Thank you. Having received concerns from stakeholders, and taking into account the fact that the Assembly rejected the Welsh Language Standards (No. 3) Regulations, the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee agreed that it should consider the regulations under Standing Order 27.8 and report our conclusions to the Assembly.

After the regulations were laid, we wrote to Cymdeithas yr Iaith and to student unions in Wales, who had raised a number of concerns about the previous No.3 regulations prior to the Assembly’s rejection of them in March this year. As they’ve had a chance to see them, we asked them to detail any concerns they may have about the new regulations. The National Union of Students Wales and Cymdeithas yr Iaith responded, and their written observations are annexed to the report. I have to emphasise on the record today that written evidence is just as robust as oral evidence.

Subsequently, the committee took oral evidence on 18 January from Fflur Elin, the president of NUS Wales, and from Dafydd Trystan, the registrar of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol. The ‘coleg’ works with universities across Wales to develop Welsh-medium opportunities for students. The committee also took oral evidence at the meeting from the Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language. In addition, Colleges Wales, a charity that aims to improve further education opportunities, also submitted comments. Unfortunately, due to timing of their submission, the committee was unable to consider these, although they are also annexed to the report.

Much of the written evidence we received concerned the general process for making the regulations and the nature of the standards regime established by the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011. It is fair to say that the committee, without coming to a specific view on the matter, shares some of those concerns. The regulations we have before us certainly appear to be a cumbersome and bureaucratic way of trying to enshrine rights to use and receive services through the medium of Welsh.

However, whatever our concerns about the wider process for making and approving standards regulations, and the nature of those regulations, our consideration was concerned—as is this debate today—with the much narrower point of whether this particular set of regulations should be approved.

Having said that, the committee has noted the Minister’s intention to review the primary legislation under which the standards are made, namely the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011. In our view, that is the appropriate point at which to consider wider issues of process and principle, and I am sure that the committee will wish to engage positively with the Minister in any review that’s undertaken.

As to the regulations before us, it is clear that they are far from perfect, and all those who gave evidence to us acknowledged weaknesses in the regulations. In particular, I want to draw attention to the concerns expressed by NUS Wales about issues surrounding the definition of student welfare and the provision of accommodation.

However, all of the evidence that we received indicated that these regulations, for all their flaws, do address most of the main concerns raised by student organisations and by Members during the plenary debate in relation to the regulations that were rejected in March last year. Therefore, even though they’re imperfect, they’re better than the rejected regulations. We were also pleased to note the Minister’s assurances to keep the operation of the regulations under review and to bring forward amending regulations if it becomes clear that these are not working in practice as intended. Subject to these assurances, the committee recommends that the Assembly approves the regulations. Thank you very much.