But can I also just tell another very, very short anecdote? Those of you who are as old as me will remember the 1992 Grand National. I was in hospital, having my eldest son at the time, and the 1992 Grand National was in April, and the winner was Party Politics, and it was five days before the general election of 1992, and I bet on Party Politics, just because it was the general election, and Party Politics actually won the Grand National that year, and we left hospital with my son, and the first place that my son ever visited was a polling station on the way home. But, anyway, those are my racing anecdotes.

There have been some outstanding recent Welsh successes for jockeys and trainers, both over the jumps and the flat, over the last couple of seasons. Many of these fantastic performances were recognised at the horse-racing awards earlier this month, and you mentioned David Probert, who was the flat racing jockey of the year, having ridden over 150 winners in the past 12 months, and also the national hunt trainer of the year, Evan Williams, who achieved 53 winners and won over £900,000 in prize money in the last year. 

But, of course, horse-racing, like other sports, has faced very challenging times over the last couple of years, and that was why we did create the spectator sport survival fund, to help sports that are reliant on spectators, such as horse-racing, to offset the COVID-related loss of income, and the scheme was well received. Again, as Llyr pointed out, the three Welsh courses received something like £1.7 million of funding from Welsh Government to get them through that period during the pandemic.

But I also know that trainers continue to face challenges, when trying to grow and expand their businesses, with issues such as planning permission and business rates, and I'm aware that the industry is putting together a proposal for the Welsh Government to consider what further support we could provide for trainers, and I very much look forward to seeing that proposal and considering what's in it.

I also think it's fair to say that the industry can only thrive if it has a strong regulatory framework to underpin it, and that is of course the British Horseracing Authority, as the recognised body responsible for the regulation of horse-racing, and I'm aware that the BHA has recently strengthened its governance structures, and hopefully that will place greater emphasis on horse welfare, supporting people in the industry and addressing issues around equality, diversity, inclusion, corporate social responsibility, social licensing and environmental sustainability.

Now, like others have also mentioned, we do of course recognise the issues and the concerns around animal welfare, and that is of course of paramount importance in ensuring the continued success of the industry. Horse-racing in Britain is seen by many as among the world's best regulated animal activities. And, together with the RSPCA and World Horse Welfare, the BHA is a leading signatory of the national equine welfare protocol. And there's at least one BHA veterinary officer on duty at every race meeting, whose responsibility it is to oversee horse welfare and ensure that the standards laid down by the BHA are maintained. Because race horses, like all domestic captive animals, are also afforded protection under the Animal Welfare Act 2006, and under this legislation, it is an offence to cause any unnecessary suffering to an animal or for an owner or keeper to fail to provide for its welfare needs. The Welsh Government's code of practice for the welfare of equines explains what needs to be done to meet the standards of care the law requires, which includes the equine's environment, behavioural needs, health and welfare. And policy officials work alongside the animal health and welfare framework group on the revision of the codes, with the revised code for horses coming into force in November 2018.

And I know, as again Llyr has pointed out, there are concerns about what the industry is doing to support issues around problem gambling. Because although the UK Government announced its review of the Gambling Act 2005 in December 2020, as we've heard, the progress on publishing that White Paper seems to have stalled. And I'd be more than happy to work with anybody who will press for the UK Government to move on this, because it is a very important piece of work. But can I be absolutely clear that I support the industry in the efforts that it is making to support the minimising of gambling-related harms, with very simple measures, such as siting cash machines away from the betting counters or bookmakers, so that anyone who uses the ATM must cease betting in order to do so. Other measures are aimed at ensuring that gambling is conducted in a fair and open way, by ensuring that all operators in attendance have a valid operator's licence issued by the Gambling Commission, and any illegal bookmakers or bookmakers operating improperly are removed from the premises.

So, to conclude, Llywydd, it's by providing these reassurances to members of the public and those on animal welfare grounds and the governance of sport that we will allow horse-racing to continue to grow and flourish in Wales. And with the support of everybody in this Chamber, I'm absolutely certain that that is what will happen. Diolch yn fawr.