The next item is a statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government on the Welsh language and local government. I call on the Cabinet Secretary, Mark Drakeford.

Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Today I am publishing ‘Language, Work and Bilingual Services’, the report of the working group on the Welsh Language in local government administration and economic development. This report was commissioned in December 2015 by my predecessor, the Minister for Public Services. This was in response to concerns about the Welsh language raised by Assembly Members during scrutiny of the Local Government (Wales) Act 2015. I wish to extend my thanks and appreciation to the chair of the working group, Rhodri Glyn Thomas, and to the members of the working group for drafting this report in such a short period of time. This gives the Welsh Ministers a timely opportunity to consider the conclusions of the report at the start of a new Assembly term, and within the framework of our duties under the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. I was especially glad to be able to meet Rhodri Glyn Thomas last week and to hear directly from him about the way in which the group set about its work and came to its conclusions.

I think it’s important to set out the context of the report, as its authors perceived it. As they say in the introduction:

‘We have been asked to look specifically at the Welsh language in its traditional heartlands in west and north Wales, through the lens of Local Government. Local Government has been central to the implementation of national policies and, particularly, to the provision of the Welsh-language education system. We owe an enormous debt to Local Government. Local Authorities in west Wales—the Isle of Anglesey, Gwynedd, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire—have been proactive in their support for the language, but good practice is evident in all parts of Wales.’

Against that background, the report identifies the different ways in which the role of local authorities is key in numerous ways. Local authorities are in the front line of promoting and facilitating the Welsh language. They provide essential services in Welsh-medium education and teaching Welsh in schools. They have wide-ranging responsibilities for children and families, for childcare and nursery provision, for social services and support for older people. Local authorities support resilient Welsh-language communities through their planning, economic development, housing and regeneration functions, and local government is a significant employer in all parts of Wales, providing high-quality jobs and professional careers for local people and also an opportunity to work through the medium of Welsh and to serve the public in Welsh. The role of local government, therefore, is to secure the future of the language through education, to ensure the presence of the language every day in work and services, and to ensure the resilience of the language in prosperous communities.

The report includes 14 recommendations, which its chair describes in his foreword as ‘challenging but practical’.

Mae'r argymhellion, Lywydd, wedi'u grwpio o dan nifer o benawdau. Mae'r rhain yn cynnwys arweinyddiaeth, ar y lefel cenedlaethol a lleol, gan gyfeirio at gyfrifoldebau Llywodraeth Cymru, comisiynydd y Gymraeg a thimau arweinyddiaeth mewn llywodraeth leol. Mae'r adrannau ar weithlu a hyfforddiant dwyieithog yn ymwneud â'r gallu i siarad Cymraeg yng ngweithlu'r gwasanaethau cyhoeddus. Mae'r adran ar dechnoleg yn ymdrin â'r cyfleoedd cyffrous y mae technolegau cyfieithu digidol yn dechrau eu cynnig ac, o dan y pennawd newid ymddygiad, mae'r adroddiad yn archwilio cyfleoedd ar gyfer defnyddio cipolwg ymddygiadol a hwb damcaniaethau yng nghyd-destun y gweithle a'r defnydd o wasanaethau yn Gymraeg. Mae adran olaf yr adroddiad yn ymwneud â swyddogaeth llywodraeth leol mewn datblygu economaidd ac mewn creu a chynnal cymunedau cydnerth.

Actions from the recommendations fall to a range of bodies to take. Legislation would be the responsibility of the Welsh Government and the National Assembly. Recommendations about recruitment and workforce planning would fall to local authorities, whilst those relating to training touch on the functions of the National Centre for Learning Welsh. There are a number of recommendations concerning research and the evidence base that identify actions for our universities.

Not all the recommendations were unanimously supported by all members of the working group, but all are quite certainly of direct interest to those who provide local authority services and their partners. It is for this reason that I am publishing the report today for a period of engagement over the summer.

Presiding Officer, the scope of the report is wide and it touches on policy areas across Government. I welcome the opportunity to listen to the views of local government and other stakeholders as we consider the conclusions of the report, and before we publish a Welsh Government response in the autumn.

May I congratulate you, Mark Drakeford, on your recent appointment, and I look forward to working with you? Plaid Cymru and I welcome this report today. There are clear, robust recommendations made, and we congratulate Rhodri Glyn Thomas, who is a former Member of this place, on his excellent work, as well as his fellow members, on their work too.

I’m sure you would agree that bilingual, robust public services can make a huge contribution to the regeneration of the Welsh language. I think that there are three important points that we should bear in mind in this area. Strengthening the rights of service users in the public sector enhances people’s confidence in using the Welsh language, as well as strengthening their rights, of course. Allowing and strengthening Welsh-medium working as part of the daily pattern of work of Welsh speakers also enhances people’s confidence.

