We move on now to item 4: a statement by the Minister for Welsh Language and Lifelong Learning—the Welsh-language technology action plan. And I call on the Minister for Welsh Language and Lifelong Learning, Eluned Morgan.

Thank you very much. In July 2017, the Welsh Government published its strategy for the Welsh language, Cymraeg 2050. The main target of Cymraeg 2050, it’s important to note, is our desire for a million Welsh speakers. But the other point that we had to underline in that process was that we wanted to see people using the Welsh language as well, and to ensure that the Welsh language is at the heart of innovation in digital technology, to enable the use of Welsh in all digital contexts.

The purpose of today’s statement is to launch a detailed plan to show how we will do this. Almost every person—but, in particular, children and young people—comes into contact with technology at some point during their day. The action plan we are launching today recognises that technology is an area that we must tackle in order to ensure that the Welsh language remains accessible in our new digital world. I think that this area is going to be a game-changer for 2018.

The plan sets out how we want to ensure that children, young people and adults have more opportunities to use Welsh language technology, and this is particularly important in schools, in the workplace, and at home. And it’s important that the opportunities to use Welsh in technology are easy to find and to access. They do have to be accessible. I’m someone who uses technology every day, but I am very rarely offered the option to use it in Welsh without having to ask.

And, if there is a Welsh language option, it’s not always obvious that it is available unless I search for it. Life is busy, and who has the time to go looking? In fact, why should anyone have to seek out the Welsh language option on technology? The plan sets out how we want the Welsh language to be offered in technology without having to ask or look for it. We want Welsh to be available via devices that use technology—from working on a computer to using your phone or your tablet. We want to develop the technology that will enable you to speak to your devices in Welsh and, vitally, for your device to be able to understand you.

We want the technical resources that we create on the basis of the plan to be readily available and shared, and to be there for everyone to use again and again. And, for this to happen, the plan states that we must make sure that we have the correct digital infrastructure to support the Welsh language. So, these are the three specific areas of infrastructure that this plan will address: Welsh language speech technology, computer-assisted translation, and artificial intelligence in Welsh, so that machines understand Welsh and can give us help in Welsh.

In terms of translation, we will examine how we can use technology to increase the amount of Welsh that is seen and used, and to help, but not replace, professional translators. But I have to emphasise that it’s not the technology, nor documents about technology for technology’s sake, that interest me most. That’s not what’s important. Rather, if technology can bring more opportunities to live our lives through the medium of Welsh, or to learn Welsh, we need to grasp those opportunities. And grasp them we will.

If technology can facilitate opportunities to work and provide services in Welsh, those opportunities need to be developed. If technology can improve the quality of life of people living with challenges in terms of accessibility or disability, they need to have that technology in Welsh. And they shall have it, because that’s what they deserve, and all these things need to be widely used.

Like me, most Welsh speakers live or work bilingually. So, as I do my work, the technology I use will need to be able to deal with English and Welsh at the same time. This, too, is one of the principles of the plan. This is an ambitious plan, and it will not be the responsibility of the Government to implement it alone, but we will not shy away from leadership or funding, where appropriate. 

I should also note how grateful I am to the members of the board of experts I chair for all the input that they have given, and to everyone who gave advice in developing the plan.

So, to summarise, we have a clear vision for technology and the Welsh language, and the plan we are launching today shows the things we wish to do to make this vision a reality. We want to see Welsh at the heart of innovation in technology. We want it to be possible for organisations, families and individuals to use the Welsh language in an increasing number of situations, be those situations monolingual in Welsh, or bilingual in English and Welsh, without having to ask to do so. Technology moves quickly, and we want Welsh to move with the technology. That is the aim of our plan.

Thank you for the statement. I was just using the technology now to see what the Welsh word for ‘spoilt’ is, because, as Assembly Members, we are spoilt with the services that are available to us here and how we can take full advantage of them to help us in our work and to work in both languages during our business hours.

When I saw the title of the statement, I had thought that the Government was going to try to avoid the somewhat embarrassing fact that there has been a reduction in the number of Welsh teachers. So, I wasn’t looking forward to a future where that gap was going to be filled by working through digital means, rather than using teachers. So, I was pleased to see that we were discussing an entirely different area.

