to go to the towns and the cities to actually access the sports facilities they need to reach their potential. And I do urge the Minister, as you have done, to make sure that those resources make their way to rural communities so that those young people there can reach their potential. Diolch, Llywydd.

Thank you to the Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd for the opportunity to contribute.

As someone who's played a whole host of sports throughout their life, from football, golf, tennis, rugby, cricket and everything else in between, this debate got me thinking back to what it was like growing up in rural west Wales. And it was often more jumpers for goalposts than Millennium Stadium—Principality Stadium, forgive me—or Celtic Manor or Lord's cricket ground. And one thing that really struck me is that what facilities clubs do have they take great pride in, and I think that that is something that is really a testament to the volunteers, without whom many of these community clubs wouldn't exist. Volunteers who give up their time for free, mowing pitches, sweeping changing rooms, washing playing kit or even ferrying kids around the area so that they can go and play sport and keep fit. Without these volunteers, we wouldn't have grass-roots sports here in Wales, so I'd just like to take the opportunity to thank every volunteer from every corner of Wales for everything that they do in ensuring that grass-roots sport in Wales is as strong as it can be. Diolch.

Jane Dodds.

Thank you very much, Llywydd, and thank you to Mabon, and thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this debate.

Just another angle—I won't repeat what's been said and I have no claim to any sporting abilities either—I asked a young person in a little village called Llandinam, which has 911 people, in Montgomeryshire, what would help him and what did help him when he was growing up in terms of involvement in sports activities, and he said 'youth workers'. And so I'd just like to pitch here for more youth workers. We've seen a massive decline in youth workers across Wales, and it does make a difference in order to engage young people from different communities in order to be able to take part in sports. I was very lucky to visit Shedz in Blaenau Ffestiniog where they've got an amazing set-up there of youth workers who are engaging with young people. So, let's move forward as soon as we can, but let's look at how we can also get more youth workers to engage with young people to allow them to take part in sports activities. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Thank you to Mabon ap Gwynfor for submitting this really important debate and allowing me to speak. It's great to have a ringside seat on the issue of sports facilities in our rural communities.

As outlined so far in debate, sport is so crucial for rural communities, especially at grass-roots level, including the region that I represent in north Wales, and we know that sport is vital for people's mental and physical well-being. It brings communities, friends and families together; for some, it simply provides purpose. But, without these suitable facilities, it's either impossible for people to take part or, as we know, they have to travel many hours to simply enjoy a sport they want to partake in. Of course, on top of the grass-roots benefits to having good rural sports facilities, we must be looking to inspire a generation who are our future sporting stars—the ones who will win us the six nations, the ones who will win the world cups and Olympic medals, or even become crown green bowls champions. So, to conclude, Llywydd, it's vital that we don't miss an open goal here, that we hit the back of the net in ensuring sporting facilities are made available in our rural communities, ensuring Wales continues to punch above its weight in sport. 

The Chamber's not taking all that well to all your puns and jokes there. Laura Jones.

Thank you, and thank you, Mabon, for raising this important subject. It's something I've raised continually ever since I've been a politician. And, as chair of the cross-party group on sport, I want to reassure you that there's complete consensus across this Chamber that facilities are an absolute key priority for all of us. They need to be changed. They are in disrepair, they are completely out of date or they're non-existent, particularly in rural areas. It's an absolute must that we look into it.

I was secretary of a junior football club, and literally everything closes down in the winter, because the pitches are so bad. There are no 3G facilities within a 20-mile radius, for example. It's not good enough for our young people, or any age, really, to have that lack of facilities. If we are serious about creating future stars, then we need to be serious about improving our facilities. I swam for Wales in Pontypool Dolphins, as it happens. So, seven days a week I was swimming, and my parents had to take me from Usk to Pontypool and back seven days a week. That's a massive commitment, and I was lucky that they were able to do that, otherwise I would never have had the opportunities that I had. So, travel is something that we absolutely need to look into in terms of getting people to these things if we can't place those facilities on doorsteps. I just want to say thank you for bringing—. I think it's just a perfect subject to talk about, because practise, practise, practise does make perfect, and it will create our future stars. And without anything to practise on, we won't create them. So, thank you for bringing this debate.

And the Deputy Minister to reply to the debate. Dawn Bowden.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Llywydd, and thank you, Mabon, for bringing this debate forward. This is a subject very close to my heart, and what I would say, I love the title of the debate: 'The more I practise, the luckier I am', because all I can think is that all the teams that I support clearly don't practise very much because they're not very lucky, that's for sure. But it is an important debate, Mabon, and it was a very thought-provoking debate, and it was good to hear so many contributions in a cross-party debate where I could agree on virtually everything that was said. So, thanks to everybody for that.

So, can I start by saying I want to state very, very clearly at the outset that investing in our nation's sports facilities that are accessible and enhance the opportunities to participate in sport and physical activity is a key priority for the Welsh Government? And I would be absolutely delighted to come and visit your constituency at some point and see some of the facilities that you already have and that we potentially can develop in the future. Now, this commitment is a key strand of the programme for government and a personal commitment of mine. Investing in our facilities is a key to unlocking so much of the potential as a nation. As we turn our sights to our recovery from the pandemic, expanding on the opportunities to increase participation to support our mental and physical health will be more important than ever.

