Questions now from the party spokespeople. The questions today are to the Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport, with questions first of all from the Conservative spokesperson, Tom Giffard. 

Diolch yn fawr iawn, Llywydd. Good afternoon, Deputy Minister. Last week, the climate change Minister told the Senedd that Welsh Government officials wouldn't make the 2,500-mile journey to Sharm el-Sheikh for the COP27 conference in an effort to limit their air miles. Can you confirm how many air miles you accumulated on your recent trip to New Zealand?

I can't tell you exactly how many miles it is, but I think New Zealand is around 12,000 miles, is it?

Not bad. [Laughter.] The total round trip was 22,000 miles. 

There we are; that's quite right. 

It makes me wonder though what you learnt by making the trip, and what you couldn't have learnt on Zoom if you followed the logic of your climate change Minister. Or is it just another example of the typical virtue-signalling hypocrisy we've become used to from the Welsh Labour Government? Nevertheless, one thing I hope you will have seen out there is that, in New Zealand, 47 per cent of boys and 51 per cent of girls participate in sport outside of curriculum learning, compared to 43 per cent of boys and just 36 per cent of girls here, according to the recent Wales school sport survey, and that figure is one that's declining too compared to past years. So, what do you think New Zealand is getting right there that the Welsh Government is getting wrong here?

I wouldn't frame it in quite that way, Tom. What I would say is, certainly—if I deal with your first point first—going to New Zealand was a very valuable experience, and I've done quite a detailed report on the activities that I undertook while I was there. I think it was extremely important to support the women's team while they were out there, qualifying for the world cup, playing on a world stage, and it was important that we did that. We support the men's team when they play in the world cup, and it's quite right that we should support the women's team in a similar way.

But we didn't just go out there to watch the rugby. We went out there to have an engagement with a number of organisations around sporting participation, particularly amongst women, but wider participation as well. And when the culture committee did a recent inquiry on participation in sport—which you're a member of, and that report is going to be coming to the floor of the Senedd very shortly—one of the organisations or one of the schemes that was mentioned in that inquiry, was from New Zealand, and was called Active Me. And I actually took the opportunity to go and meet Active Me while I was there, because the work that they do is very much about participation and physical activity, and they have a scheme there that is funded on a kind of tripartite basis between health and education and Sport New Zealand and so on. And although that is a very successful scheme, and it has achieved the kind of statistics that you're talking about, it's not a million miles away from some of the work that we are already doing. But what I have done, and what I'm intending to do, is to have further conversations with Sport Wales to see what more we can learn from the Active Me project, and see how that can be developed, so that we can deliver much more cohesive participation and activity amongst children in particular. 

Thank you. You mentioned that the scheme isn't that different, but, as I've already demonstrated, I think the results are quite stark between New Zealand and Wales. It's interesting you mentioned as well foreign trips. We haven't heard from the Deputy Minister since the Welsh Government decided not to send you to attend Wales's game against Iran next week in the world cup in Qatar. First we thought you were attending and then we were told you weren't because of the ongoing human rights abuses and protests in Iran. But, given that we know there are ongoing human rights abuses every day in Qatar, surely the Government is drawing a line here by saying that human right abuses in Iran aren't okay but ones in Qatar are fine. I note too that your boss, the economy Minister, said yesterday that Ministers there would be attending to, quote, 'project our values.' So, if it's a question about our opponents rather than the hosts, as the Welsh Government's approach seems to suggest, can you tell me which of Wales's other group opponents—England or the USA—you will be projecting values on to?

Well, I think it's been abundantly clear why the Welsh Government is attending the FIFA World Cup. I think all of us accept, and have said on several occasions, we would prefer not to be in Qatar for all the reasons that have been previously talked about. In fact, just answering this question is one of those reasons, because what I would like to be focusing on is the fact that, for the first time in 64 years, we have a national football team that's going to be playing on a world stage, and that's what we should be focusing on. And, unfortunately, the fact that this competition is in Qatar means that we're focusing on some of the other things. I find that disappointing, because I think we—. Anyway, I find that disappointing. But I understand why people are doing that, because I have, as has the Minister for Economy and as has the First Minister, similar concerns about us being in Qatar.

