Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...area to the next. The other thing that’s different with this, and you are right, the siarter iaith—. We’re not just talking about language transmission now, but having the children who are in school now and who come from non-Welsh speaking households—how can they be parents who speak Welsh and how can they be transmitters of the language? And you are right, we have to see how the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...find out here. You've mentioned that a lack of confidence is a part of that, and maybe particularly if they haven't been brought up through the medium of Welsh, but they've learned the language at school. It's interesting, maybe they don't have the vocabulary for very young children. Do they know how to sing to the children when they're very small and so forth? That's the kind of thing we...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...policy focuses on four aims: to inspire children and young people to speak Welsh to their children in the future; reignite the Welsh language skills of those who may not have used Welsh since their school days, or who have lost confidence in their language skills, to speak Welsh with their own children; support and encourage the use of Welsh within families where not everybody speaks...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. It was good to see in that meeting last night. I do think that we have a problem in relation to a number of people who've been through Welsh-medium education who don't have the confidence, perhaps, to use the language, in particular in the further education colleges. And that's why this group is so essential, I think, so that we do have the coleg Cymraeg,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you. In terms of education, I think what's important is that we try to persuade parents to send their children to Welsh-medium schools where that's possible. So, that’s why I think what's important is that we start at the beginning with nursery schools. That's why an additional £1 million went into opening additional nursery schools. Of course, Anglesey has a target, as does Gwynedd,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...be pleased to hear that I'll be having a conversation with Neath council tomorrow about the situation with regard to the Welsh language, but I'll also be visiting ysgol Bro Dur, and that is a new school that has opened in the area. Of course there is room for further discussion, but I do think, in terms of Swansea, they have moved quite far in this area. I know that Felindre has closed,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ..., but we'll see—just to say that I'm very happy with the enthusiasm that there is in the Newport area and beyond in terms of the Welsh language, and it's wonderful to see that there'll be a new school in that area. The schools that are already there are full to the brim already, so there are opportunities for people to ensure that there are sufficient numbers of people speaking the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...budget. There are portfolios across Government the touch on the Welsh language. If you just think about the fact that last year we spent £30 million in capital funding for building Welsh-medium schools, £15 million on building locations where young children could learn the Welsh language, additional millions went to Llangrannog and Glan-llyn—nobody ever mentions that additional funding...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...where I think it’s very difficult to try to force someone to take the Welsh language seriously as a subject and to take it as the way that they want Welsh to be taught full time in their schools. So, we need to convince people. We've done that, I think, but the WESPs and the fact that we have 10 years now to plan is a great help. So, I agree that it's about convincing people and not...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...developing our understanding of people’s behaviour in relation to language, of the types of messages that motivate people and make it easier for them to use Welsh—socially, in the family, the school community or the workplace. Reaching a million speakers will mean creating new speakers. And we have a good track record in Wales of welcoming people to Welsh. Our immersion centres for...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...a lot beyond the period in question. For instance, we've introduced regulations that, for the first time, set targets for every county in relation to their contribution to increasing Welsh-medium education, and the Welsh in Education Strategic Plans (Wales) Regulations 2019 came into force on 1 January this year. Increasing the number of teachers who are able to teach our children through...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...to see targets. The problem is that we have a situation here where we have very fast shifting sands. And so for us to set out targets, it's very difficult. And I'll just give you an example. On education, if we said, 'Right, we want to see thousands more students from around the world coming to study in Wales', we would have set that target too low before—. The UK Government now has said...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...is mainstreamed across Government. The fact is that we haven’t seen cuts in the funding for the Welsh language. What has happened is that some of the expenditure that was in the budget for the education lines has moved to another line, and that is why, perhaps, there was some confusion as to whether cuts had been introduced. We have found an additional £50,000 to pay for the staffing...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...something that I think we should be really proud of, and the fact that we're developing the cyber centre in Ebbw Vale, an area of massive deprivation, where there is a commitment to help develop an education facility there, there have been events to encourage women, in particular, to enter into the cyber security sector. I think this is something we should be really proud of, and there is,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much, Vikki. Just to let you know that the education Minister has offered to meet you to discuss this further, but just to let you know that within the new Welsh in education strategic plans there is a provision that demands that ALN is taken into account. So, that is something that has been strengthened. I know that this is something that Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I meet regularly with the Minister for Education. We had another meeting this week to discuss aspects of Cymraeg 2050 relating to her portfolio, and, following the consultation on the Welsh in Education Strategic Plans (Wales) Regulations 2019 and the associated draft guidance that went out to consultation, we'll be holding a conference now in March to discuss planning and promoting Welsh in...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...difficult sometimes, and we have made in this instance a decision that it is in our constructive and our partnership interest to make sure that we work with Vietnam to help them in developing their education system.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, Darren. I'm disappointed, because I think we should be very proud of the fact that we are developing a very strong education relationship with Vietnam. The fact that we are helping them to improve their education systems, that we're encouraging more people from that country to come and study in Wales, that this is an up-and-coming country and that there are opportunities for us,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...the expertise we have here in Wales already. The key thing then is to make sure that those people in Blaenau Gwent can benefit from that, and that's why this relationship, I think, with the digital education centre is so crucial, to make sure that local people, when we see that expansion, are able to take advantage. But there are also other things that we need to be aware of. Blaenau Gwent...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: ...very much. I was also pleased to see the establishment of Undeb Myfyrwyr Cymraeg Caerdydd back in 2017, and I do think it’s crucially important. We know that there is a decline as people leave school and they don't have an opportunity to use their Welsh language skills, and I think it's very important that students have an opportunity to use the Welsh language in a social capacity, and...
