Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. May I start by apologising that I have lost my voice? So, I will do my level best to put forward this statement and to give you the update on the steps that we are taking with regard to the Welsh language.

As you will be aware, the Welsh Government’s emphasis has been on making standards that create statutory rights for people in Wales to insist on some services in the Welsh language. This move from the old Welsh language schemes to standards is an important move. By today, over 120 bodies are affected by the standards. There were good reasons for concentrating at the outset on the public sector. Between them, these bodies account for the significant majority of the Welsh Government’s revenue spending, which is £13 billion pounds this year. But I have been struck by several things since becoming responsible for this portfolio.

First, the work to develop the health standards raised a number of difficult questions about Welsh language skills in the workforce and the capacity of bodies to deliver Welsh language services. Secondly, the process for making and imposing the standards is laborious, costly and complex, and the process for investigating breaches is long and overly bureaucratic. But, most importantly, the ambitious aim of Cymraeg 2050 to reach a million Welsh speakers requires an emphatic change of direction. The aim is far-reaching. In order to succeed, we must be clear about how we can better spend our resources and time.

As a result, the Welsh Government is developing a new Bill, in accordance with our commitment in ‘Taking Wales Forward’. This work builds on the proposals we made in the White Paper, ‘Striking the right balance’, and the consultation we held last year. The Bill must reflect our desire to redirect resources in order to ensure growth in the number of people who speak and use the Welsh language, rather than concentrating a significant proportion of the Welsh language budget on making and policing the standards.