A SENEDD COMMITTEE report launching today, shows that, after a decade of cuts, Wales ranks third from bottom of European countries in terms of spending per person on recreational and sporting services and second from bottom for cultural services.

The Senedd’s culture and sport committee has released a comprehensive report detailing the severe impact of a decade of funding cuts on the culture and sport sectors in Wales. The committee has taken evidence from many key organisations across Wales who have raised serious concerns.

The report calls for action and increased funding from the Welsh government and highlights an urgent need for a strategy.

Delyth Jewell MS, chair of the committee said: “For too long, culture and sport have been treated as 'nice to haves,' facing relentless funding reductions that have left these sectors brittle and under-resourced.

“The recent cuts in the 2024-25 Welsh government budget, compounded by inflation and rising costs, have had a profound impact. We must tackle this to ensure that spending per head on culture and sport becomes comparable with other nations.

“Culture and sport are vital threads in the fabric of what makes life worth living: they enrich the human experience, and not merely luxuries to be enjoyed during times of plenty.

“Without significant changes, Wales risks being left behind in cultural and sporting achievements, endangering our national character and the well-being of our communities.”

Miranda Ballin from Valleys Kids, a charity that provides support, advice and opportunities to people of all ages in Rhondda Cynon Taf said: “Valleys Kids works in some of the most disadvantaged communities in Europe, they bore the brunt of austerity, the cost-of-living crisis and previously Brexit. For many of our young people and older adults they describe their involvement in the arts as a life line.

“Reduction in funding for the arts impacts on our local emerging artists, our freelance community and above all the participants themselves — being part of the arts, gives people a creative voice, at time when it’s most needed, we can’t afford to lose that now.”

Lisa Davies, chief executive of Tanio, an organisation providing access to a range of creative activities and interventions to different communities, shared her concerns: “Reductions in Welsh government funding for culture and the arts have impacted every part of what we do: it has reduced the amount of activities we can offer to people in deprived communities, and has changed the content of the activities we can provide. It has also greatly affected our staff, as we can offer fewer freelance work opportunities to our network of artists.”

Nia Wyn Evans from community theatre, Arad Goch added: “With the costs of everything such as wages, electricity, travel costs and living costs increasing so quickly, and the money coming in staying the same or decreasing — it’s impossible to make ends meet. There must be a compromise.

“Our main aim as a company is to provide theatre to as many children and young people as possible — but these numbers are going to decrease due to the length of our trips and our ability to go to different locations.”

The report makes several key recommendations and calls for the Welsh government to increase funding for culture and sport until spending per head is comparable with similar nations, introduce a “preventative” category of spending in future budgets to recognise and properly fund the value of culture and sport in improving physical and mental well-being and develop a collaborative cross-department strategy for funding culture and sport, ensuring these sectors are recognised as key to achieving the goals of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

It also calls for immediate action to prevent further deterioration in these vital sectors. The Welsh government must now respond to the committee’s report and recommendations.