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.