5. Statement by the Chair of the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee: The effect of Brexit on the arts, creative industries, heritage and the Welsh language

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:03 pm on 13 March 2019.

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Photo of Bethan Sayed Bethan Sayed Plaid Cymru 4:03, 13 March 2019

(Translated)

Yes, sorry. [Laughter.] Unfortunately, because it’s a statement from me, it’s not the Minister who’ll be responding, but the Minister is here. It is possible, because many questions have been directed to the Minister from Members, that we could write, on the basis of the contributions here, to the Minister. She’s nodding her head contentedly with that, so we’ll do that as a result of this statement.

I can only go back to what I said in the statement, in terms of the language and agriculture. We have asked the Minister to provide more clarity to us, in terms of the possible impact of Brexit on the Welsh language, and discussions have happened with the Welsh Language Commissioner, but we need to find out more, if possible, from the Minister on the nature of those discussions, because, as Suzy Davies says, that’s very important. Also, as you said, it’s part of all parts of Government and it needs to be mainstreamed into the Brexit work undertaken by every Minister—it’s not just a matter for one Minister. The language, the arts and heritage—they’re important to, I would think, all of the Ministers here.

In terms of the prosperity fund, I’m not sure that we’ve had any kind of sight of what we might get and the detail of that. So, we’ll be lobbying, certainly, to ensure that the language is part of any prosperity fund, and that we’d also have some kind of control over where that money is spent in Wales. So, I’d ask you, as members of the Conservative Party, to go back to them, with respect, and say that we need input on how that's spent in Wales, because the language is a vital part of our ecosystem here, which is, perhaps, different to other parts of Britain.

So, thank you for the questions, and we’ll be framing those in a letter to the Minister for international relations in order to ensure that these issues, which, perhaps, don’t have so much investment or so much discussion as we’d like in the Brexit discussions—we’ve been able to have that priority here today. So, I’d like to thank you all for your contributions.