The following amendments have been selected: amendment 1 in the name of Jane Hutt, amendment 2 in the name of Neil Hamilton, and amendments 3, 4, 5 and 6 in the name of Paul Davies. If amendment 1 is agreed, amendments 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be deselected. If amendment 2 is agreed, amendments 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be deselected.

The next item is the Plaid Cymru debate on 1 million Welsh speakers, and I call on Sian Gwenllian to move the motion.

Motion NDM6356 Rhun ap Iorwerth

1. Notes the Welsh Government’s aim of publishing a strategy in order to reach a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

2. Notes the Plaid Cymru report ‘Reaching the Million’ which outlines clearly some of the main strategic priorities for growing the number of Welsh speakers in Wales to a million by 2050.

3. Calls on the Welsh Government to:

a) plan for substantial growth, and normalising, Welsh medium education and child care;

b) ensure that language considerations are intrinsic in economic planning as part of maintaining the current maintenance regimes and the need for this to be reflected in the Welsh Government’s proposed economic strategy;

c) strengthen the role of the Welsh language Commissioner to regulate and promote the rights of Welsh speakers and extend the Welsh language standards to the private sector including the telecommunications sector, banks and supermarkets;

d) establish a new arms-length agency to promote the Welsh language within education, communities and the economy.

Motion moved.

Thank you very much, and I’m very pleased to open this debate today and to move the motion.

In March of this year, I published a report named ‘Reaching the Million’, which was brought together by Wales’s leading independent language policy and planning agency, which is IAITH: The Welsh Centre for Language Planning. I was very eager to contribute to the debate as the Government draws up its strategy that will increase the number of Welsh speakers in Wales to 1 million by 2050. I was trying to encapsulate the main strategic priorities that need to be brought together in order to create a successful strategy. Having the assistance of experienced language planners was crucially important, and it’s important that we use their expertise in full in moving to the future.

The motion before us today is an opportunity to encapsulate some of the main issues and, in turn, my fellow Members in the Plaid Cymru group will look at education, maintaining and developing the economy in areas where the Welsh language is the language of daily communication, legislation and promoting the Welsh language. There this much more than that contained in the ‘Reaching the Million’ document, and each of you will have received a copy of it, and it is also available online.

Just a few words on the amendments tabled. The Labour amendment and the UKIP amendment delete all, and therefore we cannot support them. The Labour amendment is a description of some of the actions in the pipeline, or some that have already been introduced. We look forward to seeing the content of the White Paper and the ideas on a new Welsh language Bill. We look forward eagerly to looking through the 1 million Welsh speakers strategy next week, and the planning board is a step in the right direction, but it is only a step.

The UKIP amendment is negative and devoid of any ambition or vision. The Conservative amendment on the economy weakens our motion. The Welsh language needs to be an integral part of economic planning. It is far more than simply about the use of the Welsh language in business. Indeed, this amendment encapsulates perfectly the lack of understanding that exists on the link between the Welsh language and a viable economy in those areas where the Welsh language is the language of daily communication within communities. Our argument is that if the Welsh language is to prosper, we need to safeguard the heartlands, and to do that we need quality jobs in those areas to prevent outmigration and to create economic and social prosperity.

In terms of the Conservative amendment on the role of the Welsh Language Commissioner, reviewing isn’t the same as strengthening. Therefore, we can’t support this. And in terms of considering the purpose of Welsh language standards, we also see this as an attempt or a desire to weaken rather than strengthen. These amendments by the Conservatives could be seen as a lack of commitment to the Welsh language from that party, and I’m sure that they would be eager to persuade us otherwise. Simply, therefore, we are opposed to these amendments.

We believe that our motion is comprehensive, but it doesn’t cover all aspects by any means. There are a number of aspects in creating 1 million Welsh speakers, and in the report, ‘Reaching the Million’, we summarise as follows:

it will be necessary to: sustain the numbers and percentages of speakers and their current use of the Welsh language; reproduce Welsh speakers through the Welsh language socialisation of children both within the family and the local community; produce new speakers through both formal and informal education and childcare systems—in preschool provision, schools, colleges and ex-curricular provision; create new speakers from amongst the Welsh workforce.

In planning for an increasing number of Welsh speakers, sufficient opportunities will need to be provided for people (young people in particular) to use the Welsh language in all aspects of daily life—at home, in pursuing educational courses and training, in their localities and local communities, in the workplace, on social media and in information technology.

It will also be necessary to ensure viable social and economic conditions to sustain and increase the number of areas with a high proportion of Welsh speakers, by integrating language policy and planning objectives with economic strategies and developments in those areas. Additionally, new social networks of Welsh speakers will need promoting and supporting in those areas where the Welsh language is not as strong.

As a backdrop to this, the most favourable conditions will need to be provided to ensure Welsh speakers are able to use the language. This will involve building upon the current legislative architecture in order to reinforce and strengthen the status of the Welsh language, broaden and facilitate its use in both old and new domains, and develop the rights and confidence of Welsh speakers to use the language in all aspects of our country’s daily life.’

