Part of 3. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 2:59 pm on 31 January 2023.
Of course, the vision for sport is the replacement strategy, so the strategy that you're talking about hasn't been updated, it's been replaced. We now have the vision for sport that seeks to promote Wales to the world through the performance of our elite athletes and our sporting excellence. The Sport Wales sport strategy aims to deliver that success for Wales on the world stage through a holistic approach to developing athletes and creating environments where they can thrive. As I'm sure Laura Jones is well aware, Wales is an integral part of the UK high-performance system, so we don't sit alone in this and we are part of the Olympic and Paralympic Sport Wales athletes programme for team GB on the highest sporting stage. You will know yourself how many Welsh athletes contribute to the GB team at the Olympics and the success that they have had through that programme. It's just simply not true to say that there is no investment in sport in Wales. Our revenue budget to Sport Wales is £23 million in the last year. It will be another £24 million in the next financial year, and we have an annual capital budget for sport in Wales of £8 million a year. We've provided an increased in-year allocation this year on capital investment in sport of £1.54 million.
Now, the elite pathways for sport are developed through the national governing bodies. They are not the direct responsibility of Sport Wales; they are developed through the national governing bodies. It is also not true to say that Sport Wales doesn't support and fund individual elite athletes, because they do through the National Lottery and they receive support through Elite Cymru, which is part of Sport Wales. They will receive funding through that route when they are referred by their national governing bodies. So, our investment in sport is partly through the lottery and it is partly through the direct funding that Sport Wales receives. As I've said, we are part of international organisations and bodies as well.