Now, I accept your analysis that technology stretches into our daily lives, and I think it’s a good place to introduce the Welsh language to people, both visually and in an open manner, as well as allowing Welsh speakers to live their lives through the medium of Welsh—it’s easy to press the 'language' button on an ATM machine, for example. But I’m sure we’re talking about something far more complex and ambitious than that.

So, I have quickly looked at the plan itself; the link arrived this lunchtime, so I haven’t had an opportunity to look at it in detail yet. But I saw no closing date for a progress assessment, and I don’t know what that period for assessment will be, so, it’s difficult for us as opposition Members to scrutinise your ideas. So, if you could help us with some sort of time frame, then that would help us to carry out our duties. Could you share with us your analysis of the innovation programmes that are currently being developed—here in Wales, hopefully, but also abroad? If there is any information you could provide on that, that would be excellent.

You talk about leadership and funding. This Government is constantly complaining about a shortage of funds, so how can you persuade the Cabinet Secretary for Finance that this should be a priority for funding? And, just to close, how will you prioritise sectors or activities, or whatever, in order to benefit from this plan in the most effective way possible, and to make sure that it’s prominent too, because we need see those who benefit from this plan? They need to be in our faces, in a way—we don’t want to be hiding these successes, and we need to ensure that it's apparent to everybody. Thank you.   

Thank you very much. I think—just on that first point, of course, we’re not going to be using machines to try to teach people how to speak Welsh, but I do think it’s important that we do innovate with education through digital and technological means, and I think that there is a possibility to increase educational provision through the medium of Welsh. We’re doing something at the moment with E-sgol, which is a project, and we’ll see how it works out. Sometimes, we do have to be innovative but, no, this isn’t going to replace teachers in our classrooms.

I do think that it’s important for us to understand how complex these machines are. And thank you very much for the question about how we assess progress. What’s important is that there is an understanding here that this is a plan that is long term in nature. We’re not going to turn this around overnight, but it is something where we will have to continue to work hard, because the technology will change on a weekly basis almost, and so we do have to keep up with those developments. But there is already a great deal of collaboration with some other nations. I know that the centre in Bangor is working closely with Ireland, for example, on how they're developing their translation memory. I do think that there is a possibility here for us to benefit from the developments, but also to turn it into something where we can sell these ideas and these technologies worldwide, because what we’re talking about here is not something monolingual in Welsh, but bilingual. There are hundreds of nations worldwide that will be looking for this technology, so there are opportunities and possibilities that this is something that can be marketed, then, worldwide.

Now, how are we going to benefit from this plan? One of the things that’s important for us to do, of course, is to ensure that the public sector comes together, where possible, to collaborate, so that, for example, we develop a translation memory, if you’re going to translate. Every local authority in Wales does translation in some way. If we get these machines to communicate and speak to each other, the technology and the artificial intelligence will work much better with more input into the system.

Thank you very much for the statement. I have consistently called on you in this place to take action, and it’s positive to see a statement of your intent to do that in the area of language technology. Indeed, this is an area that both I and Plaid Cymru are very interested in, as you will know. At the National Eisteddfod in August, I and my colleague Jill Evans held an event on European languages in the digital age, with representation from Canolfan Bedwyr at Bangor University, in this very building, as it happens.

Now, Canolfan Bedwyr, in my constituency, does innovative work with the resources available, but the criticism that there's been in the past, generally speaking in terms of language technology, is that there hasn't been a sufficiently strategic overview from Government and that the funding has been limited and patchy in nature. That is why Plaid Cymru did call for a meaningful strategy to ensure the development of the Welsh language in the area of language technology and on digital platforms. That was for two main reasons: first of all, so that this Government behaves like a national Government and takes ownership and provides guidance for the development of Welsh-language technology, and, secondly, in order to put right the underinvestment to support the vision to ensure that the Welsh language is a viable language in the modern, automated age. And although I haven't had opportunity to look in detail at the contents of the plan yet, it is promising that the Government is publishing such a strategy.