It’s also important to note that making the Welsh language a key skill does give an entirely practical purpose to the speaking of Welsh, to Welsh-medium education and provides a reason for learning Welsh. And I’m sure that you would agree with me that creating a Welsh labour market is extremely important in the process of regenerating the Welsh language.

Until very recently, I was a councillor on Gwynedd Council, and many of you will be aware of the enlightened policies of that particular council, and it’s no accident that some of the communities around the headquarters of that council have seen an increase in the number of Welsh speakers, which is contrary to what has happened in many other areas in Wales. Some communities have seen an increase in the number of Welsh speakers since the census. The village of Waunfawr, for example, had an increase from 73 per cent to 75 per cent in the number of Welsh speakers. Would you agree with me therefore that there are other local authorities now in Welsh-speaking heartlands that do want to move forward and further develop their policies, and that the leadership for that has to come from the Welsh Government, as the working group notes?

I do welcome the recommendations on workforce planning certainly, but there are two things that do cause concern. How can you implement the recommendations if responsibility for the Welsh language in the workforce isn’t going to sit with the National Centre for Learning Welsh in future? The likelihood is that the teaching of Welsh in the workplace will fall to another organisation. There’s a great deal of uncertainty surrounding that. So, I think it would be difficult to implement some of the recommendations in the report. And the other problem, of course, is the financial resources required. We have seen the departmental resources for the Welsh language cut. Do you therefore share my concern about the implementation of some of the recommendations in this report, albeit that they are very robust? We welcome them very much, but they now need to be implemented. Do you share my concern that it may not be possible for these to be implemented under current circumstances?

Thank you very much to Sian Gwenllian for those comments. Thank you for the welcome that she has given to the report. Of course, I do agree that to strengthen the rights of those people who use services through the medium of Welsh does raise their confidence in doing so. What the report says is that the greatest challenge is to create situations where people use the language when they enter those services, and by doing that it’s about being clear to the people who provide those services that the skills that they have to be able to do things through the medium of Welsh are skills that we appreciate and are skills that will be important to them when they create their own futures.

I’m sure, when I’ve been speaking to young people, people who receive their education through the medium of Welsh, that it’s important to persuade them that the fact that they can speak Welsh is something that they can sell in the workplace. It’s something, not just a subject that they consider or learn, but a general skill that they can implement and use in the workplace here in Wales.

The report does draw attention to what has happened in Gwynedd and it draws attention to Ceredigion and Carmarthen where things that follow the leader, Gwynedd, are in place already. And it also says—and it’s important to note this—that the situation across Wales is not the same. There will be things that work in Carmarthen that won’t work in the same way, for example, in Torfaen. The report states that clearly.

Wrth gwrs, mae heriau yn yr argymhellion. Mae cadeirydd y gweithgor yn gwneud hynny'n glir yn ei gyflwyniad ei hun, pan ddywed bod yr argymhellion yn heriol. Ond, diben rhoi'r adroddiad ar gael i'r cyhoedd heddiw, gwahodd sylwadau arno gan awdurdodau lleol ledled Cymru a'r bobl hynny sy'n gweithio gydag awdurdodau lleol a'r bobl hynny sy'n defnyddio gwasanaethau awdurdodau lleol, yw ein helpu ni i nodi'r heriau hynny, i feddwl am ffyrdd y gallwn ymateb iddynt ac yna rhoi ymateb y Llywodraeth i'r adroddiad, a fydd yn dilyn yn yr hydref, wedi ei gyfoethogi gan yr amrywiaeth ehangach honno o gyfraniadau.

Congratulations from me too, new Cabinet Secretary. May I also thank you for your statement today and for the report? Of course, I haven’t had an opportunity to give it the attention it deserves. I would like to do that before too long. But it’s clear from some of what I’ve seen already that this work doesn’t duplicate work that’s already been done in this area. So, there is a chance now for us to move forward with these recommendations. That is something that we should celebrate, I think. As you said, it’s going to be quite challenging for some of us, but having looked at them in detail, we will have an opportunity to bring forward our own clear ideas and our stance as a party.

If I could just turn first of all to the standards, because Sian raised the issue of rights. I personally would like to see standards working here in Wales. It has been disappointing, I have to say, that there have been so many appeals submitted to the commissioner from some of our local authorities here in Wales. It’s disappointing, given the work that has taken place between the commissioner’s office, the Welsh Government and the councils themselves. As I said, I would like to see the standards working effectively, so I would like to see the number of appeals reduced and the risk of judicial review also. I don’t want to see that happening. So, do you think it would be possible, in response to this report, to say something about the test that you as a Government use in ensuring that the regulations introducing the standards make it clear why you as a Government have deemed them to be reasonable and proportionate, because that is the fundamental point of standards, just in order to avoid these appeals from coming through in the first place?

