May I also add my thanks to the clerks, my fellow Members and everyone who provided evidence? As the Chair said in opening this debate, the situation is worse than it was when we were taking evidence, and the situation was grim enough in terms of the future of arts and culture then. And Alun Davies's point is crucially important, I think, in terms of equality, because I despise seeing surveys by local authorities at the moment asking, 'Do you want to keep your library, your museum open, or do you want your bins collected regularly? Do you want older people in society to be cared for, or do you want a museum?' These are not fair choices to put before people, and the fact is that we still see culture and sport as 'nice to have'—some of these things that are just little luxuries of life rather than being a crucial part of everyone's life.

The truth is that, despite the fact that we have local museums, that we have libraries, that we have national institutions, there are still too many people here in Wales who can't access them, as things currently stand. There are all sorts of barriers. We know that the cost of transport is one of those barriers. If you don't live close enough to enjoy some of the incredible things that are available free of charge—. I know of many people who live very near to St Fagans but they can't get there because they don't have a car or can't afford a bus, and that is a barrier. Even when you live in Cardiff, there are barriers in accessing these facilities.

I think we have to look, when you do have high transport costs, at the fact that a lot of people still think that culture simply isn't for them because they haven't had those opportunities, and policies such as free access to our national museums is crucial. But what's a barrier now is the travel costs to get there. Many schools rely on buses to come to our national museums. That's a huge problem, because they can't afford these coach trips. So, what's available locally becomes even more important.

We're talking about swimming lessons; well, the cost of them is going to increase. People can't afford them as things stand. But, rather than seeing it as a key skill, difficult decisions will be made, meaning that there will be fewer opportunities, while simultaneously we want to be promoting the preventative agenda, and also in terms of future generations, the fact that we want everyone to have the same opportunities, wherever they live in Wales. So, there are very real challenges, and I think one of the great concerns that emerged from this report was the fact that the increase in cost was going to have an impact on those that we need to provide more opportunities to.

One of the things that I would ask the Minister to expand upon is why the tenth recommendation was rejected in relation to increasing the dialogue with the cultural sector. I accept that you have a good relationship, but can I ask how much mapping is done in terms of the situation facing the sector at the moment across Wales and what will the impact of that be in terms of audiences and participation? I think it's important to work with the education sector to understand the impact of a lack of school trips in terms of that access too.

One of the things that's not clear to me in terms of the response is how can we build upon the work of things such as the review of local museums that took place in 2015, which clearly showed the impact of previous cuts on these services. But the situation is even more stark now. There might be dialogue, but where's the action? Without doubt, it's a dire financial situation for our local authorities, because many of these are non-statutory services, including sport. So, if we take this in the context of the health service, I mentioned earlier the importance of sport and culture in terms of the preventative element, that we do secure equal opportunities for everyone in Wales. How can we, therefore, look differently at Government budgets in order to ensure that these opportunities continue to be available?

I would like to see a clear message from Government that we don't consider sport and culture as nice to have when times are good, and that this is exceptionally important in terms of the vision of the Welsh Government in all elements of the agenda, from tackling child poverty to the nation's health. So, can I ask, Deputy Minister, for your response in terms of what's happening across Wales in seeing a reduction in these services, and how will the Welsh Government secure that equal access to everyone, wherever they are in Wales?