That includes extending standards to the private sector, including the telecommunications sector, banking, and supermarkets. Now, that’s an overview at the outset, and I look forward to the rest of the debate.

I have selected the six amendments to the motion. If amendment 1 is agreed, amendments 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be deselected. If amendment 2 is agreed, amendments 3, 4, 5 and 6 will be deselected. I call on the Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language to move formally amendment 1, tabled in the name of Jane Hutt.

Amendment 1—Jane Hutt

Delete all after point 1 and replace with:

Notes the Welsh Government’s intention to publish a White Paper for consultation this summer on provision for a new Welsh Language Bill.

Recognises the action being taken already to promote and facilitate the use of Welsh across communities and workplaces, in formal and informal settings.

Welcomes the establishment of a planning board to advise on a national programme to promote the use of the Welsh language.

Amendment 1 moved.

Formally.

I call on Neil Hamilton to move amendment 2, tabled in his name.

Amendment 2—Neil Hamilton

Delete all after point 1 and replace with:

Believes that flying in the face of local public opinion will limit the chances of success of the Welsh Government’s strategy of reaching a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

Calls on the Welsh Government to ensure that:

a) any changes to existing key stages 1 to 5 education and childcare provision involves genuine local consultation whereby:

i) all respondents supply their names, addresses and postcodes; and

ii) each individual named in any submitted petition is recorded as a discrete observation unit; and

b) the opinions of third parties, agents and commissioners, including those purporting to offer expert advice on Welsh language provision, are not given priority over the wishes of local residents and parents.

Amendment 2 moved.

Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd.There is a great deal in Plaid Cymru’s motion that we can agree with, and the reason why we put ‘delete all’ in our amendment is because that’s what Plaid Cymru always does when it tries to amend our motions. So, I’m afraid that we are just repaying them in kind. But we have never yet succeeded in having an amendment passed, so, therefore, I think this is a somewhat illusory threat to Plaid Cymru. I applaud the document that Sian Gwenllian produced, ‘Reaching the Million’, which I think is an extremely interesting and wide-ranging and comprehensive plan and strategy for achieving what I believe to be a common objective of us all in this Assembly. I’ve strongly supported the Welsh Government’s ambition for a million Welsh speakers by 2050, and I’ve frequently said that I think that the Minister for lifelong learning has promoted this policy very effectively, with the sensitivity that is his most notable characteristic. And I think—[Interruption.] No, it was meant affectionately in this particular instance. I do believe that the general approach that the Government brings to this topic is the right one.

Whilst I agree with a great deal of what is in this document, there are a couple of things that concern me, in particular, obviously, one of them, which is mentioned in the motion itself, on the extension of Welsh language standards to the private sector. Whilst I agree that, for telecommunications firms and for banks and big companies of that kind, they have the infrastructure to be able to cope with the extra financial burdens and administrative burdens that that will bring about, it’s a very different story, of course, for smaller businesses. So, we need to have more detail in that element of the proposal before we could support it. So, I’m broadly sympathetic to the aim of Plaid Cymru even in that respect, but I do believe that we need to have more flesh on the bones before we can support it.

The purpose of our amendment was to draw attention to what I believe to be a fundamental tenet of policy in respect of education, that the wishes of parents ought to be given the greatest possible consideration. Now, I agree that that may, in certain instances, be in conflict with the other objectives on which we agree. But, fundamentally, the children who are the subject of this debate—insofar as education is concerned, at any rate—are not our children, they are their parents’ children, and the Education Act of 1996, admittedly before devolution, which set out the legal obligation of Government, says that pupils were to be educated in accordance with parents’ wishes. Obviously, that’s so far as is administratively possible. It’s not in every instance that a parent can have his or her wishes respected, but, fundamentally, that’s what we should try to do. And, of course, in my own region of Mid and West Wales, we’ve had the two contrasting cases in the last year of the case of Llangennech in Llanelli and, of course, Brecon High School, and I very much welcome the decision by the education authority in Powys to continue Welsh-medium education at Brecon High School. I supported the parents there, because that was what they wanted. Similarly, I supported the parents in Llangennech who wanted a different decision taken in respect of the changing of the medium of instruction from English to Welsh in Llangennech primary school. And I do believe that the way forward is by persuasion, and I think this should be properly funded. I agree with, again, that part of the motion and this document that the Welsh language strategy will be expensive, but I think it’s an expense that is worth incurring, because language is at the heart of a culture of a nation, and it’s an irreplaceable gift, which, if lost, can be restored only with the greatest possible difficulty. So, I think it is worth us making the greatest possible effort in order to achieve those objectives.

And there is a ray of hope in this, because, as the report says, from 2001 to 2011, the number of three to four-year-olds recorded as Welsh speakers grew from 18.8 per cent to 23.3 per cent, and we need to build on that, and I applaud the objective that is set in the report of increasing that figure to 35 per cent within a reasonable period, because that is the way in which the language will be sustained. I know from my own personal experience that it’s much more difficult to learn a language once you get up beyond the early years, and, therefore, it is vitally important that we socialise children, as Sian Gwenllian said in her introduction to this debate, as early as possible and make them instinctively familiar with the language. That is the way forward.