You mention in your statement the assistance available for those working in our public services, particularly our councils, and I agree with you on that point, but it is not just about resources, shall we say, because it’s important that everyone has these. If people want to use the Welsh language, they should have the opportunity to speak Welsh and learn Welsh within our councils. But I was thinking more of a culture shift, because, as you know, not every council in Wales has taken up this agenda, and it is still something of a battle for hearts and minds, shall we say, with some of our councils, and with some councillors particularly. I saw some words in the report on leadership by our senior officials, and there are questions here about what would be relevant or pertinent to them, but I would like to know more about the way in which we deal with the attitude towards the language of some of our elected members in some places and some of our officials, depending on where they work. This can be a difficult issue, even now, it’s sad to say.

May I conclude just by saying something about economic development? There isn’t much in the statement on that, but there is a great deal in the report and I haven’t had an opportunity to look at it in detail. Sian Gwenllian is entirely right in mentioning the value of learning Welsh—just seeing it as a benefit and an advantage in our daily lives and especially in the workplace. It’s no surprise really that I am interested in the Swansea bay city region. I have seen that there is reference in the report to some of the communities in the west of that development, but I would like to know what an economic language strategy would mean in those traditionally non-Welsh-speaking communities, because there are many within my region. If you look at Welsh-language skills as a tool against poverty, there is a question as to what an economic language plan will mean in communities such as those. Thank you.

Thank you very much to Suzy Davies for those comments. Rhodri Glyn Thomas states in the report that they didn’t just want to rake over old ground that people had looked at previously. They wanted to move the debate forward and draw lessons from the work that has already been done, but also to set down some new issues for us to discuss and also some practical steps that people can take. That’s why the recommendations are very important, I believe. The working group has dealt with the standards. It’s in the foreword, where they discuss that, but I’ve heard what the Member has said this afternoon and I know that Alun Davies has heard what Suzy has said, also.

They state in the report, as Suzy Davies has said, that it’s more than about financial resources, it’s about attitudes. They’re important. But it also says that, when they went out to talk to people, there wasn’t a lack of goodwill. Sometimes the problem was to help people to turn that goodwill into things that they can do to promote the Welsh language. Now, I acknowledge that things aren’t at the same position in all parts of Wales, but that’s what the report says: it’s not a lack of goodwill. That’s not the problem, but it’s about helping people to build on that goodwill to do the practical things that can help people who want to use services through the medium of Welsh, and also to be clear with those people who provide services about how Welsh language skills are going to be things that they can build on in the workplace.

Cyn belled ag y mae agweddau datblygiad economaidd yr adroddiad yn y cwestiwn rwyf yn meddwl ei bod yn deg i ddweud bod yr arweiniad a gafodd y grŵp oedd eu bod i ganolbwyntio ar y rhannau hynny o Gymru lle mae cyfran y siaradwyr Cymraeg ar ei huchaf. Maen nhw—fel y dywedodd Suzy Davies—yn tynnu sylw arbennig at bwysigrwydd rhanbarth Abertawe ac y dylid rhoi sylw arbennig yno i'r ffordd y mae cyfleoedd datblygu economaidd yn cael eu cyfuno ag anghenion cymunedau Cymraeg eu hiaith. Ceir argymhellion ynghylch sut y gallai rhai o'r syniadau hynny gael eu datblygu, ac rwy'n siŵr, wrth inni feddwl mwy am y pethau hyn yn ystod yr haf, bydd y pwyntiau a wnaeth Suzy Davies am y rhannau hynny o gymunedau lle nad yw siarad Cymraeg ar yr un lefel, ond yn yr un ardal, yn rhan o'r hyn y byddwn yn dymuno meddwl amdano.

First, can I declare an interest? I have a daughter who attends Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bryn Tawe and a granddaughter attending Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Tan-y-lan.

I welcome the report and the commitment of the Welsh Government and the Minister to the Welsh language. I believe that education is the key to the continuation of Welsh as a community language. I am pleased with the growth of Welsh-medium education, especially in south Wales, led by Labour-controlled local authorities. As the First Minister said earlier today in answer to a question from Jeremy Miles, the area speaking Welsh has been moving up the Swansea valley—perhaps leaving Craig-cefn-parc and bits of Pontarddulais behind—for some considerable time. That’s something we need first to halt and then to reverse, returning Welsh to the community language throughout the Swansea valley. My wife can tell you about when she was young and in school—that in Ynystawe, where I live, Welsh was the language of the community. It’s sadly no longer so.

I’ve three questions relating to local government and the Welsh language. Two of these—the Minister’s going to say—don’t actually fall into his portfolio, so, apologies for that. Firstly, what is being done to ensure that parents have the opportunity of Welsh medium, when their children are in Flying Start? That’s the beginning of education for very many children, and if they’re put into an English-medium Flying Start the likelihood is they’ll go through English-medium education right the way through. I think it’s important that that opportunity is available. I’ve had to take up cases on behalf of constituents, which have eventually got them into a Welsh-medium Flying Start, but they’ve had to put an awful lot of effort into doing it whereas, actually, it should be a matter of individual choice.

