Item 7 is next, a statement by the Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport, an update on black, Asian and minority ethnic history, culture and heritage. I call on the Deputy Minister, Dawn Bowden.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'd like to thank the Minister for Social Justice for her statement announcing the publication of the 'Anti-racist Wales Action Plan'. For my part, I'm committed to delivering the goals and actions set out for culture, heritage and sport, which focus on the themes of leadership, funding, celebrating cultural diversity, the historical narrative and learning about our cultural diversity. The ambitious actions under these key areas are informed by lived experience; they aim to be transformational, delivering demonstrable change and leading to equal outcomes for black, Asian and minority ethnic people.

We have a rich and diverse culture and heritage in Wales. Our programme for government commits to properly represent and reflect the history of black, Asian and minority ethnic people, aiming to ensure their immeasurable contribution is recognised, and to enable equal access and participation. This will improve outcomes for all and will better reflect and promote a multicultural, vibrant and diverse Wales, which is fundamental to delivering our vision of a truly anti-racist Wales.

Delivering this change has already begun. In the last financial year, we undertook initial preparatory work, investing nearly £350,000 with organisations including the National Library of Wales, the Archives and Records Council Wales and Race Council Cymru. Our national organisations play a critical role in addressing inequality and achieving an anti-racist Wales. This is a shared objective for all sponsored bodies in my portfolio, and supporting the action plan is a key deliverable within their new remit letters.

I've expressed my desire for our cultural sponsored bodies to work in collaboration to increase their impact in this area. Members will be aware that the Arts Council of Wales and Amgueddfa Cymru—National Museum Wales have co-produced a widening engagement action plan, with actions now embedded into both organisations' operational and strategic equality plans. People's Collection Wales, a federated partnership between Amgueddfa Cymru, the National Library of Wales and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, has published a charter for decolonising the collection.

Of course, while collaboration between organisations is important, collaboration and co-production with the ethnic minority communities themselves is crucial to developing this work and implementing change that will have a real impact. I am pleased to see our organisations focusing on this; for example, the Arts Council of Wales has undertaken a major review of its arts associates programme, and recruited new associates with lived experience of cultural and ethnic diversity, as well as an agent for change.

As a result, a cultural shift is already happening in discussions at funding meetings, with an increase in the number of successful applications targeting diverse communities and artists. Amgueddfa Cymru and the national library are appointing to roles focusing on engaging with black, Asian and ethnic minority people. The national library and the Archives and Records Council Wales, funded by Welsh Government, have created a toolkit to enable the sector to engage better with black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities.

We provided funding to Race Council Cymru to carry out a pilot project to develop its Black History Wales programme, including the record of stories right across Wales. Six culturally diverse people, each with black history expertise and trusted community engagement experience, led the development of Black History Wales networks in different parts of Wales. I attended the launch of Black History Cymru 365 in October last year and saw for myself the powerful Windrush Cymru exhibition.

I made a statement in January to update on the progress of the audit of commemoration, and I am pleased to say that this work has been continuing at pace. Cadw is preparing guidance for local authorities and other public bodies to support them in making decisions about public commemoration—both historical and in the future. Development of the guidance has been informed by a series of workshops with a wide range of stakeholders. There will be a full public consultation on a draft later this year. Cadw has also been working on improving its website, recognising a more diverse range of stories that contribute to the histories of Wales. It has worked in partnership with several organisations to create content, including personal heritage stories and creative responses to commemorating people of Black heritage in Wales. The new content will be available from mid June.

Our local cultural sectors also have a vital part to play. There are over 100 local museums across the country, all working at a grass-roots level. Last year, 41 museums took part in the innovative training and support programme that we funded—the first of its kind in the UK. This included workshops on looking at collections from new perspectives, to enable stories connected to slavery and the empire to be told from a local perspective. Feedback from participants was overwhelmingly positive, with many reporting that they had gained the understanding, knowledge and confidence to make change.

Since the programme ended, we know that many have found new connections in their collections and are starting to reinterpret their displays. I am proud of the significant progress we have already made, and I look forward to our continued progress as we deliver our goals and actions in the action plan and the programme for government commitments. This will be supported by a further £4.25 million funding over the next three years, through the launch of an innovative new grant scheme. Three distinct strands will be covered: our national sponsored bodies; a competitive grant process across our sectors, which I am pleased to say we will be launching in the coming weeks; and a ring-fenced fund specifically for grass-roots organisations, which we are developing at present for launch later this year.

