First Minister, Cardiff Council have cited a maintenance backlog to the tune of £55 million as a motivating factor behind recent soundings to sell St David's Hall in Cardiff. The systematic failure to provide adequate ongoing maintenance now means that the venue, which hosts cultural and civic occasions, as my colleague Rhys mentioned, that add to Cardiff's prestige as a capital city is looking to change hands to a company that has declared their desire to cease holding these types of events. This potential sale of St David's Hall brings to the forefront issues about how responsible the local authority should be in the management of community assets and community buildings, and how accountable they should be when they've failed to properly maintain and look after them.

First Minister, I would argue that £55 million-worth of maintenance work is very unlikely to have been accrued over the last three years since the start of the COVID pandemic, and I do not believe that this should be made the reasoning behind the backlog. Fifty-five million pounds-worth of maintenance happens over decades of neglect, and I therefore believe that, if Cardiff Council had acted responsibly in carrying out proper scheduled maintenance, they would not be looking to sell St David's Hall. With this in mind, First Minister, what assessment has this Government made alongside local authorities to understand whether or not those responsible for maintaining cultural and community assets are doing all that they can to properly maintain them? Thank you.