Secondly, what is being done to ensure sufficient provision of Welsh-medium schools available in each local authority area? Thirdly, whilst I find it very difficult to speak Welsh in a political and technical environment, some who’ve been taught through the medium of Welsh know some technical words only in Welsh. Are all local authorities in Wales answering correspondence through the medium of Welsh as quickly as correspondence in English?

Can I thank Mike for those questions? He points to one of the fantastic phenomenons of our time—the growth of Welsh-medium education. Here in the city of Cardiff, when I first chaired South Glamorgan’s Welsh-medium working group in the 1980s, the number of young people who were obtaining an education through the medium of Welsh was literally a fraction of the number that are there today. Getting young people at the very earliest age into Welsh-medium education, where that’s what they and their parents would wish for them is, I understand, extremely important and particularly important for those young people who take advantage of the Flying Start programme. I’ll make sure that the points that he has made about that and about the growth of Welsh-medium education right across Wales—I’m sure that the Secretary for Education will want to hear what he said on that.

As to answering correspondence received through the medium of Welsh in as timely a fashion as that received through English, I imagine that the answer is that it doesn’t happen quite that way in every local authority in Wales, which will rely on a letter being translated into English, an answer in English being crafted and retranslated into Welsh. But I do think that local authorities across Wales will be alert to the need to do more in this area. Changes in technology for translation will be of help to them as well as other public bodies, and this report, which they will be studying over the summer, will help them in that area, too.

I warmly welcome the clear focus in this report on that crucial link between language and economic development. For some of us who have been campaigning over decades for a viable future for the Welsh language as a community language in the traditional Welsh-speaking areas of west Wales, it is crucially important to realise that, unless we answer that fundamental question, there is no future for the Welsh language to the same extent as a community language. Despite the increases we see in other parts of Wales, we are losing a key resource for that regeneration at a national level if we lose the traditional linguistic cultural vibrancy of west Wales. I recall some 20 years ago in the Eisteddfod in Newport actually occupying a bungalow with Alun Davies, and that was outside Carmel, I believe—it was an executive bungalow; there were gold taps there. But what was the slogan then? It was, ‘housing and work to save the language’. The slogan’s been there for decades. It’s time for action now, isn’t it? I see in recommendation 10 a call for an economic language strategy for the counties of west Wales with this focus, of course, on hubs, on hub towns, which are crucially important if we look at the main challenge, which is to retain our young people in those towns and create an economic foundation for them.

But my question for the Minister is this: the strategy is one thing, but unless you have a structure in place then you’re not going to be able to deliver that strategy. In the context of local government, of course, we do have our city regions in the south, and I warmly welcome those, but where is our region in west Wales? What corresponds to that in terms of giving us that critical mass and the medium that can actually achieve this linguistic economic strategy that this report demands?

Well, I acknowledge what the Member says. I have heard the First Minister saying the same things over the years with regard to the importance of those traditional Welsh-speaking communities where the language is used every day.

O ran y pwynt ehangach a ddiweddodd arno, bydd yn gwerthfawrogi bod y rheini yn rhan o drafodaethau ehangach yr ydym yn eu cael ac yn awyddus i barhau i'w cael. Ceir nifer o wahanol fforymau, nifer o wahanol sefydliadau datblygu economaidd, sy'n gweld eu hunain fel bod yn rhan o'r darlun hwn. Mae'n rhan o'r rheswm pam y gofynnodd y Gweinidog blaenorol am i'r darn hwn o waith gael ei wneud—i'n helpu i ystyried rhai o'r materion hynny i wneud yn siŵr bod gennym y strwythurau ar waith sy'n gallu cynorthwyo'r cymunedau hynny yn y gorllewin a'r i'r de lle mae'r berthynas rhwng y ffordd y mae gwasanaethau'n cael eu darparu, y ffordd y mae ieithoedd yn cael eu defnyddio, a'r ffordd y gellir llunio dyfodol economaidd y cymunedau hynny wir yn dod at ei gilydd mewn ffordd y mae angen i ni sicrhau bod pob llinyn yn atgyfnerthu'r lleill, yn hytrach na gwahanu oddi wrthynt. Rwyf yn obeithiol y bydd yr adroddiad hwn o gymorth sylweddol i ni wrth wneud hynny. Mae heddiw, yn syml, yn ymwneud â rhoi'r adroddiad hwnnw ar gael i'r cyhoedd a gwneud yn siŵr bod gennym ymateb mor ffrwythlon ag y gallwn ei gyflawni iddo.

Thank you to the Cabinet Secretary.