Oral - Priorities for the Heritage Portfolio

I am delighted to have this opportunity to make a statement about my early priorities for the heritage portfolio. These are matters in which I have taken a long-term interest, and I was honoured to be Chair of the Culture Committee in the first Assembly. I have campaigned over the years on a number of cultural issues. It is a real privilege to assume ministerial responsibility for matters that do so much to define us as a nation.

I have been very encouraged by the enthusiasm and commitment of all those I have met in the culture and tourism sector in the two months since my appointment. That commitment to making a difference is shared by the Welsh Assembly Government. The agenda set out in 'One Wales’ is an ambitious and exciting programme for government. I am looking forward to implementing our heritage commitments over the coming Assembly.

I am keen to take early steps to realise the commitments made in 'One Wales’ in relation to the Welsh language. I look forward to an exciting time. There is an opportunity over the next few years to use the Assembly’s new powers to strengthen the position of the language. Among our commitments are to confirm the official status of the Welsh language, to establish a language commissioner, to secure rights in relation to service provision, to increase our efforts to secure an agreement on the use of the Welsh language in European Union institutions, to increase the funding for Welsh-language newspapers and magazines, and to continue research into population movement. The first step in all of this is to prepare the ground for the use of the Assembly’s new powers. I will introduce a legislative competence Order in the spring, and work on preparing that has begun.

I am also committed to early action aimed at bringing a stronger sense of common purpose to our policies in support of the arts. We are fortunate to have artists and performers of a calibre that puts Wales on the world stage. However, we should not take our current strengths for granted. We need to ensure that we continue to nurture and retain artistic talent. We also need to make sure that the resources available for the arts and culture are used to the best possible effect.

The publication of the Stephens report last year highlighted a number of areas where the Assembly Government and the Arts Council for Wales could work more effectively and collaboratively together. I want to use our response to that report to redefine the relationship between Government and our statutory advisers. We must focus our efforts on strengthening the arts in Wales, at the national and the local level. At the national level, I am convening an arts strategy board as recommended by Professor Stephens.

The board will include representatives from the arts council and other key stakeholders. It will meet for the first time in early November. The new board will provide a clearer sense of strategic direction. My intention is that it should encourage more inclusive policy development. Professor Stephens’s report highlighted a whole series of significant challenges for the arts in Wales. I look forward to tackling these with this new group. 'One Wales’ also makes clear the Government’s intention to strengthen the arts at local level. I want to explore with local authorities how best we can develop the proposal to place authorities under a statutory duty to promote culture. That needs to build on the wonderful work some authorities are already doing in this regard. I will have more to say in the new year about how I intend to take this work forward.

One of the most exciting cultural initiatives in our 'One Wales’ programme is our pledge to establish an English-language theatre for Wales. This provides us with a wonderful opportunity to build on the success of Theatr Genedlaethol Cymru. It also underlines our absolute commitment to developing theatre, and, indeed, all art forms, in both national languages. The launch of the theatre itself is dependent on decisions to be taken as part of the current public spending review. However, the Arts Council of Wales has already been allocated funding for the preparatory work required to establish the theatre. I am pleased that I can today announce that the planning will now move to a new level. I have agreed with the arts council that it should now move forward to advertise for the chair and members of the board that will oversee the development of this unique project. This will provide a new impetus and an even sharper creative vision, which will be essential for the project.

My other priority in these early months is to make new connections between the different areas for which I have ministerial responsibility. The presence of tourism within the heritage portfolio - alongside Cadw, sport, culture and the arts - generates exciting new opportunities. I want to ensure that, in future, policy making in these areas is even more closely aligned. In particular, I want to maximise the potential of cultural tourism and, indeed, sporting tourism.

I also want the heritage portfolio to make an even stronger contribution right across the Welsh Assembly Government agenda. Cadw’s work to deliver an accessible, well-protected historic environment is important in its own right, but it is also important because of the wider contribution it can make to the economy, education and revitalising local communities.

Promoting physical activity might generate success at the 2012 Olympics, but I also want the efforts of the Sports Council for Wales to become an even bigger component of Edwina Hart’s drive to promote healthy lifestyles. We will strengthen our support for public libraries and for museums and galleries because of the cultural riches they contain, but also because of the remarkable contribution that they make to lifelong learning.

Culture, sport and the historic environment are essential features of everyday life in Wales, but increasingly they are also essential features of our economy and of our attractiveness to visitors. I am determined to use these tools in building a vibrant, confident and bilingual nation. The heritage portfolio has a significant contribution to make to our cultural and economic success.