But the First Minister and the Minister for Economy have made it very clear that we are attending those two games in particular because those are the two games and the two nations where we will be able to get the most economic benefit from in terms of our relationships with them, whether it's on trade, whether it's on similar values and aims that we have. I think you have to make a judgment call on those things, and that was the judgement call that Welsh Government made, and those are the reasons why we're going to those games. We've already talked about, and you've heard the Minister for Economy and the First Minister say this on several occasions, that there will also be a programme of activities that will include Welsh culture and arts and language being promoted in those countries as well, and it's quite right that the Government of Wales does that.

Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Heledd Fychan.

Thank you, Llywydd. On 8 September this year, 2,000 artists and arts workers were selected for the basic income for the arts pilot scheme in Ireland. Each artist or practitioner will receive €325 per week for three years as part of a research project that will collect data from participants to assess the impact of the scheme on their creative output and their well-being, with the aim of rolling it out to all artists as a permanent intervention. The scheme aims to show how Ireland values the arts and artistic practices. As you will be aware, the Welsh Government launched its basic income pilot scheme for care leavers in summer this year, an excellent pilot project that I hope will deliver all of the expected benefits. I wonder therefore whether the Deputy Minister has considered a similar programme for our culture sector to the one launched in Ireland, and, if not, is this something that she and her officials would be willing to give serious consideration to, bearing in mind how the culture, arts and heritage sectors have been hit by both the pandemic and now the cost-of-living crisis?

Thank you, Heledd Fychan, for that question, and I think it's a very fair point. As you quite rightly say, we do have a basic income pilot running in Wales and we do need to evaluate that. I think that evaluation will then inform where we take that scheme further, beyond the pilot. You'll be aware that, through the pandemic, we did have a support scheme for freelancers in particular that wasn't available in England, and we had a freelance partnership working arrangement agreement with local authorities. So, we are very well aware of the precarious nature of freelance work, in particular, in the arts and creative sector, so we did seek to protect them. What I would say is I absolutely would not rule out what you're putting to me today, but I can't give you any guarantees, because we clearly do need to evaluate that basic income pilot before we can make any future decisions around that. 

Thank you, Deputy Minister. That is very encouraging to hear. The current inflationary crisis is not only impacting individuals and households in the form of the cost-of-living crisis, but also many businesses, particularly those in the culture sector, who are experiencing a cost-of-business crisis. For example, Betsan Moses, the chief executive of the National Eisteddfod, warned that the festival had faced challenges this year as a result of Brexit, making importing goods more complicated and costly, and the festival is also facing increasing inflationary pressures. Similarly, the chairman of S4C, Rhodri Williams, has warned about soaring inflation hitting the channel's budget and that this will inevitably have a detrimental effect on the amount of content that can be commissioned from suppliers. Bearing this in mind, what discussions have taken place regarding safeguarding the future of the National Eisteddfod in the face of spiralling costs as a result of Brexit and inflation? And similarly, as S4C celebrates its fortieth birthday this year, what discussions are taking place to protect the tv production sector, particularly Welsh-language programming, here in Wales?

Okay. So, a number of points there. Obviously, what I would say—and I won't single out the National Eisteddfod specifically, because all of our cultural organisations and bodies are experiencing very, very similar issues and I'm having regular discussions with all of them. In fact, part of those discussions do form the discussions that I have with your colleagues Siân Gwenllian and Cefin Campbell in the co-operation agreement around how organisations like the national library, for instance, and the national museum, are meeting some of their inflationary pressures around fuel costs and so on. So, we're well aware of the impact that this is having right the way across the sector, and we are doing what we can to support those organisations, in financial terms where we can, and we have done something most recently with the national museum and the national library. Where we can't afford to give immediate financial support in those areas, we are having conversations with those bodies about how they can mitigate against some of those costs. I'm meeting also with the tv channels and film producers about the impact on them as well, and those are similar discussions across the piece.

What I can't stand here and say is that the Welsh Government is able to meet all of those increasing and spiralling costs. You will be aware that every Minister in this Government is currently having to look at their budgets and what we can do in terms of saving in our budgets, because the inflationary pressures on our budget are hitting us as well. So, it is an understanding of the situation. It is a continuing dialogue with those organisations about the situations that they're facing, and we will have a much better idea after the UK budget tomorrow about what further help, if any, and measures we can put in place to help all the organisations that are covered in my portfolio.