But, to turn to the second point, namely funding, I hear no mention in your statement about any new funding that's been allocated to deliver these proposals, but I did hear you on Radio Cymru this morning talking about funds of £400,000 as the investment that you're going to provide to support this plan, and that will be up until the end of this Assembly term. Can you therefore confirm this afternoon that what you said on Radio Cymru this morning was accurate and confirm exactly how much new funding will be available annually to deliver these proposals?

You mentioned in your statement the need for Welsh language services to be accessible and easy to use so that people can take advantage of them, and I agree entirely with you on that. Since the Welsh language standards have been implemented, I have to say that I am finding increasing opportunities to use the Welsh language with bodies that have responsibilities under the standards. The strength of standards is that they link together all elements of organisations’ and institutions’ work, and that is clear where the Welsh language is prominent on self-service machines, apps and websites, for example. My question, therefore, is: wouldn’t it be better use of resources and better in terms of the success of this plan for your officials to be continuing to work with the powers that you have and to push them to their extreme, so that more regulations can be brought forward for standards in the sectors where they can be introduced, including telecommunications companies, which are very influential in terms of people’s use of the Welsh language?

To conclude, I was particularly pleased that the work of the Plaid Cymru Member of the European Parliament, Jill Evans, in the European Parliament, had secured support for her report calling on the European Commission to draw up policies in order to tackle discrimination against minority languages in the digital sphere, including the Welsh language. But, of course, it’s a concern as to what will happen if Wales leaves the European Union. I would like to ask you, therefore, to conclude, what discussions your Government officials or you as Minister have had with the European Commission in terms of the work that has received approval in light of Jill Evans’s efforts, and how are you preparing to continue to work at a European level and to work internationally for the benefit of the Welsh language and language technology for the future? Thank you.

Well, thank you very much, and I’m very pleased that you too acknowledge the excellent work that Canolfan Bedwyr is doing up in Bangor. It genuinely is innovative work that is happening, and it’s important that we share that work and that other people have the opportunity to use that technology. I am pleased that you’ve underlined that what we have here is a more long-term vision and a strategic vision, and that’s why we brought these people here, together, the experts together, to ask them to help us decide how we should prioritise. And they’ve helped us to come up with the priorities that are in this strategy.

In terms of the funding, it is right that the funding is perhaps a little bit more than what I said on Radio Cymru this morning. The details will be in the budget that will come before the Senedd shortly, so that will come forward. I can’t tell you exactly how much will come in the coming years because, of course, we won’t know how much we’ll receive from the Treasury in London, but it is likely to increase from where we are now, so, I’m sure you’ll be pleased to hear that.

In terms of the public services, I do think that it’s right that the standards have brought something forward that means that everyone across Wales now knows where they stand. What will be allowed and enabled with this new plan is that they will be able to share that information more easily across Wales.

Nobody is going to get rid of the standards—I think I’ve said that before—but you’ll be aware too that what we can do with the private sector is limited to some extent by the current legislation.

In terms of our relationship with the European Union, I think that we’ve been in the vanguard in terms of minority languages. We have quite a good story to tell, I think. They often come to us to ask about what we're doing, but of course, there is always room for us to learn, particularly from areas such as the Basque Country, I think. So, we do acknowledge the work that the Commission has done, and yes, of course we are in discussions with the Commission. But, if we do exit the European Union, that relationship will change, and perhaps what we'll have to do is have that relationship with other minority languages in a bilateral manner, rather than via the European Union, which will be a great shame, of course.  

Thank you for your statement, Minister, although I am sorry to have to observe that it's rather thin on detail, and it does seem to be largely a list of aspirations, laudable though those aspirations are. Your statement talks about a plan, but I can't see a detailed plan in your statement. So, I'm just wondering: would you let us know when the detailed plan is going to be issued, and will we have advance sight of it? It's all very well and good to be launching a new action plan for Welsh language technology, but let's not forget that your Government did that five years ago. So, before launching a new set of objectives, perhaps the Minister would like to review what's been achieved under the previous Welsh language technology action plan.

