Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I think it's important that we recognise that we do have an ambition to create a million speakers in Wales and that actually part of that means that we also have to be a part of that transformation project that's going on. At the moment, the number of Welsh speakers in the Welsh Government is around 22 per cent, which is reflective of the demographic population, but there has been an increase...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, what I can say is that detailed language planning is now ongoing within Welsh Government, and the Permanent Secretary will announce the future steps and what the plan is to attain the target in 2050, and what our responsibilities will be within Welsh Government in order to attain the target. This is a question for the Permanent Secretary, and I would assume that the answer is that if...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, David. Your Welsh is excellent and I would like to hear you speaking more of it, please. We are taking steps in a number of areas in order to reach a million speakers. This includes steps to increase the number of speakers, the number of people who use Welsh every day, and to create the infrastructure and context to enable that to happen.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you for that question. Of course, we are concerned as a Government about what is happening in the Ystalyfera area and the Ysgol Ystalyfera Bro Dur area, and we are glad that Neath Port Talbot local authority have deferred the decision. Naturally, we are looking at this matter, and, of course, local government is under financial pressure. We understand that, but what we don’t want to...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. We recognise that this is an area that we need to give attention to and that’s why we have now set a target for 50 per cent of those who have Welsh as a GCSE in first language, that 50 per cent of the course that they are following, particularly in some sectors—. We’re starting off with the health sector, the care sector, the early years, and public services. So,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I do believe that we have taken positive steps. I believe the WESPs transformed the way in which local government look at its own provision. The fact that we are expanding and enhancing the planning time that local authorities must apply—. This consultation took place over the summer. We are collaborating very closely with local authorities to ensure that they are...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, I think we're all getting very excited, aren't we, about the world cup? This is a huge opportunity, I think, for us as a Welsh nation to really publicise ourselves on the world stage. I know that already we've sent a food and drinks mission out and there's already been a response and we've got some contracts already as a result of that. We do have a trade mission. We have 17 companies...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. I think I should probably emphasise it's not a Peter Mandelson kind of dome; it's about a 9 ft dome. It's not quite as expensive as that one, but I think it will attract a huge amount of attention. What we've done is to get people actually sponsoring the dome and it's an all-embracing facility where things are projected onto the walls and it's very exciting. Lots of companies have...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: The Welsh Language Commissioner has confirmed that theory tests are available in Welsh in every centre in Wales and that the DVSA intend to publish an online version of the revision materials before the end of the year. The revision material is also available in Welsh already in hard copy.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, I'm pleased that you're able to do so. Of course, what's important now is that we encourage people to use the service and that we see an increase in the number of people doing so because, at present, only 58 people sat the theory test, which is 0.07 per cent. And, of course, one can understand why that happens, but we hope that we will see an increase in that figure. The next step, of...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: We are committed to building on Wales’s recent success in hosting major sporting and cultural events as well as developing home-grown events. In terms of major sports events, we work with partners in Wales, the UK and internationally to identify and pursue opportunities for attracting events to all of Wales.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: The Welsh Government’s draft strategy has been developed in consultation with key partners and stakeholders working in the international space. This engagement has taken place over the past six months and included a social media campaign. The draft is currently out for public consultation and closes on 23 October.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: The Welsh Government is proud to promoting Wales as a bilingual nation, and we are taking advantage of the International Year of Indigenous Languages to give the language a new platform on an international stage. This is an important element of our draft international strategy, currently being consulted upon.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: There is a clear demand for a refocused, strategic document communicating our approach to engagement with the rest of the world. I published a draft strategy for consultation in July and this will close on 23 October. Once the consultation closes, I intend to publish a final document in November.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. First of all, may I thank the committee for their work during this inquiry and for their careful consideration of the evidence presented? As I've already noted in the Government's written response to the committee, we accept or accept in principle all of the recommendations contained within the report—noting, of course, that not all of the recommendations are...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Of course.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, of course, we already have a department. What we’re trying to do with this new project is to ensure that this is something that is cross-governmental. Therefore, it is a different approach, yes, but we are seeking to achieve the same aims as that process. So, the task of the 2050 project will be to co-ordinate the work of planning on our journey towards 1 million Welsh speakers, from...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. We're making good progress implementing the recommendations. For example, I have focused on growing exports in the international strategy, and an export growth strategy is part of that work. You will have noticed, I'm sure, that the first recommendation, establishing a specific post both for international relations and trade and a post on Brexit, was one of the first acts of the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Well, I think it's really important to underline that in no way are we moving away from encouraging investment into Wales, but it's pretty clear at a time of this kind of economic flux, where we don't know what our relationship will be with our nearest economic partner, that it makes sense for us to focus on exports, as indeed the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has done and the Department...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. Last week, I sent a very clear notice of the remit of those offices to the responsible committee to set out exactly what our expectations are of those overseas offices. We've got a much more robust method of ensuring that we are looking at the performance of those offices. In fact, we have appointed a new performance manager who has to come up with bespoke plans for each of those...