I call on Suzy Davies to move amendments 3, 4, 5 and 6, tabled in the name of Paul Davies.

Amendment 3—Paul Davies

Delete 3(b) and replace with:

consider how best to promote the acquisition and use of Welsh language skills as an intrinsic part of its economic strategy.

Amendment 4—Paul Davies

Delete 3(c) and replace with:

review the role of the Welsh Language Commissioner and ensure that the Commissioner is accountable to the National Assembly for Wales.

Amendment 5—Paul Davies

Insert as new sub-point after 3(c) and renumber accordingly:

reflect on the purpose and effectiveness of Welsh language standards prior to any proposal to extend their application into the private sector.

Amendment 6—Paul Davies

Delete 3(d) and replace with:

adopt a new model, outside government, to promote the Welsh language within education, communities and the economy.

Amendments 3, 4, 5 and 6 moved.

Thank you very much, Llywydd, and I move the Welsh Conservative amendments in the name of Paul Davies. Thanks also to Plaid Cymru for bringing forward today’s debate and for commissioning the report referred to in the motion. It’ll be interesting to see how much the report has influenced the Minister’s work, and, of course, we need to hear from the Minister on this, because local authorities are preparing their own Welsh language strategies up to 2020, as required by the standards, without any understanding of what the Welsh Government will be looking for when this year ends.

We have our own amendments, so we will oppose the motion, but we’re not hostile to its general thrust. We would like to support point 3(a). I’ve been calling for compulsory, meaningful introduction of Welsh in Flying Start settings for some years now, but in addition to the introduction of Welsh language skills as an intrinsic part of vocational courses such as social care, hospitality, hair and beauty, even, and, of course, childcare. While fluency would be the gold standard, as it were—we shall see—my main focus would be on confidence, and I think we’ve all come to the conclusion that if you haven’t got the confidence to use your incorrect Welsh, perhaps, then there’s no opportunity for it to become good Welsh.

This is reflected in our first amendment. We tabled this in these terms, Sian Gwenllian, partly because I didn’t understand what point 3(b) actually meant. If it was about looking for fertile ground to promote the acquisition and use of Welsh language skills within the Welsh Government’s economic strategy, then I would agree with you. If it was about not rolling back from the standards, I would agree with you. If it was about acceptance that any programme in this territory would have to be multi-speed to reflect that everyone in Wales will be buying into this from different starting points, then, again, I would agree with you.

Amendment 4 relates to the Welsh Language Commissioner, and we invite once again the Welsh Government to consider the accountability of the commissioner, not least as the Liberal Democrats have also called for that role to be independent of Government and accountable to us directly. As Plaid has now embraced the idea of an arm’s-length agency to promote the Welsh language, I wonder if we might see some shift in their previous viewpoint on this too.

It wasn’t so long ago, in a meeting with Dyfodol, I think it was, that I was advocating for the delivery of Welsh language promotion to be brought out of Government, and Alun Ffred was arguing the contrary. While I welcome the conversion to the Welsh Conservative way of thinking, perhaps I can press you on what the length of that arm will be. If you have in mind a body that will simply carry out the Government planning board’s instructions, well there’s no point moving the work out of Government. [Interruption.] Could you wait until the end, please? I don’t know if I’ve got enough time, sorry.

I have to say, and it’s an important point about why we don’t agree with what the Government is trying to say today, at present, I remain to be convinced on the purpose of this panel and that’s why, as I said, I don’t support the Government’s amendment. At this moment, I’m still favour of an independent arm’s-length body to take on this work, but one with the freedom to think differently. However, there is an argument that a Welsh language commissioner accountable to this Assembly rather than the Government might also be placed in an interesting position to be the primary promoter of the Welsh language. We are still in a period where many of our constituents praise or condemn this Assembly for Welsh language policy rather than the Government. This would be an opportunity to strengthen the role of the Commissioner, as called for in part 3(c) of the original motion, in a different way. Amendment 6 invites you to think why not make it the property of the people rather than the Executive—the Welsh language, that is.

Our amendment 5 is not in conflict with part 3(c) of the motion. It simply asks for a period of reflection and analysis before taking the next step with standards. The commissioner has said that the bodies affected are now getting used to the idea, and I hope that we will see formal evidence to that effect in consultation responses to the Government White Paper.

I have more to say, but there’s not enough time. So, I’m sorry, Simon, too.

As it happens, Simon Thomas.

Thank you, Llywydd. I’m pleased to support the motion as drafted, of course, and to reject the amendments, despite some of the explanations that we’ve heard. May I also start by noting my gratitude at the decision of Powys council to keep the Welsh language stream in Brecon High School, and also by drawing the Assembly’s attention to why that decision was taken? Three reasons were given for overturning the intention to close the Welsh language stream there. The third reason was this: to support the vision of the Welsh Government to create a million Welsh speakers by the year 2050. So, for me, this is the first time that we have seen a county council decision overturned or changed because of that target. I welcome that and I just want to expand on what is implicit in that now, particularly in education.

