6. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on Mudiad Meithrin’s Cylch Ti a Fi scheme? OAQ(5)0097(EDU)

Cylchoedd Ti a Fi’, Welsh-medium parent and toddler groups, are an important part of the Welsh-medium early years provision supported by Mudiad Meithrin. We want to ensure there is a clear path of support for parents to use Welsh with their children, with the aim of increasing numbers reaching Welsh-medium education.

Thank you, Minister. If we want to see a million Welsh speakers, then the journey for many starts with ‘cylch Ti a Fi’, then Mudiad Meithrin and then primary school and then, finally, secondary school. Then we will have children at 16 years of age who are fluent Welsh speakers. How does the Welsh Government support the ‘Ti a Fi’ movement?

I thank the Member for the question. There is a package of support for ‘cylchoedd Ti a Fi’, which was announced in the autumn of last year, and that includes advice and examples of good practice to ensure that existing groups and new groups can receive support and also be established anew. In addition, there’s a grant of £1.4 million in the next financial year, which will support a range of activities, including support to expand provision for the early years through the medium of Welsh, and ‘cylchoedd Ti a Fi’ are an important part of that provision.

It’s crucial that we develop and enhance the work of the Mudiad Meithrin as part of the Government’s 1 million Welsh speakers strategy. Now, of course, we need to work on a number of other fronts, too, in order to achieve that goal. Last week, this was launched—’Reaching the Million’—by Plaid Cymru, setting out the strategic priorities that we must work around. This includes expanding childcare and Welsh-medium education, but we must also create the economic conditions that will assist the development of the language. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the challenge of the language stands side by side with the challenge of tackling poverty and ensuring the economic resilience of our communities. So, as you develop your 1 million Welsh speakers strategy, what cross-departmental work is happening within Government in order to tackle the impact that a weak economy and poverty has on the future of the Welsh language?

I should thank the Member for sending me a copy of that document. I haven’t had an opportunity to read it yet; I’ll be doing that over the weekend, perhaps. But I very much appreciate it. May I say this? The language strategy will be a Government strategy, and it won’t be the strategy of any particular department. It’ll be developed across the Government, including every Government department, and then it will be accepted by the Cabinet in order to ensure that it is a priority for the whole of Welsh Government. And so every issue, such as poverty, as the Member has just alluded to, will be part of it, and the ‘cylchoedd Ti a Fi’ provision, as has been raised by Mike Hedges, will also be part of it, and the wider early years provision will also be part of it. This is a comprehensive strategy, and includes all of Welsh Government.

I am also going to try and speak a little Welsh this afternoon. Last month, I visited a ‘cylch Ti a Fi’ in my constituency, and I enjoyed listening to the children singing and starting to learn Welsh. I am also learning Welsh rhag ofn nad ydych wedi dyfalu. [Chwerthin.] Weinidog, yr hyn sy’n fy nharo i pan fyddaf yn ymweld â’r cylch, yn awr ei fod wedi cael ei ymgorffori’n rhan o Ysgol Gwenffrwd yn Nhreffynnon, yw bod dros 90 y cant o’r plant yn dod o gartrefi di-Gymraeg, ac mae llawer o’r cynorthwywyr meithrin mewn gwirionedd yn rhieni plant a arferai ddod i’r cylch sydd wedi dod i weithio yn y cylch hefyd fel dysgwyr sy’n oedolion. Felly, Weinidog, hoffwn ofyn yn benodol beth sy’n cael ei wneud, nid yn unig i gynorthwyo’r rhieni hyn i ddysgu Cymraeg ochr yn ochr â’u plant, ac i annog eu plant i aros mewn addysg cyfrwng Cymraeg, ond o bosibl i gynnig llwybr gyrfa i’r rhieni eu hunain.

I think one of the most inspiring things that we’ve seen in recent years has been the growth in the enthusiasm for the language in the parts of north-east Wales that you represent, which haven’t been, traditionally, Welsh-speaking areas. I remember that one of my first visits as a Minister in this Assembly was to the Eisteddfod in Flintshire. I think it was a great experience for many of us, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time there. Can I say that one of the things we’re looking at doing is investing in programmes such as Cymraeg for Kids, which are there to support and sustain the use and acquisition of the language, not by individual children but by families, and that the role of parents is absolutely essential to that, both when parents feel uncomfortable with a child acquiring and using the language, which might not have been used in the home before, but also then sustaining and enabling the parent to enjoy the children’s education, to feel comfortable in what the children are learning, to help with homework and to support the child’s developing language needs and language acquisition. So, I hope that the Cymraeg for Kids programme will sustain and support the use of Welsh, both amongst the children themselves but amongst the family as a whole. I hope, if we are able to do that, then we will achieve far more than simply providing educational opportunities for the children but also a much richer cultural experience for the family as a whole.