House of Commons - Culture, Media and Sport - Minutes of Evidence

Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport Minutes of Evidence

APPENDIX 2

Memorandum submitted by the Welsh Office
Millennium Celebrations in Wales: The Role of the Welsh Office

1. This memorandum is provided at the request of the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee to inform its inquiry into the Millennium Celebrations in the United Kingdom. It should be read in conjunction with the memoranda provided by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), other Government Departments, the Millennium Commission and the New Millennium Experience Company (NMEC).

ROLE OF THE WELSH OFFICE

2. The Welsh Office is keen to ensure that throughout Wales people are given every opportunity to celebrate the Millennium in a lasting and fitting way. As in other parts of the United Kingdom, the Millennium Commission is using money raised by the National Lottery to encourage specific Millennium projects in Wales. The sponsoring department for the Commission is DCMS. Both DCMS and the Commission have kept the Welsh Office informed about activities in Wales.

3. The role of the Welsh Office has been to advise and support the Commission and to participate in the high level Millennium Co-ordinating Group under the Chairmanship of DCMS. With the recent establishment of the Wales Co-ordinating Group and NMEC'S Millennium Festival operations in Wales as described below, the Department will have additional strategic involvement.

THE MILLENNIUM COMMISSION

4. Wales has benefited greatly from investment by the Millennium Commission in major capital projects in different parts of the country. Examples include the Millennium Stadium and the Millennium Centre in Cardiff which will provide world class sporting and arts facilities; the National Botanic Garden of Wales in Carmarthenshire; and the restoration of the Urdd youth centre at Glan Llyn in North Wales. Wales will also receive its share of funds for projects stretching across the UK such as the Millennium cycle route, the renovation of village and church halls, the restoration of church bells and the reclamation of wasteland areas. The Commission has already allocated £134.5 million to Wales, representing nearly 11% of their UK funding. In addition, £2.03 million of the Commission's £20 million contribution to the Millennium Festival Fund will be allocated to Wales.

WALES MILLENNIUM CO -ORDINATING GROUP

5. As announced by the Secretary of State for Wales in an address to the "Celebrating the Millennium" Conference in Swansea on 6 April, the Department is inviting various organisations in Wales to participate in the work of a Co-ordinating Group for Welsh Millennium events. Under the Chairmanship of the Director, Social Policy and Local Government Affairs, the Group will meet regularly, the first meeting being on 23 June. Membership is likely to include representatives from the churches, voluntary organisations, local authorities, youth movements, Welsh lottery distributors, the Wales Tourist Board and the broadcasting organisations, as well as DCMS, the Millennium Commission and NMEC. (A list of those invited to attend is attached at Annex A.) Its functions will include ensuring that the celebrations are truly inclusive—involving every part of Wales and people of all ages and faiths; that they are as effective as possible through co-ordination, publicity and accessibility; and that they reflect Welsh needs and identity.

MILLENNIUM FESTIVAL

6. The Welsh Office recognises the importance of NMEC's role in encouraging and enabling Millennium Festival events. NMEC's Millennium Office for Wales will be headed by an official on secondment from the Welsh Office and part-funded by the Department. The office will operate as the first point of contact for applications for lottery funding under the Millennium Festival. Wales will receive £6.3 million as part of the £100 million Millennium Festival Fund. Because the Festival is jointly funded by all of the existing lottery distributors (who will monitor the Festival through their Millennium Festival Committee for Wales), a major role is being played by the Arts Council of Wales and the Sports Council for Wales, both of which are sponsored by the Department. The Welsh Office will work with all these bodies to ensure that Festival activities are consistent with long-term strategies and have a lasting impact.

7. Details are not yet available of the programme of events to mark the First Weekend of the Millennium between Friday 31 December 1999 and Monday 3 January 2000. However, we shall be liaising with local authorities regarding celebrations in their communities; and the Churches' umbrella organisation, Cytun, is organising an ecumenical service on the Sunday in Cardiff which will complement church services in other parts of the UK, as well as reflecting the distinctive religious and linguistic balance of Wales.

NATIONAL ASSEMBLY FOR WALES

8. During the summer of 1999, responsibility for policy will pass to the National Assembly in most of the subject areas in which projects are being grant-aided by the Millennium Commission and by the Millennium Festival Committee for Wales. In due course, the Assembly will be consulted so that members can take a view on the involvement that they wish to have in finalising the arrangements within Wales for celebrating the Millennium; and on the co-ordinating arrangements that will have been established.

© Parliamentary copyright 1998
Prepared 12 August 1998