If you bear in mind that, of all the Welsh speakers over the age of 65 at the moment, eight in 10 of them learnt Welsh at home, and, of all the Welsh speakers up to the age of 15, two of 10 of them learnt Welsh at home, then you will see the shift that’s happened over the generations. Yes, we have retained the language in an incredible way in the modern world, but we have done that by seeing the language transfer from where it was the language of the home, the farm, the chapel, work, and so on, to a situation where the language is largely dependent on education.

That’s not entirely a bad thing, because there are benefits, as it happens—specific, educational benefits—to bilingualism, and it doesn’t matter which two languages that entails. There are additional benefits to being trilingual, of course, but there is strong international evidence that being bilingual enhances skills in maths, in understanding, in interpretation, analytical skills. It’s positive that we do have, and are moving towards, a bilingual education system. But it also poses a number of questions on how we’re going to get there.

So, may I first of all ask the Minister in responding to the debate to tell us where the WESPs are now and the work of Aled Roberts in reviewing those, in order to ensure that they are fit for purpose in terms of this new target of a million Welsh speakers? In that context, I’d like to share with the Assembly some of the things that will need to happen in order to reach that target by 2050.A little over 100,000 pupils receive their education through the medium of Welsh at the moment. To reach a million, there is quite some way to go. It’s achievable over 30 years, but there is quite some way to go. For example, if we are to reach a million, then 77.5 per cent of children in Wales will have to have Welsh-medium education by the year 2040. That’s why Plaid Cymru argued in our last manifesto for the last Assembly elections that every child needs to receive Welsh-medium education at least in primary school, so the foundations of bilingualism are laid for all children in Wales, and that there would be more options available following that, depending on the area where you live.

There needs to be determination in certain areas of Wales. For example, if you dig into those figures, you need to increase the figure from 10 per cent of seven-year-olds in Torfaen to 62 per cent; from 5.6 per cent in Flintshire at the moment to 46.5 per cent. The point of these figures is not to criticise those areas that are falling behind—we hope that they will improve—but to show that we can set meaningful targets by council area, by region, even by school. Then you can measure the outcomes. That’s why I’m disappointed that the Government is rejecting this part of the motion that sets out the need for targets and tries to tell a story again. Yes, tell us the story in your amendment, by all means, but we need targets so that we can measure whether this million is achievable, and whether we can do that over 5 years, 10 years or 15 years. These are the kind of figures that we need to do that.

I’ve mentioned the number of children and young people in Welsh-medium education, but we also have to think about the teaching profession. It’s true to say that, traditionally, farming and education were the two Welsh speaking workforces in Wales. It’s slipped back in both areas to a certain extent, but it’s still true to say that one in three teachers in Wales is able to speak Welsh. They don’t necessarily teach through the medium of Welsh, but they are able to speak Welsh. So, you have those skills in place. However, the number of Welsh students training to be teachers has fallen to its lowest level for almost a decade and we need to train an additional 3,000 teachers for the primary sector and 2,600 for the secondary sector just to get on track with the million Welsh speaker programme. These are the targets, and this is how we’re going to measure whether the Government is on the right track or not.

May I start by saying that I look forward now to seeing the publication of the strategy? I hope that it will show the trace of the recommendations and the discussions had in the committee on the language strategy, and suggest specific steps that the Government will consider. Amongst those steps was the idea that this strategy will show the journey for us, for how we go from here, to achieving the aim of a million Welsh speakers, and that it does that with milestones and details so that we can see clearly the journey ahead of us on reaching this ambitious aim.

Simon, and others, have mentioned the importance of education, and I am going to go onto that, but, first of all, I’d like to discuss the question that Sian Gwenllian emphasised, namely this idea of economic prosperity and that prosperity of the language is intrinsically linked to economic prosperity in our communities. In my constituency, there are communities that speak Welsh, there are many communities that in living memory have spoken Welsh but where the Welsh language no longer prospers, and that’s linked to the patterns of economic change over the decades. So, we do need to ensure as we put together an economic strategy that there is an emphasis on how we maintain Welsh-speaking communities. The Government is doing good work with regard to the Better Jobs, Closer to Home project, and we should be looking at that in a linguistic context as well as the context that we’re currently looking at it in.

But within the education system, I also hope that we see changes to the WESPs. Obviously, they weren’t sufficient when they were initially published and the constructive process that has been pursued will, hopefully, lead to far more ambitious plans. But the truth is that, as a matter of principle, we should be meeting in full the demand for Welsh-medium education wherever it arises. We’re not succeeding at present, and that should be the aim. But on top of that, as the language is a cultural asset, of course, but also an educational asset, as we’ve already heard in this debate, then we should be taking specific steps to create the demand for Welsh-medium education over a period of time as well. So, we need that level of ambition so that we can reach the aim ahead of us.

We discussed in the committee how important nursery education is to reach the aim, and I think we should be looking at pilots for parents who can’t speak Welsh who choose to send their children to nursery schools through the medium of Welsh, so that they too should receive training to support their children through their educational journey in the language. That’s part of a wider process—and the strategy is clear about the importance of this—of normalising the use of the language within the family, as well as in the community and in workplaces more widely.

