In October 2001 the Assembly announced its a quinquennial review of Cadw — Welsh Historic Monuments. The review examines the need for the functions performed by Cadw, and what might be done to improve its accountability and strategic effectiveness. The process was open to all with an interest in the historic environment of Wales. However, the ministers who commissioned the review, Sue Essex (Transport, Planning and Environment) and Edwina Hart (Finance) also saw this as an opportunity to take a longer and harder look at the development and implementation of heritage policy in Wales.

The Trust's response can be found on this web site as an Acrobat document (222kb). We have welcomed the ministers' initiative, but suggested that the future role of Cadw needs to be determined within the context of a far more wide-ranging debate on historic environment policy than is possible within the format of the quinquennial review. The Assembly, we believe, needs to be aware of the conclusions reached by Whitehall ministers in their December 2001 response to the 2000 report by English Heritage, Power of place. This does not imply that Wales should ape English policy and initiatives, but it does mean that we need collectively to take an approach to the historic environment that situates it in relation to the themes of sustainability, social inclusion, lifelong learning and community regeneration.

The Trust is a long-standing partner of Cadw, which has provided core funded our services for over ten years, and has consistently recognised the importance of the voluntary network of civic societies in Wales. Our response to the review comments warmly on this relationship, and on the support given by Cadw to European Heritage Days. We also take a broader look at Cadw's successes in meeting the stringent targets set for it; we believe its record of achievement is significant, and that where it has disappointed, it has often been a consequence of underfunding and consequent lack of staffing and resources.

Despite the excellent work done by Cadw, there is a much broader agenda that now deserves consideration, one that goes beyond Cadw's limited remit as it was defined in the early 1980s, and in which the roles of local government, agencies, the private and voluntary sectors, and government itself all need to be considered. We are not very good as a nation in looking after the historic environment, and policy and its implementation now needs to be rethought in the light of the Assembly's guiding themes and strategies.