5. Statement by the Minister for Welsh Language and Lifelong Learning: Update on Welsh Language Priorities

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:23 pm on 5 June 2018.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 5:23, 5 June 2018

Thank you very much, Neil. I think I'd like to make it clear that this shift of emphasis is so important if we are to reach that target. So, what we've done hitherto is to focus attention on the rights of Welsh speakers, and that's fine—that's good, and it's come a long way. We've really changed the environment, particularly in local government and in some universities. I understand it's been successful, but this shift of emphasis, if we want to get to the 1 million speakers, means that we have to start focusing on those 80 per cent who don't speak Welsh. Otherwise, we'll never get there—we'll never get there. So, we have to shift that emphasis.

We can't do everything. We only have a limited budget, and that's why it is important, I think, that there's an understanding that that's why we're doing this. There is no slowdown in terms of the momentum, in fact. What we're doing is to do it in different ways. So, for example, we've got this new Cymraeg Byd Busnes. We are giving support, and we've appointed 10 new people to go around Wales, to go into small and medium-sized businesses to say, 'Why don't you offer some services through the medium of Welsh? Why don't you make sure that your customers are aware that you have Welsh speakers?' It's that kind of practical help that, actually, people are looking for—a knowledge of who is able to speak Welsh.

It's unbelievable. I was with a couple of people recently, they'd known each other for four years and they had no idea that each other spoke Welsh. It was only when I started speaking to them independently that they understood. So, it's that kind of understanding and visibility for the Welsh language, which is not about forcing people. It's about making sure that we are changing the atmosphere and the way that people respond.

Cymraeg Gwaith is another thing, and there's a new helpline, so that we won't see the situation where we have these dreadful translations from English into Welsh. There's no reason why that should happen in the future because there will be support for that.

This £5,000 incentive I'm hoping will be for new teachers, not taking people from the English sector into Welsh. The idea is to encourage new teachers, and we could certainly do with that.

And, on the digital side, we are hoping that the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol is doing a lot of work on making sure that in FE, for example—. For the first time, the further education system is now being brought into the system. What we were seeing was a drop-off. People would come out of Welsh schools and they would lose their Welsh the moment they went into further education colleges. So, we are now changing that system, giving far more support to the further education system. It's happened in the universities already, and we are now moving into further education. So, I hope that that and the digital frameworks that are happening in the colleges and the universities will also be a part of that as well.