Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Education and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:39 pm on 8 February 2023.
Well, as the Member said, in 2022-23, we increased the core grant of the National Eisteddfod to ensure that it had the resources to stage future Eisteddfodau in a time of financial uncertainty. We are to allocate additional funding to the Eisteddfod in 2023-24 in the draft budget, in order to strengthen their community engagement structures, which are so important to their work as a festival. This will mean an allocation of £1 million to the Eisteddfod during the next financial year. We're also supporting a social inclusion pilot project to run alongside the next two Eisteddfodau in areas where we see great in-migration and great demand for second homes.
In terms of our support to the Urdd, the Urdd does excellent work in the Eisteddfod and more broadly as an organisation. Officials across Government collaborate with the Urdd in order to ensure that the Eisteddfod continues to be accessible, to ensure that everyone can enjoy Europe's largest youth festival, and we support the Urdd in many different ways too.