| "Our Report is Intended as a Wake-up Call” |
Culture in the Senedd |
| Culture Debated in Strong Terms , Senedd , October 2, 2025 |
On 11th July Andy Lown, the CEO of Ideas Strategy Growth, wrote on social media. “I’ve had enough. I’m fed up with the narrative around arts funding – as if it’s a soft option, a luxury, a nice-to-have if there’s money left over. “Too often, the argument goes like this: “We need to fund hospitals, schools, essential services first.” But the research is clear - participation in the arts improves health, boosts education outcomes, and drives productivity. "It doesn’t compete with core services. It strengthens them. This is not an indulgence. It’s an investment. “Every time the arts, culture and creativity are discussed, we hear the same commentary. The sector is in crisis. Institutions are struggling. Funding is declining faster than organisations can adapt.” * * * * Rhianon Passmore in plenary session in the Senedd on 8th October 2024 said: “I wish to ask for a clear statement today regarding the future funding model of Welsh culture....Wales is playing a dangerous game of roulette with our cultural future. And it is wrong-headed to say that all such decisions are determined by arm's-length bodies; every body needs a head and a strategic direction. “So, I ask for a statement to this Senedd, outlining the timescale of the anticipated review of the Welsh cultural strategy. We cannot cancel out the age-old concept of excellence, the cornerstone and primary aim of artistic pursuit for all millennia.” * * * * Heledd Fychan in Committee on 17th October 2024 said: “I think the Welsh Government could play a more strategic role in holding a direct relationship with national companies and organisations, as well as funding bodies, so that we're all working towards one strategic national approach to the arts, like a joint and common commitment to what we want our cultural sector to be and how we want that future vision to pan out. “...we've all talked today around the role that arts can play in health and well-being and telling stories about climate justice, and so on.” There it is: the state needs to dominate more: artists are to use their artistry to proselytise. There is no attention to micro-economics. * * * * The Senedd debated culture on 26th March for one hour, 1600 to 1700. The same attitudes pervaded. No institutions are mentioned by name. Motion NDM8865 was introduced by Delyth Jewell: “To propose that the Senedd: Notes the report of the Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee: ‘A decade of cuts: Impact of funding reductions for culture and sport’ which was laid in the Table Office on 9 January 2025.” Some extracts: Delyth Jewell: “Over the last decade, we've seen prolonged and harsh real-terms cuts to culture and sport. These sectors have been treated as nice to haves. As a result, public funding of culture and sport is lower in Wales per head than most European nations, despite a Wales of vibrant culture being one of the goals of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. "Senedd research compared public spending on culture and sport with 24 other European countries. The average spend on recreation and sporting services in these countries is £187.74 per person. In Wales, the figure is £59.75 per person, or 32 per cent of the average of these countries, placing Wales third from bottom. "The average spend on cultural services in these countries is £215.02 per person. In Wales, on the other hand, the figure is £69.68 per person, placing Wales second from bottom. "As I've said in the foreword to our report, culture and sport are not luxuries reserved for times of plenty. They are vital threads in the fabric of what makes life worth living, but they have been neglected, I'm afraid, by successive Welsh Governments. "We therefore recommend in the report that the Welsh Government should increase funding for culture and sport until they are comparable with similar countries. Now, the Welsh Government accepted this recommendation in principle and responded with funding increases in the 2025-26 final budget, and we were gratified and grateful to see these increases. "This uplift, though, cannot undo the long-term damage caused by previous funding cuts. This increase does not restore the critical loss of sector skills and expertise—skills that might never be fully recovered—nor does it resolve the funding gaps that might still arise from the increases in employers' national insurance contributions. "The brutal underfunding of these vital policy areas over time has undermined their proven capabilities to strengthen community cohesion and to improve people's physical and mental well-being. It is cheaper to invest in preventative care than to treat ill health, but there is limited joined-up thinking across Government when it comes to the benefits of culture and sport. "A 'preventative' category of spending in future budgets could help recognise and properly fund these sectors' true value. We were therefore disappointed that the Welsh Government rejected our recommendations relating to prevention, especially since implementing these recommendations would not be too onerous, in our opinion. "We are likewise disappointed that the Welsh Government rejected our recommendation that it should proactively remove barriers that make it more difficult for organisations to spend money they are given, especially in these particularly difficult times. Funding recipients want to be treated and funded as trusted partners, in a more reciprocal, collaborative relationship, and they called on the Welsh Government to provide more flexibility as to how it allocates funding. "We heard that organisations are sometimes unable to spend additional in-year funding because of restrictions imposed on how it can be spent. The effect of this—. We already know the situation that so many of these organisations find themselves in, so that is a deeply dismaying situation to be continuing. "We would like to see organisations responding more strategically to their reduced income by sharing services and pursuing new commercial activities, but that would require better strategic direction from the Government, which has to date not been there. "In response to our recommendation to this effect, the Welsh Government said that they are already providing "a very clear strategic direction to the national culture and sport bodies'. "There are 13 recommendations in our report. We were pleased that three of those had been accepted by the Government, but were disappointed that seven had only been accepted in principle, and that three had been rejected. "It is concerning, indeed, to see the Government increasingly, over