We are also preparing to recruit community mentors to work with my officials over the next year. They will offer critical advice for the delivery of the action plan, support the development of the grant scheme and the establishment of a sector-specific lived-experience advisory group. Together, and at national, local and grass-roots level, we will continue to deliver meaningful change for black, Asian and minority ethnic people across Wales and take vital steps to making our vision of an anti-racist Wales a reality.

Can I thank the Deputy Minister for her statement this afternoon in highlighting how important it is that our cultural sector and our heritage sector is as welcoming as possible for as many people as possible? It's important that the work the Minister for Social Justice mentioned and that review is carried out, and I'm pleased to see it happening in your portfolio too, because as the Minister for Social Justice said, it's not just her responsibility as the Minister for Social Justice, but something that cuts right across Welsh Government, so I'm glad to see this piece of work is happening. I'm also thankful to hear from your statement about that cultural change you mentioned in organisations that's taking place, and I think that's really welcome too.

Can I also start by welcoming the £4.2 million in additional funding announced over the next three years, which will give funding for grass-roots organisations? I'm hopeful it'll deliver change, building on our rich and diverse culture and heritage in Wales. You do however also mention a new grant scheme that couples this, so I'd be grateful for further details on this and wonder whether you can provide clear expectations on what you would expect from those organisations. What in your view does success look like? What metric can we used to hold you accountable to ensure that this new funding is providing value for money? I'd also like to focus on some of the points in the 'Anti-racist Wales Action Plan' published by the Welsh Government earlier today as it relates to your portfolio. Under the culture, heritage and sport section, it states that one of the goals is to

'Review and decolonise our public spaces and collections by appropriately addressing the way in which people and events with known historical associations to slavery and colonialism are commemorated, acknowledging the harm done by their actions and reframing the presentation of their legacy to fully recognise this.'

I agree with that, and what I think is important here is that the public at large buy into that as well. I think most people would agree with the sentiment of that part of the plan, but what the statement, I feel, lacks is a definitiveness about where that line is being drawn. It is a line that differs depending on your perspective, and it's a live debate that is happening all the time. We've seen some people say that figures with perhaps tenuous links at best to the slave trade are dragged into this debate years after they've passed away. I've seen some commentators mention the likes of Winston Churchill in this sort of space, which I hope we would both agree is not the intention of this proposal. This, in my view, comes down to accountability as to who will be making such decisions and what perspectives they'll be considering, because we know, as I said, those perspectives can differ and we don't want people who agree with the sentiment of the action plan disagreeing with the outcome of what is actually achieved by it.

A good example would be the decision by National Museum Wales a few months ago to review a replica of the first steam-powered locomotive in Wales by Richard Trevithick over claims it was linked to the slave trade. Officials at the museum admitted there were no direct links between the Trevithick locomotive and the slave trade, but they said the use of the invention is rooted in colonialism and racism. A review is fine, but we need to be careful about where we draw those distinctions about our past to ensure that people are not deleted from our past simply because they existed in the past. So, an understanding on that kind of threshold would be quite important, I think.

The action plan also states that it will

'Identify a specific ring-fenced resource to support grassroots cultural, creative and sporting activities among Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups and promote this to encourage applications, taking account of intersectional disadvantages and specific issues relating to community languages.'

Can you, Deputy Minister, confirm exactly how that will work? How much will this pot be? it wasn't really clear from your statement whether this would form part of the new funding announced in your statement or whether this is a separate element of funding again.

Another point I'd like to mention was one of your actions to work with black, Asian, and minority ethnic communities to identify and lift barriers to accessing heritage and cultural collections. Given this, what impact assessment has the Welsh Government done in the sorts of ways that diverse communities are facing barriers to accessing heritage sites, and can you share the findings with the Senedd? Another point to note in the action plan was to ask Sport Wales and its partners to increase the participation in active lifestyles of women and girls from diverse groups, taking into account intersectional disadvantages, languages and the most disadvantaged groups. How will you be measuring that progress, Deputy Minister? And, again, what does success look like, and also what tangible targets will you be setting to reach, whilst working with stakeholders? 

You also mentioned the over 100 local museums across the country—they're expected to play quite a big role, actually, in many of these schemes, such as the charter for decolonising the collection. It's crucial we get that right as well. Many involved with local museums perhaps don't necessarily come into regular contact with structures of Welsh Government, and many involved are volunteers. So, how are you ensuring we're not placing unintentional, additional bureaucratic work on their vital volunteering work in local museums across Wales, and work out ways that we can continue to attract and enhance volunteering experiences within our museums? And how also will you make sure that there's a consistent understanding within groups like this, so we don't have different museums interpreting this in different ways?

