One Million Welsh Speakers by 2050

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for International Relations and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:21 pm on 6 March 2019.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 2:21, 6 March 2019

Well, thank you, and thanks for your interest in this area. I think what we've got to do is to keep an eye on the big picture, which is how we increase the number of Welsh speakers in our schools. And what's important, therefore, is the number of pupils, rather than the number of schools. And that's why we're focusing very much on increasing the number of pupils who are having their education entirely through the medium of Welsh from 20 per cent to 40 per cent by 2050. And what we have is a very clear trajectory in terms of how we're going to make that happen. That's why we have allocated an extra £46 million in terms of capital funding to open new schools, to allow an extension of schools that already exist, because the demand is there. What we are doing is to create, for example, an extra 2,800 school places with that extra money that we've given. That's 41 extra projects. So, I think that the key thing, as far as I can see, is to keep our eye on not just meeting the demand, but what we're trying to do now is to get ahead of the demand. That's why we've created the Welsh education strategic plans so that we are asking councils to actually create the demand, rather than just meet the demand. And it's a very different philosophy and a different approach. And what's great is it's really transformed the way that local government in Wales is thinking in relation to the provision of Welsh-medium education.