several different departments, adhering to this method of accepting committee recommendations 'in principle', only to explain in the narrative underneath that they don't really accept the recommendation at all. "For example, we recommended that the Government should analyse the most suitable model for funding national cultural companies, either through the arts council or directly from the Government. Although they accepted this recommendation in principle, the response below clearly states that the Government believes that the arts council should continue to distribute the money for these companies. How, then, could they say that they accept our recommendation in principle?" * * * * Gareth Davies for the opposition: "Culture, arts and sport are the lifeblood of our nationhood. They forge our identity and ignite our aspirations. They reinforce what it means to be Welsh—anchored in history, yet looking towards our future. They are also the crucible of our nation's talent, nurturing those talents within our next generation. "We should recognise that every pound lavished on theatre or a football pitch is a pound wrested from a hospital bed, a classroom or a pensioner's purse. The task is not merely to fund culture and sport; we must, but do so with discernment, ensuring that every penny serves a public good, not a bureaucratic whim or niche concern out of step with the ordinary Welsh person. A"s Welsh Conservatives, we demand rigour, efficiency and accountability. We should fund culture and sport, not as a vehicle for the crachach in Pontcanna to write dissertations on bakery items and such, because this is the sort of nonsense being funded by some of the arm's-length bodies currently enjoying taxpayers' money. "The funding must be of benefit to the many, those who find joy in a hymn and find community on a rugby pitch. The cultural sector is becoming a sand box for the indulgent, the obscure and, more importantly, the wasteful. "To illustrate my point, we have seen £50,000 frittered on an immersive installation in Cardiff, a labyrinth of lights and noise that bewildered its small number of visitors before its quiet demise, much to the embarrassment of its creators. Another £20,000 evaporated into a consultancy to rebrand a cultural festival that no-one sought to rename. "Then there's the £15,000 swallowed by a climate change dance—a prancing oddity that's altered neither the skies nor the spectators' opinions. And, lest we forget, £30,000 was once splashed on a sculpture of recycled tyres in Swansea, lauded as 'bold' by its creators, yet dubbed an eyesore by those condemned to live beside it. This is not culture, this is waste, waste that erodes trust in funding when trust is most fragile." * * * * Alun Davies from the back-benches: “The Government here needs to take a different role as well. The tone has certainly changed in recent months, but the 'Crisis, what crisis?' approach from Government runs through the whole of the Government's response to the report. I'll speak absolutely clearly to you, Minister: the approach you took at committee wasn't acceptable, and the approach taken in the response from the Government to this report isn't acceptable either. “There needs to be a very clear recognition of the crisis that has been occurring in the culture sector as a consequence of decisions taken by the Welsh Government. It's the easiest thing in the world to blame the Tories—we've all done it, and I've fallen into that trap as well; we've done it on many occasions—but there is an accountability and a responsibility here. "It is the Welsh Government that has taken these decisions, it's the Welsh Government that has delivered these cuts. “The Welsh Government needs to recognise that culture doesn't happen in a vacuum, and neither does it happen by accident. The committee has visited Ireland, we have the experience of Scotland and England and elsewhere; I look, also, to Iceland, where investment has taken place that has enhanced the life of those countries and those nations and those peoples. And if you want to look at how culture can change wider society, look at Iceland and the impact there on youth policy and on the life chances of young people. “...a fundamental error of judgment and an error of decision. So, I would like to see the Government withdraw its response to this committee. I'd like to see the Government particularly changing its response to recommendation 4, which goes to the heart of this report. I hope the Welsh Government will not simply take note of this report, but will consider what has been said in this debate and will respond more positively to the report here, because it is more fundamental than simply a report on a theme or a segment of policy; it is about who we are as a country and the Government's response to that.” * * * * John Griffiths spoke to promote government and party. The official line is that culture decisions of Wales are made in London. “We have had all those long years of austerity from the UK Tory Government, which has obviously had a real impact in terms of our sport and culture sectors here in Wales. I believe that, now that we've moved on to better times, with a move away from austerity at a UK level and a more generous funding settlement for Wales. * * * * Delyth Jewell concluded: “The arts, particularly, are an anchor They place us in time; they pay tribute to our past, and they position us for the future. Some of the other comments we heard perhaps didn't relate directly to the report. That was slightly disappointing, because that was almost a distraction from the purpose of this afternoon's debate.” Division is not a word ever heard in the House of Commons. It is obsessive in Cardiff Bay. “I would, perhaps, posit in response to some of that Raymond Williams's words that culture is ordinary, culture is a kaleidoscope—it's meant to unify, it's not meant to divide; it should be celebrated in all its wonderful, colourful diversity. I think it's something that we should all keep in mind in these debates. “The Scottish Government greatly values the culture sector...demonstrated its confidence...by providing a further £34 million in 2025/26 taking the uplifts to date to £50 million a year'. And they go on to say that there's an intention of reaching £100 million annually by 2028-29. “Our report is intended as a wake-up call to the Welsh Government. This situation cannot continue. We are facing a crisis that has not gone away. Culture and sport are vital. They require, and they deserve, sustained and increased investment and vision.” Source: https://record.senedd.wales/Plenary/14879#A95642 |
Reviewed by: Adam Somerset |
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