We must have a clear approach for delivering on that commitment. I'm focused on investing at both elite level and at the community, grass-roots level for all the reasons that you set out in your speech. Our investment at elite level, investing in world-class sports facilities to support our nation's sporting success on the global stage, is key to inspiring the next generation. We know that Wales already punches above its weight on the sporting front, and we have to maintain and ensure that that grows and develops as we go forward.

And an even more important commitment, in my view, is to support and enable that next generation now. Our commitment is to invest in new and existing facilities that really improve the foundation of our community sports. Without attractive and accessible facilities, we cannot hope to grow participation across sports, particularly amongst underrepresented groups. This is the key to supporting our children's development and taking forward access to sport, such as investing in girls' and women's sport, which, again, is very close to my heart.

And can I thank Mabon for reminding everybody of my recent announcement of a further £4.5 million capital funding this year to support that commitment? That brings our total investment in 2021-22 to more than £13.2 million. And looking to the future, Llywydd, we've already committed £24 million of capital funding to Sport Wales over the next three years. From my perspective, that is only the starting point. For our ambition, we will be looking to build on that initial investment year on year.

But it's not just about the scale of our investment; a key consideration for us and Sport Wales is how and where we invest. As Mabon has highlighted, we must ensure that facilities are accessible to all of our communities, including our rural communities. We know that we have that commitment from our national sport governing bodies, whether that is the Football Association of Wales, the Welsh Rugby Union, whether it is Hockey Wales and so on; they are ready to work with us on that national effort.

When those facilities are further afield, as we do recognise that a football, rugby, cricket pitch or a climbing wall may not be available in every community, and may not be realistically available in every community, we must ensure that the means are there for enabling access, whether that is through public transport or active travel, which I think is what Laura was alluding to. But that wraparound support for the facilities must be there, and I call on all our sports organisations, local authorities and educational establishments to forge those links and become enablers for our sports and leisure.

Llywydd, I must draw the attention of Members, however, to the disappointing and frustrating approach that the UK Government has taken of late in sidestepping the important principles of devolution. Whilst all investments are, of course, welcome, such as recent football and tennis investments, the UK Government has been using the UK internal market Act to provide direct funding to sport organisations in Wales, and that is not, in my view, the right approach. It sets a worrying precedent, taking accountability away from the devolved institutions, and adds a further layer of complex bureaucracy. It means that we have to work harder to ensure alignment of investments that align with our programme for government to avoid duplication of effort and ensure funding is distributed fairly and evenly across the country, using established devolved institutions.

But turning to some positive examples, Sport Wales has provided significant amounts of money for many different sports across Wales, including in rural communities. There are many examples across a range of sports, from improvement to the pitches at the Gwrnyfed rugby club and Denbigh Town Football Club, new tennis courts in Chepstow, new practice nets for Pembroke County Cricket Club, new equipment for the Bala Canoe Club and new mats for a Brazilian jujitsu club in Ystradgynlais.

The sport funding we provide to Sport Wales and the national governing bodies of sports is only part of that picture. Our communities facilities programme is designed to improve community facilities that are useful to and used by people in the community. Community facilities, including sporting facilities, play a vital role, acting as a focus for community events, providing opportunities for volunteering and enabling local access to services. This can be even more important in rural areas. Community-owned and operated facilities can also play an important part in empowering local people, providing local jobs as well as opportunities to socialise, which helps to tackle loneliness and isolation and improving, of course, general health and well-being.

The education estate through our schools and colleges provides an important platform for sporting facilities. Our sustainable communities for learning programme, formerly the twenty-first century schools programme, has a significant role to play in providing sports facilities. The programme makes it clear that we expect schools and colleges in Wales to support both our learners and the wider communities. Our aspiration is that all facilities receiving investment commit to making those assets available for community use where local demand exists, and this has resulted in the provision of excellent sporting facilities, benefiting all ages. We expect all school projects that receive funding support to show that their facilities can support the community around them, and this includes extending the use of physical assets, such as sports facilities for community use, both during and outside school hours. Good examples delivered under the programme include Ysgol Bro Teifi in Llandysul. This is a new age three to 16—three to 19, apologies—Welsh-medium school that has streamlined education in the area to support learners from primary age right the way through to secondary education, while ensuring their state-of-the-art sports facilities, which include an all-weather pitch and a sports hall, are readily available to the surrounding community outside the school day.

Another example is the new special school, Ysgol Hafod Lon in Penrhyndeudraeth in Gwynedd, which ensures that our most vulnerable members of the community have facilities to support them and their families, with a hydrotherapy pool and extended outdoor space. It's vital that we make these facilities for sport and physical activity accessible to everyone if we are going to unleash the benefit of sport for everyone in Wales, from grass roots to elite sportspeople.

Modern, accessible and sustainable facilities are crucial to encourage people into or back into sport. The health, social and economic value of sport is widely recognised, and that is why the Welsh Government continues to invest in sport and through the preventative power of sport. The commitment to grass roots is the basic building block for our wider success as a nation on the world stage. The Welsh Government will continue to invest in sports facilities across Wales in a sustainable and globally responsible way to ensure equal access and to support our talented athletes and coaches wherever they live and whatever their background. We have already had positive and constructive dialogue with some of our national partners about delivering those objectives together, and I look forward to further discussions with them in future—in the near future. Thank you.

I thank the Deputy Minister and I thank everyone for that debate. That brings today's proceedings to a close. Diolch.

The meeting ended at 17:58.