On a personal level, until I was elected to the Assembly, I’d never worked in a workplace where it was possible to speak Welsh. That experience of coming here and being able to speak Welsh or in English as I wish, more or less, has been a very positive and desirable thing on a personal level, and that’s what we should be trying to provide to everyone in all workplaces: that we don’t have to think, ‘Does this person speak Welsh?’—that it’s something that becomes much more natural and much more wide-ranging and widely available to people in general. So, I welcome the emphasis on promotion.

I said in the previous debate that we need a revolution to reach this aim. We need that cultural shift to ensure that people can feel confident and can have the ability to speak Welsh in their workplaces and in their daily lives. Part of that, as Suzy Davies said, is to do with people’s own confidence, but if you’re not sure that the person you’re talking to is going to respond in Welsh, then the question of confidence holds you back whatever your ability in the Welsh language. So, I think that’s an important part of that.

Briefly, on this question of the general right, I would like the Government to look at the discussion that we had in the Pierhead a few months ago with Gwion Lewis, who was talking about creating the general right to use the Welsh language in all parts of social life, but aligned with that that we have guidance to show where it would be more likely that we would be able to use that right. It was a very constructive discussion and it was a very far-reaching proposal, and I would encourage the Government to consider it in due course.

I want to echo some of the initial points made by Jeremy on the importance of the economy in terms of the prosperity of the Welsh language. I have been strongly of the opinion that you can’t separate economic prosperity from linguistic prosperity. Alun Davies will recall that we both occupied a house that is now in my constituency in Carmel during the Newport eisteddfod of 1998, and the banner outside that house said ‘Housing and jobs to save the language’. It was true then, of course, in terms of the pressure on affordable housing, but it’s so much truer now.

We tend to overemphasise the educational elements and the familial elements in terms of language transfer. But for me, the workplace was the catalyst that meant that I became fluent in the Welsh language, because I came from a mixed-language home. My father was a collier, and the Welsh language was the working language for him. I came to understand that and came to understand the vibrancy of that coalmining Welsh language culture. And subsequently, through the miners’ strike, of course, it was the language of work and politics. In looking across Wales, the economic foundation has been so important. Consider the quarrying areas of north Wales. Think about agriculture, where, in that sector, over 50 per cent of farmers in Wales still speak Welsh, which is twice the percentage in the general population, because the industry itself supports people in that economic sense and also maintains the language and culture. This isn’t an original point. Brinley Thomas made the same points in his work of genius on the industrial revolution in Wales. After the industrial revolution, the Welsh language was saved. There were some people who were suggesting that that diluted the language, but Brinley Thomas argued ‘no’: because of the industrial revolution and because of the regeneration in the Welsh language press in the south Wales Valleys, that created that foundation so that the Welsh language didn’t face the same demise as the Irish language.

Therefore, bringing these lessons to the modern day, there is some unwieldy language here—’jargonllyd’, to use Suzy Davies’s favourite word; jargon—in English and Welsh, because there is talk of ‘current maintainable systems’. We’re talking here about the traditional Welsh-speaking heartlands where the Welsh language is still the language used on the streets and so on. Of course, that economic foundation and the issue of economic prosperity is an integral part of the survival of the language in those areas. What I would like to see as we look at regionalisation for economic development—and we were discussing that the in the economy committee this morning—is that we do create a region for Welsh-speaking west Wales so that we can bring those two things together—language and culture and economy—in a forum of regional collaboration.

There are a number of things that that region—. But it’s good to see that the First Minister yesterday, and the Cabinet Secretary for local government, have welcomed this concept. There’s a great deal that can be done. We can look at this question of outmigration. There was a project back in the 1990s—Llwybro—which tracked young people from mid and west Wales who were going off to university, very often in England and trying to—[Interruption.] Well, yes, and I think the Llywydd was responsible for that project. It was an extremely successful project, trying to keep in touch with these young people when they left and then trying to attract them back by identifying specific opportunities appropriate to their skills. Once again, very often in Wales we succeed with projects and then we cast that information basis aside. But there is an opportunity for us to take hold of it again.

One large-scale project would be the railways: linking the west of Wales and seeing that for the first time we could travel from north to south within our own country on our railway. That is a large-scale vision, a specific vision and we need to learn lessons from the past also. But there are real opportunities now to create something that will counteract the current trend and the overemphasis, perhaps, on the city regions by creating a region for Welsh-speaking west Wales.

Thanks to Plaid for bringing today’s debate. As Assembly Members we do need to support effective measures to bolster the growth of Welsh, and we in the UKIP group do endorse those aims. I listened to Sian Gwenllian’s opening remarks, and I agree with her that we need to put an onus on safeguarding Welsh in its heartlands: the idea of taking measures to keep jobs in those areas and stop outmigration in what she termed the areas where Welsh is the language of daily communication. And, of course, Adam Price was emphasising the economic aspect and he also spoke about a west Wales region and possibly treating the Welsh-speaking westerly parts of Wales as a separate entity in some measures of economic thinking. I think there may be some merit in that. So, I think that there are positive ways in which we can encourage Welsh, and I think that what Adam and Sian seemed to be emphasising about the westerly regions being at the heart of the matter, I believe that to be the case, myself. Of course, there are pitfalls when you try to transfer policies through the whole of Wales and I think there are potential problems when you come up with the issue of compulsion.

