6. Debate on the Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee Report — 'Levelling the playing field: A report on participation in sport and physical activity in disadvantaged areas'

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:58 pm on 30 November 2022.

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Photo of Dawn Bowden Dawn Bowden Labour 4:58, 30 November 2022

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and can I thank Members for what was a very interesting and important debate this afternoon? And in the time available to me, I'm clearly not going to be able to cover each and every point that was raised this afternoon. I will try to concentrate my comments specifically on the report and its recommendations, and I'll pick up one or two others as I go through. But I am very grateful to the committee and the support staff for the time and effort spent in producing this report, and also to those who provided evidence.

As I said to the committee, sport is vital to our national life. It's got a powerful influence on our national identity. It unites us as a nation and it gives us an enviable presence on the world stage, and, clearly, we've seen that in spades over the last couple of weeks or so, haven't we? And it would be remiss of me not to put on record my own huge thanks to Rob Page and the Wales team for their efforts in Qatar. It wasn't to be this time, and I know we were all really upset about that, but I just think this is the start of a very long road for our national football team, and we now look forward to the qualification for the Euros.

But sport has clearly a significant contribution to make in delivering our programme for government, with its reach and influence extending beyond the specific commitments on enhancing equal access, improving participation and building on our provision of sporting facilities across the country. In this context, working with Sport Wales, we will continue to lead the sector and encourage collaboration to nurture and facilitate a population increase in physical activity and to invest effort and resources where it is needed most—where there are significant variations in participation and where there is a lack of opportunity or aspiration to be active.