In 2013, a document was produced by Welsh Government to be used as a guide for what the Government was going to be doing and hoping to achieve in the next five years in terms of Welsh language technology. One of the areas that the Welsh Government said it would focus on was motivating the main technology companies, such as Google and Amazon and Microsoft and the like, to increase the Welsh language provision that they offered. The desired outcomes set were stated to be more products and services provided by the main technology companies in Welsh, and third-party Welsh language digital content to be available and easily accessible via the distribution channels of the main technology companies. Welsh Government also wanted to encourage the development of new Welsh language software applications and digital services, and to increase the availability of Welsh language software applications and digital services—again, objectives that I can personally really get on board with. But, can you tell me, Minister: has there been a significant increase in the products and services provided by these technology companies in Welsh? Has there been an increase in the amount of Welsh content online? Has there been an increase or an improvement in the apps available to bilingual people, or people who only speak Welsh? It must be very, very difficult for somebody who is either only a Welsh speaker or has very limited English to get around the modern mobile world without apps in the relevant language.

Another aim was stimulating the creation and sharing and consumption of Welsh language digital content. So, can you tell me how much more content there is out there, and how are you assessing it? Are you actually monitoring how much Welsh language content there is there, how many apps are out there that are available in Welsh? How are you actually monitoring the progress and the achievements of the previous work that you've done so that it can be built on for the future?

The report also said that the Welsh Government would aim to establish a precedent for the development of new, innovative Welsh language technology. Can you explain to me a little bit about what was actually done, and what the actual outcomes of that work were, and what precedent was actually established in that respect?

The document also stated that there were a number of Welsh language or bilingual apps and e-books that had been published online for a range of devices in Welsh, there was a Welsh language interface for Microsoft Windows, Office and the like, and Facebook had a Welsh language interface. So, there was quite a lot of activity, even five years ago, in relation to the Welsh language and technology. So, can you tell us how much money you spent over the last few years on enhancing Welsh language provision in technology and what the actual return on that investment has been? Thank you. 

Well, thank you very much, and I'm glad that you appreciate that the aspirations in the document are good. I think, actually, there's quite a lot of detail in the plan. There is a clear direction of travel. We have had experts advise us on what we should be doing. So, I actually think that what's clear here is that it's not just a plan, it's an action plan—we know exactly where we're going. What we have done is to motivate, and we are working with large tech companies, but it's clear that one of the things we do need to concentrate on also is the content side of things. So, we can't expect these big tech companies to look at content, but that is something that we can help with. We have a wici Cymraeg, and I attended a wici Cymraeg conference in Aberystwyth a few months ago, where people from all over Europe, again, came together to listen to what we were doing to develop the Welsh Wikipedia, which is growing by the day, and we're encouraging schoolchildren and others to ensure that they are adding to that body of knowledge and work that then can be used.

We do have meetings planned with large tech companies; that is an ongoing dialogue we have with them. There has been a large increase in the number of apps that are available in Welsh, and that's thanks largely to a small grants scheme that we ran last year. Some of these have been highly successful. Books for the blind, for example—we've had an example where people are able to read books and then to allow people who are blind to hear books through the medium of Welsh. We've got technology developed so that people who are caring for people with dementia can have access to understand what their loved ones are experiencing, and, again, that's through the medium of Welsh. You can stand on top of a mountain with a particular app and know the names of all the mountains in Welsh as you screen around. These are the things that people would expect to have in English, and now we are allowing that to happen in Welsh and providing the means for that to happen.

But you're absolutely right, we will be monitoring the progress of what we've done already and what we can build on. And let's just be clear about this: this is about building on the good work that's already been done. There are lots of experts in this field already in Wales, but we need a lot more, and one of the things we're keen to do with this project is to make sure that we develop the technology and the abilities of the people who are able to use the technology through the medium of Welsh, and that is an important part of this technology plan.

And finally, Lee Waters.

Thank you very much. I warmly welcome the vision behind the statement of putting Welsh and English on an equal footing so they can work simultaneously on the same platforms, and the ambitions you have of making sure that devices like Siri and Alexa can chat to us in both languages seamlessly. It's clearly the right one. An emphasis on better machine translation and Welsh language bots is also absolutely the right focus.