So, if we refer to the recent example that we debated a few weeks ago of the Llangennech school saga, there was plenty of evidence that the majority of the community there was against the proposal to turn a dual-stream primary school into a Welsh-medium one. Now, you could argue, as Simon Thomas did at the time, that the decision to do that was in compliance with Carmarthenshire County Council’s own WESP, but you could also observe that the plan, in its application in Llangennech, did not seem to have much of a local mandate behind it. We do talk about localism in this place, and there didn’t seem to have been much localism in what was happening in Llangennech. So, I think that sometimes, when compulsion is involved, measures can actually turn out to be counterproductive.

Somebody mentioned here yesterday when we were talking about taxation—I think it was Huw Irranca-Davies—that we have to be very careful as legislators in not creating unintended consequences. By trying to push Welsh-medium schools through force, I believe that you could sometimes work against a target of creating 1 million Welsh speakers. This aspect was recognised by the Llanelli MP Nia Griffith when she expressed her fear that if the school involved were to go over to being Welsh medium, that many parents might simply switch their pupils to an English-medium school, even if this meant moving home. This would tend to defeat the purpose of increasing participation in Welsh. So, Nia Griffith, in this instance, may have identified the possible unintended consequence.

So, to summarise, I agree with the economic ideas about the westerly areas, but I think, as a general principle, we need to make available the opportunity of speaking Welsh to those who wish to do so, but to force Welsh onto people who don’t want to may be counterproductive.

As has already been said by others speakers, Plaid Cymru is very supportive of this aim to reach 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050, but it’s important to acknowledge that it’s not through a series of short-term policies that we can change the situation of the Welsh language. Indeed, if this ambitious aim is to be achieved, then this strategy has to be one that can withstand political change, i.e. a change in Minister but also in the party of Government. So, we have to ensure an element of continuity and consistency over an extended period of time.

I want to use my contribution to this debate to talk specifically about an element that needs continuity, a vitally important element if the Government is to win the support of the public in reaching the 1 million Welsh speakers, namely the promotion of the Welsh language. We’ve heard several excellent contributions—from Jeremy Miles and Adam specifically, and others too, and also from Sian. As part of the budget for 2017-18, agreed between Plaid Cymru and the Government, there was a commitment to establish an arm’s-length agency to promote the Welsh language to give a new emphasis and basis for Welsh Government policy to renew and regenerate the language and to create a genuinely bilingual nation. We have to increase the emphasis on promotion of the Welsh language and not just on ensuring rights to the speakers. As it stands, the role of the commissioner is to promote, but Plaid Cymru believes it’s the role of another arm’s-length body, with experts, policies and language planning that have been built over a number of years, and that that body would be most appropriate for devising, facilitating and monitoring the kinds of promotion activities that are now needed and that’s why we need an agency—or whatever it will be called—that will lead on policy, that is responsible for a strategic oversight of the field, and has high status within Welsh Government departments, and other agencies such as Natural Resources Wales and the arts council.

Why is promotion one of the most important elements to expand the use of the Welsh language? Well, even today, in 2017, there is a lack of understanding of the benefits of learning through the medium of Welsh and even how the Welsh language is taught. Every six months or so, without fail, we have an article from one of the British newspapers alleging that Welsh-medium education prevents children from achieving their potential, that learning a dying language is a disadvantage for any child or adult who wants a quality job, and that it’s better to learn a foreign language such as French or Spanish. The most recent example was an article in ‘The Guardian’ a fortnight ago that was factually incorrect and alleged that children receiving their education through the medium of Welsh were under some kind of disadvantage as compared to their peers learning through the medium of English.

In order for the Government to reach the aim of 1 million, we need to have a change of attitude towards the Welsh language in general, as we’ve already heard, and for the people of Wales to take ownership of this objective with full confidence. To promote—’Send your children to a Welsh-medium school. The child will come out fluent in two languages, not just in one.’ Promoting the Welsh language will play an intrinsic role in all of this. Promotion is vitally important. There’s nothing to fear here, only improving the skills of your children, and we believe that we need an arm’s-length agency to lead on this promotion. Thank you.

I call on the Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language, Alun Davies.

Thank you very much, Llywydd. Thank you to everyone who’s contributed to this debate this afternoon, and thank you to Sian Gwenllian for moving the motion on behalf of Plaid Cymru, giving us the opportunity to discuss the Welsh language here today. Llywydd, I will be asking Members this afternoon to support amendment 1 in the name of Jane Hutt, but not to support the other amendments. I ask Members to do that because next Tuesday we will be making a statement on the Welsh language strategy, and we will be making further statements on how we intend to implement the strategy. What I don’t want to do today is to tie the Government in to any views where we are due to have further consultation. I don’t want to start that process of consultation by saying exactly where we stand now. I don’t think that would be a wise move. So, I won’t be accepting these amendments this afternoon, not because we disagree with them, but because we want to continue to have that rich debate on how we promote the Welsh language and secure the future of the Welsh language.

