4. Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government’s efforts to ensure that local authorities reach their targets? OAQ(5)0022(FLG)[W]

I thank the Member for the question. Local authorities are democratically accountable for their own performance against priorities that reflect local circumstances. The Welsh Government supports that effort through funding, advice and legislation.

I would like to quote as an example a particular Welsh Government strategy, namely the aim of 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050. In a written response to a written question, the Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language, on a question on the contribution of local authorities to the target in terms of Welsh-medium education, the answer received was that local authorities didn’t have to attain towards any targets, and you have just confirmed that. Now, that is a surprise to me, because education is a crucially important element if we are to attain the target of 1 million Welsh speakers. Local education authorities will have to plan for a substantial increase in Welsh-medium education if the Government is to have any hope of reaching its aim of 1 million Welsh speakers.

There were some very interesting figures in the Welsh Language Commissioner’s annual report for this year. Of the 22 local authorities in Wales, the authorities performing worst in terms of the number of schools in the authorities providing Welsh-medium education or bilingual education are those that are run by the Labour party. In Cardiff—

You’ll have to come to a question, Sian Gwenllian.

Okay. If you compare that with Plaid Cymru councils, they are performing extremely well. How will you ensure, therefore, that local authorities—and particularly local authorities run by your own party—do take action in order to achieve this vision of 1 million Welsh speakers in the field of education?

Well, may I begin by agreeing with the Member about the importance of local authorities in this particular area? There are a great many things that local authorities do that are relevant to the Welsh language, and the ambition that we have to increase the number of people in Wales who can speak the Welsh language for the future.

Nid fy nghyfrifoldeb i, fel Gweinidog llywodraeth leol, yw gosod targedau ym maes y Gweinidog sy’n gyfrifol am y maes hwn nac mewn perthynas ag ysgolion, ond rwy’n cytuno â’r pwynt cyffredinol y mae’r Aelod yn ei wneud. Mae awdurdodau lleol yn chwarae rhan bwysig iawn mewn perthynas â’r iaith Gymraeg. Dyna’r rheswm pam y comisiynodd fy rhagflaenydd adroddiad a gadeiriwyd gan Rhodri Glyn Thomas, ac a drafodwyd yma ar lawr y Cynulliad cyn toriad yr haf, a pham rwy’n cael trafodaethau rheolaidd ag arweinwyr awdurdodau lleol wrth gyfarfod â hwy ynglŷn â’r gwaith y gallant ei wneud yn y maes hwn.

Minister, despite the best efforts of the Welsh Government to protect local government in Wales from the impact of UK Government budget cuts, Torfaen, like all local authorities in Wales, is having to work incredibly hard in very challenging financial circumstances to deliver public services locally. Will you therefore join me in congratulating Torfaen council on their recent Wales Audit Office report in which the council was described as having a clear strategic vision, driven by open and inclusive leadership and actively developing its corporate arrangements to deliver improved outcomes?

I thank the Member for that. Let me begin by agreeing with what she said at the start of her question. Any Members here who’ve seen the recent Institute for Fiscal Studies report, with its account of what it calls the ‘extraordinary impact’ of 11 successive years of cuts to budgets for public services in Wales, will recognise what she said about the pressures that that brings to local authorities.

I was very pleased indeed to see the Wales Audit Office report. It followed a very positive report on the Vale of Glamorgan. Hugh Vaughan Thomas, the chief of the Wales Audit Office, said of Torfaen that this was

‘a very positive report that Torfaen Council should be proud of.’

I’m very pleased to pay tribute to the leadership of that council and the very hard work that those who work for it do every single day to provide services to the people of Torfaen.