I think the opposition parties are right to challenge us on the absence of targets and timelines. I also think we need to think very clearly what it is we're trying to achieve and what is the role of the Welsh Government in this. Is it to have a favoured supplier, like Microsoft, who is regarded as ahead of the pack in the quality of Welsh language translation, or is it to influence, as has been discussed, the broader marketplace? Clearly, depending on which of those paths we want, the route we take will be slightly different. I think, when we look at the deliverables section of the action plan, a number of the deliverables mention releasing software under an appropriate licence, which would suggest that we are giving an advantage to Microsoft to then allow others to use its intellectual property. I think it would be better if we insisted on an open platform, and open software, maintaining the public good, rather than simply favouring a particular vendor from the outset where we create a set of dependencies and restrict innovation in the broader marketplace. This is often a fine line to walk, especially in an area like Wales where there is little market activity and it's having to be stimulated by the Government. But I just invite the Minister to give that some thought with her experts, because I think it's important that we get this right at the beginning so we can influence the ecosystem as we go on.

Similarly, it's important that this is done in parallel with the Welsh Government's broader work on digital, particularly in the public sector. I must say the section in the introduction on the public sector is sparse. I think there is an opportunity to increase Welsh provision through the use of technology and I think we need to give a bit more thought to that.

My final point is a comment the Minister made in response to Suzy Davies about reassuring her that this was not going to replace teachers in our classrooms. I just urge us all to have an open mind about the possibilities here. Bill Gates has talked in the past about the fact that we overestimate the amount of change we're likely to see in the next two years and underestimate the amount of change we're going to see in the next 10 years. And when you think, 10 years ago smartphones barely existed, Skype was in its infancy, and just, for example, how much things have changed since then, certainly machine language translation didn't really exist and how now that's become part of our everyday life. I think, when you look at the fact that Google are developing earpieces where you can have simultaneous translation in any language, the possibility is mind-blowing. And this is not to say we're going to displace teachers, but the ability to enhance our use of language and the way we learn it to assist teachers, to get more people understanding and using language and breaking down communication barriers, that's huge. Let's not start at the beginning with a defensive mindset about, 'Don't worry, we're not going to get rid of jobs in this sector', or threaten professional interests in another. We need to be open about what this can deliver to us as a society, and how it can give the language extra life. Diolch.

Thank you. That discussion about open access or having a relationship with a particular software manufacturer is something that is very alive, and something that we are very aware of. We haven't come to a conclusion on that, but we are very clear that that is something that we need to consider very, very carefully. I think, as a principle, if it's the Government sponsoring it we need to think very carefully about open access. So, in an ideal world, that's where I'd like to go, but we need to also understand if they can bring something additional to the table, if they can help us commercially. We haven't come to a conclusion on that. So let's carry on that conversation, because that's something we are very, very much aware of. But we must not restrict innovation, that is absolutely clear.

I take your point about not replacing teachers in the classroom. I think we do need to keep an open mind on this issue, and I hope that, in the answer to Suzy Davies, I also made clear that, actually, this could be an opportunity to enhance the availability. So, that e-school programme that we talked about: if we can't get access to teachers in some subjects in particular parts of Wales, then it is an opportunity for us to explore how we can give that provision, which is something that is working highly effectively in Scotland. I know the World Bank has done a huge amount of work on this, where they find lots of difficulty recruiting teachers in some very remote parts of Africa of the right quality, and what they've found is, actually, virtual teachers can do a very, very good job. So, I absolutely agree that we need to keep an open mind, but let's make sure that we don't undermine the work of the teachers who are working so hard in our classrooms at the moment.

So, yes, we need to make sure that we focus on delivery here. It's, I think, essential that we understand that this is a very fast-moving space, so my concern with putting very fixed timetables down is that, actually, the timeline will shift considerably. We've got to just keep on making sure that we're up to date with the technology, and by setting out really restrictive timetables, sometimes we might be restricting ourselves, and we need to be more nimble. I hope that that's what we'll get as a result of this technology plan.