In saying that, I want to start with the points that Dai Lloyd finished with, in terms of a change of attitude. Dai Lloyd and I seem to read the same newspapers and hear, occasionally, the same reports. I am entirely clear in my own mind, and I think it’s clear in all of our minds, that it’s not acceptable for Welsh speakers to be challenged because we happen to speak Welsh in Wales. On occasion, when I hear some reports—we heard reports in the ‘Daily Post’ last week about a restaurant in north Wales where people were complaining because they heard the Welsh language being spoken in Gwynedd. Well, I have a very clear message: we speak Welsh in Wales, and we will continue to speak Welsh in Wales, and we have every right to do that. We don’t apologise to anyone for choosing to use our own language in our own country. And we will secure not only the status of the Welsh language, but a change of attitude towards the Welsh language. We are not content to come to any agreement with anyone on that. We will continue to use the Welsh language and continue to promote the use of the Welsh language.

May I also say this? In making progress on the strategy that we’re introducing and the debate that we’re to have, next week we’re going to outline our vision on the Welsh language and how we’re going to achieve that target of 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050. Everyone, I think, is agreed, that the strategy is challenging and ambitious. But I also believe that we are starting a journey here. We are starting a journey as a nation, as politicians and as a Government. And I was entirely clear in my own thinking last year, when the First Minister and I set this target, that we weren’t setting a target in order to maintain the status quo. We were setting an ambitious target in order to generate change—in order to generate change in terms of the Government’s action and how we as a nation work in a number of these policy areas.

In making that point, may I just mention education? We’ve heard some discussion on education this afternoon. I’m not going back to west Wales; that’s not my intention today, although I have been invited by Adam Price to do that. But I am going to answer the questions that Simon Thomas posed.

Aled Roberts has concluded his work on the WESPs across the country and I will be publishing his report hopefully before the end of term, and certainly over the summer. I will be writing to local councils, responding to all of the WESPs, and I will be asking councils to ensure that they can respond to WESPs and have strategic plans in place that will enable us to reach the 1 million target. I don’t accept all of your figures, but I do accept that we need to have a framework in place and we will put that in place.

We will also of course be making further statements on that. Kirsty Williams will be making further statements on the curriculum and on further education, and also I’m very eager that we don’t discuss the Welsh language in terms of Welsh-medium education and Welsh-medium education alone. It is important that children who attend English-medium schools have the same opportunities to learn Welsh and become fluent in the language by the time that they leave education, and we will secure that through the kinds of curricular reform that we intend to introduce.

May I turn to some of the points made by Jeremy Miles? I’ve followed the debate that’s taken place in terms of our rights to use the Welsh language and I agree that we need to give further consideration to how we actually provide for that right to use the Welsh language and I think the work of Gwion Lewis does offer some discussion points and I look forward to continuing that discussion over the past few months. I do agree that we need a legislative framework that enables us to achieve our vision and to see our plan achieve that 1 million Welsh speakers.

But we must also consider whether we have the necessary legislative framework in place at the moment. We need to consider whether the balance between regulation, public services, and supporting the Welsh language through promotional activity are appropriate and whether they are working at the moment. Some this afternoon have suggested that we need change and some have changed their own minds. I appreciate that and we will consider your suggestions during ensuing debates but I can say that I will be publishing a White Paper for consultation. I will be publishing the White Paper during the Eisteddfod on Anglesey and we will consider how we create the kind of legislative framework that will be necessary for the future.

I don’t intend to discuss the content of the White Paper this afternoon, but I can tell you this: we will not have any dealings on the status of the Welsh language. Some people have questioned how we implement standards. Does that mean that we are diluting the status of the Welsh language? Well, no, it doesn’t, and we don’t intend to do that. In fact, we want to go further and strengthen the status of the Welsh language. We will also need to ensure that there is sufficient emphasis on promotion and I want to shift that emphasis. I want to shift the emphasis from bureaucratic forms of regulation to alternative ways of promoting the language, and through doing that I want to do something even more important. I want to unite the nation on the issue of the Welsh language. We know, and I know, as one who’s learnt the Welsh language, and represents a constituency where you don’t hear the Welsh language on the doorstep and spoken within the community, that on occasion we as Welsh speakers haven’t been united on the Welsh language and we as the people of Wales haven’t been united on the Welsh language.

But what I want to do is this—returning to some of the points that Neil Hamilton outlined this afternoon and on other occasions—ensure that we don’t constantly talk of enforcement but that we celebrate the fact that we have two national languages, that we have two national cultures, that we can enjoy both languages wherever we are in Wales, and that we use the Welsh language to unite Wales for the future.

I call on Sian Gwenllian to reply to the debate.