And finally, one of the first things you said was about the lived experience, and I think that's really important. There is no single diverse experience. So, how are you using this strategy to ensure that plurality is recognised and accounted for in this strategy? Thank you. 

Can I thank Tom Giffard for those many questions? I'm not sure that I've got all of them, Tom, but I'll try and wrap it all up in an overarching response. If I can deal first with the culture grant scheme that you were talking about initially. What we are looking to do, really, is to introduce a scheme in readiness to launch in the coming weeks. So, the detail of that is still being worked on, and I will be back in this Chamber with more information on that in due course. I think I've set out in my statement the three strands of that, and that was covered in part of your question, but I don't have the detail of that yet—that is being developed and we will be bringing it back. But one of the key elements of that is to ensure that some of the smaller groups, who we have had quite a lot of criticism for across the cultural sector—they find it very difficult to access grant funding, because they are small, because they don't have the experience of having staff that work on grant applications all the time and so on. Those kind of organisations won't find themselves in competition with big organisations that are coming in for that particular pot of money. So, there will be a very specific pot, a very specific element of that funding pot, which will be aimed at those other organisations. But they will be setting out and helping us to deliver what we see as very ambitious goals. Now, you will ask the question, 'What are the ambitious goals?' Well, the ambitious goals are, clearly, to create an anti-racist Wales. Now, I'm not going to stand here, as the Minister for Social Justice isn't standing here, saying that we can do that overnight. But we have to start with the institutions that we have some responsibility for, that we can influence, that we can work with and that Welsh Government money goes into. So, those are the organisations that we are working with in particular.

I think the point that you have made around decolonisation is a very fair one in terms of who do we look at, what do we say is important. And that has been very much the work of the Legall audit—it started a couple of years ago—when we looked across Wales at place names, monuments, paintings, statues, whatever it might have been, which have some connection to our colonial past and the slave trade. Now, some of those links are more tenuous than others, and I think that was the point that you were alluding to, but I think what the Legall audit was trying to do was to identify that there were a raft of people that we needed to acknowledge had those links. Those links may have been, as I say, tenuous, those links may not have been substantial in the context.

You talked about Richard Trevithick who, of course, is very important to my constituency. But I also think of people like Robert Owen, who was a great philanthropist, socialist, trade unionist, and one of the founding members of the co-operative movement—some tenuous links to the slave trade that actually didn't in and of themselves negate all the really good work that he did. But there is an acknowledgement that there was some link, because he used the labour of slaves in the Caribbean to bring cotton to the UK, to Wales, to run his business, so we have to acknowledge all of that. And the work that has come out of the Legall audit with the group that has now been set up, which is being headed by Marian Gwyn, is facilitating how we commemorate these people looking forward. It's not for us to determine how we commemorate them, it is for local communities, and for the black, Asian and minority ethnic communities themselves to be very much part of building those recommendations that we will give to public bodies and other organisations that wish to commemorate, whether that's in our museums, our art galleries, our libraries, whatever it might be. If they are going to display works, if they are going to display exhibitions, if they are going to display art, if they are going to tell a story, then they have to tell the story in context. And that is the work that Marian Gwyn is doing on behalf of Welsh Government, following on from the Legall audit. So, it won't be for us to tell anybody how that should be done, it will be for those people to be telling us, those stakeholders to be telling us. And they will produce recommendations and that will go forward for public consultation, so the wider public will also have the opportunity to have their say as far as all of that is concerned.

Sporting aspects: what I would say, Tom Giffard, is that I haven't used today's statement specifically to deal with sport. There will be other opportunities for me to come back and deal with sport; I did concentrate my statement today particularly on culture and heritage. But what I would say is that we do strongly support the work that Sport Wales is doing with UK Sport, with Sport England, with SportScotland and Sport Northern Ireland to tackle racism and racial inequalities across all four nations to develop a collective plan, and we're very much part of building that sporting community that's reflective of the societies that all of our Governments represent. They are key elements of the work to eradicate racism in Wales, you're quite right, and that is all set out in their remit letters from me. And I think it's important to say, because I think it was a point that Sioned raised earlier on in terms of accountability, all of the sponsored bodies that Welsh Government funds have had remit letters setting out very clearly what is expected of them. They are accountable to me for that, and in turn, I am accountable to this Senedd for that. And that will be the route that we will follow and make sure that that accountability is followed through and that those actions are delivered. 

The Llywydd took the Chair.

