Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Mohammad, and you're welcome to join me in being one of those million as well. I know you speak several other languages, so it should be fairly easy for you to pick up. So, there you go, you're on my list as well. Diolch yn fawr. I think it is important that we underline the importance of this company. There are a lot of jobs here in an area that needs jobs, so I actually...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well done, and thank you very much, Dawn, not only for bringing this case before the Senedd today, but also for your commitment to the Welsh language.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I'd just like to thank you for your enthusiasm for the language, because we need to get to a million speakers and you're on that list, so thank you very much. I think you're absolutely right—I think that people underestimate the value of Welsh language education. We know that there is a lot of evidence to suggest that, actually, it helps broaden education in its wider sense, and there's...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, can I just say that I was really disappointed to read Bruce Robertson's comments over the weekend, and I wrote a letter to him on Monday expressing my disappointment? And I must say that I think his comments are misinformed, and I think they are out of step with public opinion in Wales. I am happy to share that letter with Assembly Members.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I am most eager to ensure that we don’t wait until the new curriculum is introduced, because I don’t wish to lose another generation of children who won’t have the opportunity to receive a good education in Welsh as a second language. And so we must improve on the status quo, because you can have 13 years of Welsh lessons and come out at the other end speaking very little Welsh. So, we...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: May I say that I’m very pleased that Flintshire council didn’t go through with that proposal? The proposal didn't come from the council, but I’m very pleased that they have dismissed it. Of course, I do think it would have a detrimental effect on the numbers of children attending bilingual schools, if this transport wasn’t available. Of course, I would urge local councils to ensure...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, may I say that I am supportive of what Carmarthenshire is doing, of course? Their report and their plans are set out clearly in the WESP that they’ve submitted to the Government and, of course, we support that. I opened a school in Llanelli, in Carmarthenshire, last week, which is a school that is transferring from being a non-Welsh school to being a bilingual school and going along...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, Mohammad. I think you're right—I'm afraid to say that there has been a decline in the number of people who have accessed part-time learning. That, of course, was partly as a response to the austerity measures that have been introduced, and we had to prioritise funding and the priority was given to early years education. But I think, with the changing nature of employment—the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, I think the great benefit and advantage that small businesses have is that they can move much, much quicker than big businesses. So, that is the advantage they have in a rapidly changing situation. So, I think it's really important that they take advantage of that ability—perhaps the really big companies find it more difficult to turn supertankers around. So, being responsive to...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Welsh Government delivers programmes to assist individuals to upskill while in work. We're committed to delivering 100,000 apprenticeships this Assembly term, and we also support employers to upskill their workforce via our Flexible Skills Programme.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, John. I know that your support for the Welsh language is very enthusiastic, and I know that there is a group in Newport that is campaigning to ensure that there are more opportunities for children in particular to have access to Welsh-medium education. I have visited the excellent school in your constituency in Newport, where so many people from a deprived area receive an...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Mike. Your Welsh is improving by the minute. I'm very pleased that you've emphasised the importance of using the language. That's what you see in communities such as Caernarfon, of course, and it would be great to see more communities like Caernarfon. The way to ensure this, of course, is to increase the number of Welsh speakers, and the easiest way to do that, of...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Neil. I think I'd like to make it clear that this shift of emphasis is so important if we are to reach that target. So, what we've done hitherto is to focus attention on the rights of Welsh speakers, and that's fine—that's good, and it's come a long way. We've really changed the environment, particularly in local government and in some universities. I understand it's...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Siân. I was at the Urdd Eisteddfod last week as well, and you’re quite right: there were many children there who had a great deal of confidence. But what concerns me is not the children who are were at the Eisteddfod last week, but the hundreds of thousands who go to Welsh schools who weren’t at the Eisteddfod: those who don’t have the confidence. They’re the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Suzy. I’m glad that we agree that the current system is costly, that it’s overly bureaucratic and that it takes a great deal of time. But I also accept the fact that a great deal of work has already been done on the new plans—the standards that people expected to come in future. We won’t be stopping that work in its entirety, but we’ll be spending this next...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Let me be clear: we will not stop enforcing the standards. Bodies must fulfil their statutory duties, but in my view it is always better to use a carrot rather than a stick wherever possible. That's a terrible translation, I know. If somebody can find a better idiom in Welsh, that would help me a great deal. In the field of language, enforcement is unlikely to be effective at bringing about...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. May I start by apologising that I have lost my voice? So, I will do my level best to put forward this statement and to give you the update on the steps that we are taking with regard to the Welsh language. As you will be aware, the Welsh Government’s emphasis has been on making standards that create statutory rights for people in Wales to insist on some...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. You're absolutely right; it really is time for us to rethink that phrase 'the white heat of technology' and to adapt it to a new age. You're right; if we thought that was going quickly, I think the next phase is going to be even quicker. So, you're absolutely right; we need to have a much more flexible response to the changes that are going to be taking place. So, already, the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I think you're absolutely right; we need to do a lot more to make sure that people understand that apprenticeships are a real route to quality employment. We have a whole series of initiatives that are helping us to try and engage people, in particular in some of the STEM subjects that you talked about earlier, to make sure that they are responding to what the economy needs. So, we have a...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr, Mohammad Asghar. You will be aware that we are intensely aware of the need to upskill our workforce in areas where employers are telling us that there is a shortage, and that's why we've got this structure called the regional skills partnership, which has been set up to ask those employers to feed into those structures, to say, 'What are the skills that you are looking for as...