Thank you very much. The debate started this afternoon with Neil Hamilton agreeing with much that is in the ‘Reaching the Million’ document. So, I don’t quite understand why we have to go after one aspect alone in the amendment that doesn’t genuinely contribute to the vision and leadership that we need in this area.

Suzy Davies emphasised the need to increase confidence, and I agree with you entirely on that. You asked for an explanation of the clause—yes, I agree with Adam—that is a little bit ambiguous, which is ‘sustainable current regimes and systems’. As Adam mentioned, it’s those heartlands, those Welsh-speaking areas where the Welsh language is the natural everyday language, and the need to maintain that network of communities through economic measures—that’s at the heart of that particular aspect.

Simon Thomas talked about the fact that the Welsh language is now very dependent on the world of education and that there are advantages in that, and that there are educational advantages to bilingualism. He spoke about the challenge facing local authorities and the need to set specific targets and milestones on the journey to creating 1 million Welsh speakers. He also talked about the importance of thinking about the workforce, and even though one in three teachers can speak Welsh, they’re not necessarily teaching through the medium of Welsh.

Jeremy Miles talked about the discussion in the committee, and I’m very grateful for the work that has been done by that particular committee and the recommendations in its report. He went on to talk about and agree with what Adam and I have been arguing for: that the prosperity of the Welsh language is intrinsically linked to the economic prosperity of the communities where there are many people who do speak Welsh, and the need for that emphasis to be made in the economic strategy—the long-awaited strategy—and that we hope it will include that particular aspect. Jeremy also talked about the need for the WESPs to be much more ambitious, and he spoke about the need to create demand as well as respond to it.

Adam then talked about our failure, if truth be told, to separate economic prosperity from linguistic prosperity, and that the economic foundation for the Welsh language is a historical thing that we can trace and that we need to maintain now. And as we look at the discussions with regard to local government reform, there’s an opportunity here to look at regionalisation, and that we don’t just regionalise across the north and around the city regions, but that we also, as a counterpoint to that, think about creating a region for the west that would work hand in hand with the city regions, and that would be some sort of forum of collaboration around the vital issues that do require collaboration with regard to the Welsh language. Adam spoke specifically about outward migration and reminded us of the Llwybro scheme and the need for the infrastructure to be far better connected between north and south and east and west in our nation, as well as out from our nation.

I also think that creating a forum, starting with the four councils—Anglesey, Gwynedd, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire—where the Welsh language-speaking communities are particularly strong, would be a means of sharing the good practice that’s seen in some of those councils already with regard to the Welsh language. You only have to look at how the language policy in Gwynedd and the education policies in Gwynedd have succeeded in maintaining and safeguarding communities with a high percentage of Welsh speakers, and that that’s happening despite the decline in other areas.

Gareth Bennett said that he agrees with this need to maintain the heartlands in economic terms. Yes, that’s what we’re saying. But we’re also saying, hand in hand with maintaining the heartlands economically and creating prosperity in those areas, that we need to encourage growth across Wales. We wouldn’t say that we would want to go back to some bygone age. We need to expand across Wales as well, but without the heartlands, it’s difficult to do that. That’s what our argument is. But it gladdened my heart to see thousands of people in Tafwyl over the weekend, in the capital city, in Cardiff, enjoying the vibrant modern Welsh culture in a new context. So, the context is changing, people are moving around, and we need to acknowledge that as well.

Whilst Tafwyl was on in Cardiff, and one of my sons happened to be there, I was in the Felinheli Festival. Another event; a completely different event; a Welsh-medium event, again, but it was a village event, in the area where the Welsh language is the daily language in the shop and on the street.

I can’t let this moment pass without talking about Gŵyl Nôl a Mla’n in Llangrannog. [Laughter.]

Excellent. Well, there are so many festivals—

It is this weekend.

Oh, it’s this weekend. Well, do go to Llangrannog, everyone. And then Dai spoke about the need to promote the Welsh language in all areas, and the need for an arm’s-length body to do that important work.

So, to conclude, speaking Welsh and speaking English fluently make me who I am. The Welsh language opens the door to me to a rich culture that dates back to the sixth century. The English language opens the door to me a rich, global culture. Both are part of my experience. I’m lucky. I’m a bilingual person who uses both languages with full confidence. Even though you don’t hear me speaking English here very often, I can speak English and I can do so fluently. [Laughter.] So, what is the argument for not creating the opportunity for every child to grow up to have one, two, three, four or five languages even? There’s no logical argument. There are clear advantages and it’s that situation of bilingualism or multilingualism that’s normal in the majority of countries worldwide. We need to move towards that situation as soon as possible. I congratulate you as a Government for adopting an ambitious aim, and it’s time to start on that journey and to turn the aim into a reality. So, I’m pleased to hear that the strategy will be announced at last next week. I can guarantee you now that we will be scrutinising it in detail and that we will certainly have comments to make on it. I agree in full with what Alun Davies said: we don’t need to apologise to anyone for using the Welsh language and promoting the use of the Welsh language at all times and in all fields. Thank you.

The proposal is to agree the motion without amendment. Does any Member object? [Objection.] I will defer voting under this item until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.