Thank you, Deputy Minister, for your statement today. There are many things that you outlined that I would of course welcome, in particular your comment in relation to the role that national organisations and local cultural sectors have to play in creating an anti-racist Wales. And to become anti-racist, of course, it is important that we are clear today why this action plan is so necessary. And whilst you rightly pointed out some of the things that have changed, it is clear that more action is needed and that it will take all of us working together to change this. We also need to be clear that it's not going to be easy. We've already seen some of the national institutions be challenged on their work on decolonisation facing vile abuse online and being questioned by those who don't agree with Wales's direction here. We also need to be very clear that we are taking a different direction to England in terms of our culture and heritage and that it's something that we should be proud of, but not become complacent about. It is very easy to congratulate ourselves when things are progressing, but it is very clear that Wales is anti-racist at present and that those ugly racist comments faced by organisations, such as National Museum Wales around Thomas Picton, are out there. So, our support here today and throughout the coming years is vital for those national institutions, as they take forward this important and vital work.

There is a clear emphasis in your statement about how organisations should better engage with black, Asian and minority ethnic people, but key to this, of course, is for these organisations to become more representative of Wales themselves. I'm pleased to see in the action plan, in relation to culture, heritage and sport, a commitment to ensuring that more applications are made by black, Asian and minority ethnic people, but crucially more appointments too, as employees and also as board members. This is crucial if we consider some of the stats available to us in relation to public appointments, in particular within your portfolio. For instance, in 2019-20, Arts Council of Wales data showed that there were 17 black, Asian and minority ethnic people out of 349 overall on boards of management, in 39 of its regularly funded organisations. We're also aware, of course, that no-one non-white applied for the role of chair of Sport Wales. There is work for us to do in this area. And elsewhere in the plan, there are specific actions in relation to public appointments, but I want to ask specifically in relation to your portfolio, Deputy Minister: do you agree that greater diversity and representation within our public bodies is necessary, not only to provide equal leadership opportunities, but to ensure the best delivery of cultural services for all citizens of Wales?

I would also like to ask if the Deputy Minister is working with officials to modernise the appointment process, to improve accessibility and transparency. It would be helpful to understand what progress has been made regarding the implementation of, and improvement being seen as part of the 'Reflecting Wales in Running Wales' strategy, specifically within the culture, heritage and sport sector.

You also referenced in your statement something that our colleague referenced, that 41 local museums took part in innovative training and support programmes funded by Welsh Government. I'm obviously very pleased to hear that the feedback was positive from those that attended, but there is also a significant proportion of local museums that didn't participate. Why was this, Deputy Minister? Was it only open to a certain number of participants? And if not, if people chose not to attend or couldn't attend, will it become mandatory for all accredited museums to participate?

The one concern I have from the funding announced is that some will apply and will take forward this work, but there will be some organisations in Wales left behind and not working towards realising our shared vision of an anti-racist Wales. I appreciate in your response to Tom Giffard that you mentioned that this was specifically a statement around culture and heritage, but obviously, as you've acknowledged, sport is hugely important as part of this. And I would welcome a future statement specifically in relation to sport, if you would be willing to do so, Minister, because, obviously, this is crucial. We want people participating in every aspect of life here in Wales and for every aspect to become anti-racist. And as culture and sport are so integral and intertwined, I think it's crucial that those are reflected and that we hear from you further on that matter. Diolch.

Thank you. Can I thank Heledd Fychan for those points? I'll start with that last one first, because although this wasn't a statement about sport—and, yes, I will come back and deal with that—sport is very, very close to my heart, particularly football, particularly after last weekend, and I'm just so excited. It's just—. You know, I get all kind of—. I was talking to somebody last week, actually, before the game, and I was supposed to have been having a business meeting with them, talking about the arrangements for the game, and I was having palpitations just talking about getting ready for the game. But we have a huge amount to do in sport. Now, I was watching on tv the other night—there was an international game played between England and Hungary behind closed doors, because of Hungary's racist crowd-chanting and so on, and the game was played behind closed doors. So, the Hungarian football association allowed 30,000 young people into that match, because that was a loophole in the law. When the team took the knee—the England team took the knee—the crowd of children booed. Now, that is really frightening—30,000 booing a team taking the knee to demonstrate anti-racism. So, if anybody tries to tell us that we don't have a problem, and I think, again, the point that was Sioned was making—. You know, kids aren't born racist, they are taught it. They're taught that behaviour, and if we don't come in at a very early age—and I'm sure that my colleague Jeremy Miles will be dealing with this in his statement—if we don't start that at a very early age, through our education system, then we're in very difficult territory.

