Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Llywydd, let me end by quoting Alexandre Dumas from The Three Musketeers, who might have been writing about our own slightly less dashing UKIP three musketeers with their fanatical obsession with fighting shadows and keeping the tarnished faith of the pure Brexit: 'In all times and all countries, especially in those countries which are divided within by religious faith, there are always...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Mike, and thank you for posing the question in Welsh. I’m pleased to see that you will be one of the million by 2050. The Welsh Language Commissioner works with the banking sector to encourage them to treat Welsh and English on the basis of equality, and recently I wrote to the commissioner offering my officials' support and assistance in developing appropriate...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, I have had a meeting with the banks and the language commissioner, and, of course, this is the commissioner’s responsibility. But I do recognise, and I do think it’s important that we should all recognise, that correspondence is a key part of the service provided by banks. The commissioner has recently presented a seminar in London, because, very often, that’s where decisions...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, of course, you will be aware that the Government has announced that 12 business officials across Wales are now going around small businesses, providing them with ideas on how they can use the Welsh language in the workplace. And also, of course, there is the Cymraeg Gwaith scheme, which is run by the National Centre for Learning Welsh. Thousands and thousands of people have already used...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr. I think you're absolutely right, there are—. It's really important that we use the carrot and the stick where possible. I am more in favour of the carrot, generally, than the stick, and that's why we have really contributed millions to an initiative to encourage people to take up learning the language in the workplace. But the other side of this, of course, is that Welsh...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: —as Welsh speakers to ensure that we make use of those services. And that’s the problem at the moment. Very often, the services are available but very few Welsh speakers make use of them. We have to ensure that we, as Welsh speakers, do make use of those services when they are available and when that opportunity arises.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I think this a very sensitive subject, and I think we need to be careful that we don’t close the opportunity to enable more people to have the opportunity to learn Welsh. I think that if there is a commitment to learn Welsh when they come into post, then we should be encouraging that as well. So, I do think that we have to take the opportunity to ensure that we don’t discriminate too much...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I think we need to be very careful not to mix both issues. I think we will be moving forward with language schemes—or language standards—for housing associations. I can’t provide you with a clear timetable, because we are in the middle of Brexit and, unfortunately, that is taking up the legislative provision of the Government, and there’s not much left in terms of moving things...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, we do intend to proceed with bringing new standards forward. I had a word yesterday with the head of Dŵr Cymru, and made sure that he understands that we intend to move forward with standards in the water sector. That will be the first step and then we will look at other sectors after that.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. I think in terms of Cymraeg for Kids, we will be undertaking to understand if that has been a success. And I will undertake to bring the results to you once we have them. You’re right in terms of the WESPs. What we are trying to do now is to move forward from the steps that we’ve taken in the past to concentrate on schools. There is a strong understanding now that there is a...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. You’re quite right; there is a need to be careful—just to answer the last question—in terms of relying too much on external groups to undertake things relating to the Welsh language. I do think it’s important that we all develop that ability internally, and, of course, councils can learn from each other. Some are further forward than others. We've seen, for example, that...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: At the moment, what we’re hoping to do is to ensure that that helpline starts within Welsh Government. Of course, that marketing campaign will start soon. But, of course, we do have a new commissioner who has started in post this week, and I do hope that the collaboration between Welsh Government and the commissioner’s office will provide us with an opportunity to ensure that we’re much...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I am delighted that Wales for Africa is within my portfolio and that so many people are actively engaged in making Wales and the world a better place. The programme will form a key component of the international strategy consultation. I'm considering a response to the international strategy from the voluntary sector on how we can drive forward with this aspect of the Welsh Government's work.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, it's clear that the most successful strategies have been ones where actually it is about community to community, and this is a great example where actually people are just getting on with it, I think. PONT is a great example of that; some of the work that's done in Lesotho really demonstrates how building those communities and people-to-people relationships really gives a depth to the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. I think that's an excellent idea, and it's one I hope that the Deputy Presiding Officer will pass on—that message that perhaps it would be a good thing to celebrate the Wales-Africa links in those celebrations of 20 years of devolution. I would love to welcome Martha as a citizen of Wales. We are delighted to have her. If everybody made the kind of contribution that she's made to...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. I think the work that PONT has done over the years is really quite phenomenal and so many people have been engaged with it from the bottom up. I'm aware of the work and the suggestions that have been made in terms of that link and the possibility of seeing how much further we can push the health links in particular. I've had a meeting with the deputy health Minister today to see...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Diolch yn fawr. I announced my intentions to produce a new strategy communicating our international vision for Wales in January. We are still in the drafting stages of this work, and I expect to put a draft to Cabinet in early May, with a final document ready for publication before the summer.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, and you're absolutely right that, actually, the fact that we have no idea what is going to happen in terms of our relationship with Europe is making it extremely difficult to draft an international strategy, because there would be fundamental difference depending on where we end up. If we leave the European Union, and in particular if we leave with no deal, then we need to really...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I meet regularly with Ministers to discuss their contribution to the aim of 1 million Welsh speakers. In September, I had a meeting with the Minister for Children, Older People and Social Care, as was, to discuss the contribution to this particular aim.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, it is important that what we offer, that we get this right right at the beginning, because it will determine very often where children end up. So, you're absolutely right: we need to make sure that there is an equal offer. I know that Dechrau Disglair is the local authority's dedicated Welsh-medium Flying Start childcare setting in the Swansea area. Of course, what we're doing now is...
