Jack Sargeant MS, Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership
I’m very pleased to have been appointed Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership with the breadth of portfolio this entails.
The consultation on our draft Priorities for Culture recently closed and officials are currently considering the many responses that we have received. The Priorities include an ambition for our culture and heritage bodies to work collaboratively to maximise the full potential of their specialist teams and collections. This is relevant to ongoing work relating to the independent Review of Cadw’s Governance Arrangements which was published in December 2023.
This update follows the detailed report that the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and Social Justice issued in June and I am pleased to give my support to both the Review’s recommendations, and to the Cabinet Secretary’s response to it. The next step is for those recommendations to be considered through an internal Welsh Government Steering Group and 4 project workstreams to address the recommendations made under the 6 key themes identified in the Review.
Steering Group membership includes Cadw’s interim Chair, senior officials from Welsh Government and Trade Union representation. The 4 workstreams, (Corporate Governance, HR, Royal Commission and Commercial – Cadw for all), will report to the Steering Group, and include members from Cadw’s Board, and from the Welsh Government HR, Governance, Finance and Commercial professions, all of whom will be well placed to provide the knowledge and expertise required to implement the recommendations.
Reviewing the relationship between Cadw and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
Significant progress is being made in responding to the recommendation to review the relationship between Cadw and the Royal Commission. All options are being considered, from closer aligning of work programmes to full amalgamation within the Welsh Government.
Cadw and the Royal Commission are working through social partnership to lead this review. Their respective Chairs and Chief Executives sit on a working group alongside trades union representatives from both organisations, an independent external heritage expert and other senior officials from Welsh Government.
Over the coming weeks, discussions will take place with staff and stakeholders on a range of options for the future relationship between Cadw and the Royal Commission and I look forward to receiving a report from the working group. I will provide you with a further update in the spring once I have had time to consider the group’s recommendations.