To go back to some of the other points that you've raised, I think what is important, particularly in the areas of representation in terms of access—access to our bodies, whether it is access to exhibitions, so it becomes more accessible for people to participate in the viewing and the involvement in exhibitions that we have in our museums and libraries, so that it's more accessible, easier to understand—that's the one aspect, and that's also true of sport in terms of access to sport. But it's also about the people that our national bodies employ, the people that sit on the governing bodies and so on. So, to deal specifically with your point, we did have a report that came out of a number of inquiries, research that was undertaken both in the National Museum Wales and the Arts Council of Wales, and that led to the report on widening engagement, which was looking particularly at leadership and accountability, cultural democracy, equality and the Welsh language, accessible services, work development, staff training, skills, communications and branding. So, that is now running through everything that Amgueddfa Cymru and the Arts Council of Wales are doing around their appointments process, appointments to their boards and so on. But you've quite rightly identified, Heledd, that there is still a huge amount of work to do about how do we get people to apply in the first place, and part of that widening engagement action plan is about looking at this whole thing about, if you keep doing things the way you've always done them, you'll always get the same results—so, we have to address that and we have to look differently at that—and why engagement with people with lived experiences is so important. That's why that is key and central to everything that we are doing.

Again, I would have to agree with you about the huge amount more that we still have yet to do. I think further questioning needs to take place with our accredited museums about why all of them didn't take part in this training, and maybe some of that we have to look at. We may have to look at it in terms of what our funding means to organisations that will not participate in what is, after all, a programme for government commitment.

So, I really just conclude by saying I absolutely agree with virtually everything that you have said. There is so much more to do. But I think we have set out on a path, a very clear path, of determination to get this right. And, as I said to Tom Giffard, that accountability is to me, and it is from me back to this Senedd, so I've got a vested interest in making sure that those things are delivered as well. Thank you.

Minister, I was very grateful for your meeting with Urban Circle, a grass-roots arts and cultural organisation in Newport who do a great deal of good work in the community around music, dance and culture to bring communities together and to support diversity and equality. Just this summer now, as you would know from our meeting, they're taking forward a very ambitious programme to have a reggae and riddim concert in Newport, in Tredegar House in Newport, which will be one of the official events to mark the sixtieth anniversary of independence for Jamaica. So, it'll be music, it'll be dance, they'll have a museum, a temporary museum, constructed on site, and it will help very much to connect the whole of Wales, really, not just the Newport area, with Jamaica to a greater extent.

I know you believe, as I do, that it's very important that we make these international connections as part of our efforts to be diverse, to connect with other cultures, to understand the cultural backgrounds of people living in Wales and to get Wales out there, really, on the international scene, to make Wales better known as part of our efforts to open up Wales to the world and the world to Wales. So, I think this event is very, very important, Minister, and I was very pleased that you gave it fulsome backing when we met, because it's just one example, really, but a very strong and good one, of the work that Urban Circle do in Newport in our ethnically diverse communities, but also to make those wider connections. So, I'm sure you will join me today, Minister, in applauding the work of Urban Circle, welcoming this, I think, very significant event this summer and wishing Urban Circle and those who work with them all the best in the future for this really valuable work.

Can I thank John Griffiths for that point and those points about Urban Circle, who were—they are—a fantastic organisation? I've spoken both to you and to my colleague Jayne Bryant about them and the work that they do, and it was great to meet Loren and Ali when we discussed the festival that's taking place next month. I think I've got an invite to go, as well, which will be, you know—which will be great.

But you're absolutely right, John, that the fact that we have these diverse communities that enrich our society and that we have links back, particularly in the Caribbean communities, Jamaica—we have lots of those communities in Wales—and that particular link with the slave trade as well, in terms of what we were talking about and what I was talking about specifically in my statement—. We have that link, we have that specific link in Wales, and we want to encourage that cultural diversity. We want to acknowledge the links with the slave trade, but, more importantly, we want to encourage our diverse communities to express their culture in Wales.

We've always been a welcoming country, a welcoming nation. It is our diversity that makes us very special. The whole of the UK is a very diverse nation, group of nations, and all of that is so important. So, I hope the reggae and riddim festival will be great. I'm sure it will be, because I will be there. I'm sure it will be great. I'm sure it will do an awful lot to bring young people together in that community—and not-so-young people, if I'm going, as well. [Laughter.] But it's really just to say, John, yes, they're an excellent organisation, and credit to them for the work that they've been doing in Newport.

Thank you, Deputy Minister, for that statement.