, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
Well, 'no, I don't' is the short answer, because I don't think it's the job of Government to be running national organisations like that. We have a vehicle set up and they are the experts, that's why they're there. They're the Arts Council of Wales. They are…
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
—made statements on the floor of the Senedd and so on. But there was an awful lot that had gone on in private before we got to that point. So, I'm not saying it would never get to that point; I'm saying that that's not your starting point.
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
I'm not saying it wouldn't ever reach the public domain. You might cast your mind back a few years ago to problems in Sport Wales, and we had to change the chair of Sport Wales and so on, and all of that was played out very much in public. And the then…
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
Well, I'm not saying that it wouldn't ever reach the public domain, Alun, because—
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
Initially I would, yes, because I think that's the appropriate relationship with an organisation that I have ministerial responsibility for. I don't play out my role in public; that's not an appropriate way to deal with that. I have a relationship with these…
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
Sorry, I—
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
I have no evidence to suggest that that is what has happened through the investment review.
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
I have formal meetings with them, at least a couple of times a year. That's with me, and officials are meeting with them all the time. So, the starting point is, they have a remit letter from me, a term of Government remit letter, which sets out very clearly…
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
It's a bit more than a sit down with a cup of coffee in an armchair, Huw. I have formal meetings with them.
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
Sure.
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
Oh, there is transition. Yes, there is—. Perhaps, let me—. So, through the investment review, any organisation that has lost out as a result of the investment review will have access to transitional funding. And all organisations, whether they continue to be…
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
I'll ask Jason to say a bit in a moment about the timescale and the work going forward, but the short answer, Alun, to your question is, 'No, there won't be', because the money that funds the arts is channelled through the arts council. So, whatever money we…
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
—and are cultural organisations out in the community—some of them very small organisations—that employ people. So, we're talking about the direct employment of people in the arts council, but any cuts to the funding of grants for other organisations has a…
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
So, we support the arts council to deliver grant funding on behalf of Welsh Government. And when the arts council started their investment review, they were starting that investment review with a projected budget figure that was considerably higher than…
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
Oh, no, no, I was thinking because there is an impact—because of the impact on that—because most of the budget that goes to the arts council is about the Welsh Government funding for grants that they administer.
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
'Yes' is the short answer. My officials, you will appreciate, are virtually in daily contact with all of our arm's-length bodies at the moment. I don't think they're doing very much else other than working with the arm's-length bodies to work through some of…
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
I will ask Jason and Dean to comment more on the wider financial picture, because it isn't just in culture, of course, that this happening. In the conversations that we are having with the arm's-length bodies, they know at this stage that they are having to…
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
Well, Llyr, one of the principles that the Minister outlined earlier on that's been guiding the Welsh Government through this budget process is how do we protect jobs. How can we allocate budgets in a way that minimise the impact of job losses? And that is…
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes.
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
Not at the moment. That is a conversation that we've been having for some months now, actually, once the extent of our budget situation became apparent. It wouldn't have been right or fair to those bodies to have left it until we published the draft budget…
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
It may well be—. I hope—I very much hope—it will be in advance of that, but, whenever it is published, it's going to be within the next financial year, so it's going to be constrained by the budget that's going to be allocated in the next financial year. Was…
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
The culture strategy—. Well, I'm only saying that's the deadline.
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
—with the budget allocation for next year. Yes.
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
It would have to be amended in line with the budget, yes, because this will sit in line—
, Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2024-25: evidence session with the Deputy Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Minister for Economy
Yes.
