The ambition of the Welsh Government of 1 million Welsh speakers is to be welcomed, and I’m pleased to see you confirming this once again today. However, the Government still hasn’t explained how it wishes to increase the number of Welsh speakers from something over 0.5 million in 2011 to 1 million by 2050. Now, I see that you will announce yet another consultation on a new strategy, and I assume that that will outline how we’ll reach that target of 1 million Welsh speakers. You need a strategy, but, more importantly, you need an action plan to run alongside that. We now need to see strong and robust political will from the Government before it’s too late for the Welsh language.

Now, the previous aims of the Welsh Government weren’t achieved in terms of a 5 per cent increase in Welsh speakers between the census of 2001 and 2011, and it wasn’t possible to protect the number of communities where over 70 per cent are Welsh speakers. Indeed, there was a decline of 2 per cent in the number of Welsh speakers in 2011, and a decline in the number of communities where over 70 per cent of the Welsh population are Welsh speaking. We need clarity in terms of how the Government intends to reach this ambitious target on this occasion. Now, personally, I think that we’ve had quite enough consultation. We’ve had one consultation after another. There was a conversation held by the First Minister, and what happened as a result of that? Everyone will recall the ‘Cynhadledd Fawr’. Well, I just hope that your conversation will actually lead to action on this occasion.

I now turn to a number of other issues in terms of standards, and I thank you for the written statement on standards, but there is no talk of imposing standards on telecommunications companies—mobile phone providers and so on. Do you intend to do that? That’s one of my first questions in this area. Now, in the previous Assembly, we saw a number of cuts in the budget for the Welsh Language Commissioner, and further cuts would make it very difficult indeed for the commissioner to carry out her functions in relations to standards. Would you agree that this is a cause for concern?

Now, education is one of the most important areas in terms of increasing the number of Welsh speakers for the future, and I am pleased to see you acknowledging the need for a single continuum of teaching for the Welsh language. It appears, therefore, that at last you are going to implement the recommendations made by Professor Sioned Davies, which were originally made three years ago, and it’s a great shame that we have lost so much time in relation to this. Would you therefore agree that the current consultation by Qualifications Wales on retaining second-language Welsh GCSE is pointless, and that we should consider bringing that consultation to an end and move towards developing a single qualification by 2018?

Now, you mention in your statement the implementation of priorities for Welsh language education that were published in March this year, and the First Minister said in that statement that

‘Welsh Government has previously acknowledged that it is disappointing that we have not met all the 2015 targets in the Strategy.’

And he goes on to say that

‘it is important to remember that different models of provision exist in Wales, and meeting “national” targets is dependent on performance by local authorities and providers.’

So, what steps will you take to ensure that all local authorities do assess and tackle the demand for Welsh-medium education and contribute to those national targets?

Would you agree that we need to develop a Welsh-medium labour market to provide services, for example education, health and care services, through the medium of Welsh? I see no reference to this, but, in my view, this would be a crucially important action point and we need clarity as to who’s going to lead on this work.

You also mention ensuring that parents receive information about the benefits of Welsh-medium education at key points in the journey of bringing up their children. Do you agree that we need to ensure that more young children have the opportunity to receive Welsh-medium childcare in order to ensure that national targets in terms of Welsh-medium education are met? And, as you today have mentioned the importance of Welsh for adults, can you commit to not cutting the budget for Welsh for adults?

You mention in your statement collaboration with partners in order to assist the private sector to incorporate more bilingualism in their services. Will you take action, therefore, on your manifesto pledges to establish a use-of-Welsh fund and invite businesses to invest in the Welsh language?

And, finally, I see that you haven’t mentioned the crucially important link between the Welsh language and the economy. Recognising the importance of maintaining a strong economy in those Welsh-speaking heartlands is crucially important, I think, but I do hope that you will be able to expand upon this in due time. So, thank you for the statement. I do look forward to working with you on a robust and effective action plan and a clear timetable in order to safeguard and strengthen the Welsh language for future generations. We must now move on at pace, before it is too late for the Welsh language.