Welsh publishers hope increase in education budget will help them survive

Martin Shipton

A campaigner who has warned of an existential funding crisis facing Welsh publishers says he is hopeful that an uplift in the Welsh Government’s education budget will help the industry survive.

Richard Tunnicliffe, who runs Rily Books with his wife Lynda, is one of a number of Welsh publishers to have spoken out against damaging cuts that have caused immense damage to the industry in recent years.

Last week he told Nation.Cymru: “Our family company is one of the biggest Welsh language publishers of children’s books and it – and all the other publishers – are facing some unprecedented challenges.

“The cost-of-living crisis over the last few years combined with the poor economy and cuts in direct support have had a huge impact. With the cuts to school and library budgets – which were both significant customers for publishers – we have all effectively been faced with three rounds of cuts; and we have just been threatened with more!

“Because of this, there has been lobbying over the last month or so by a huge number of people – publishers, translators, authors, editors and people just concerned about the ongoing impact of this on the Welsh language publishers and what this continued austerity means for the future of the language.

“Since 2010, we have seen a reduction in direct support of almost half in real terms. And that’s before one takes account of the impact of the cuts to schools and libraries. Combined with rising costs, it has been a perfect storm and it is perhaps no surprise that some publishers have ceased publishing. For an industry that is critical for the future of the Welsh language and the government’s million speaker goals, it is surprising that such a vital partner is being allowed to wither.

“I know many Senedd Members have been contacted about this as it is a big concern to many people; though we have yet to hear much about it from the Government. Their talk has all been about “an end to austerity” and “fixing the foundations” but we haven’t seen that delivered in practice yet. With the Welsh Government Budget being announced on December 10, this will be a key moment for that to be demonstrated.”

Hefin David

The publishers have been supported in their campaign by Caerphilly Labour MS Hefin David, who said: “Richard Tunnicliffe is one of my constituents and he has helped me to understand the vital work done by Welsh publishers and the important role they perform from an educational point of view.

“I agree that they should receive more funding via the Books Council of Wales, but from what I have learnt there is also a supply chain problem that needs to be addressed.

“Richard and other publishers hold many copies of books in warehouses that should be bought out of school budgets and made available to children. Currently schools are saying that they don’t have the money in their budgets to be able to buy books. [Around 45% of primary schools in Wales spend less than £500 a year on books]. This is surely something that could be fixed at relatively little cost, giving children the opportunity to hold a book in their hands and develop a love of reading that will last a lifetime.”

‘Derisory’

On Tuesday December 10 the Welsh Government published its draft Budget for 2025-26. Arts and culture bodies and Sport Wales, which saw a 10% cut in the current financial year, will get an increase of £4.5m from April. But that will not make up for previous cuts and Equity, the actors’ union, said an extra £1m for Arts Council Wales was “derisory” and “in no way makes up for cuts of previous years”.

Mr Tunnicliffe, however, said he was hopeful that book publishers would be able to benefit from increases to the education budget. He said: “Any increase has to be welcomed, but it’s too early to see how the detailed allocations will go. The devil, as always, will be in the detail.

“Nevertheless, the Welsh Government has an opportunity to help the Welsh publishing industry by buying more books for children. Books may not be seen as sexy, but they do deliver improvements in educational standards, which is a major part of the Welsh Government’s overall strategy to improve prosperity in Wales.

“In the past it has sometimes been difficult for relatively small Welsh publishers to win government contracts, many of which have been secured by big English corporates like Penguin and Macmillan. We would like to see a fairer procurement system that gives Welsh publishers a better chance to win such contracts.

“The Welsh Government recently set up a new arm’s length educational resources body called Adnodd, and we would like to work with it to provide the books that will help the government achieve its policy objectives.”