Thank you for your statement. Now, as per usual, I have to ask how much substance there is to the words contained within this statement. May I remind you of some recent events that this Government has been involved with in terms of the Welsh language? An intervention by a Deputy Minister in an employment process by the National Library, where he tried to ensure that the job wouldn't go to a Welsh speaker; an absurd comment by you, the Minister for the Welsh language, and I quote, that Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd would be at risk of discrimination if they placed the Welsh language as an essential skill for its posts. That intervention and comments are insulting to the Welsh language and go contrary to your very own strategy in terms of the Welsh language in the workplace, comments that make me listen to this statement with a very healthy pinch of salt. You've talked this afternoon about the importance of immersion centres, but you're cutting the grant that maintains those centres, so that pinch of salt is getting even bigger.

Now, I note that there are three objectives for the International Year of Indigenous Languages, and the last of these is to assist in protecting the rights of speakers of those languages. We're very fortunate in Wales. We are a small stateless nation, but we have legislation in place to do just that, to safeguard our rights—unlike the situation, unfortunately, with minority languages in many other countries across the world. In 2011, a significant and important piece of legislation was passed under the leadership of Plaid Cymru and the former Member for Arfon, Alun Ffred Jones, and that legislation does give equal official status for the Welsh language in the public sector in Wales, but the Government has been very slow in implementing that legislation, and, unfortunately, there is a great deal of work still to be done in terms of the implementation of standards. And there is no explanation in terms of the delay with standards on water companies, post companies, housing associations, buses, trains, electricity, gas and telecommunications.

So, I would like to ask today, once again, and in light of objective 3 of this international year on rights: what is the timetable for making progress with all of the standards that need to be put in place? It’s eight years since this innovative legislation was passed, and, in the shadow of Brexit and the growth of the far right, we, more than ever, need to safeguard linguistic rights for people in Wales.

But, despite the need to ensure the rights of individual Welsh people to live through the medium of Welsh, we need to go much further. The Government needs to fully recognise that the Welsh language is a community language, is the language of day-to-day communication in many areas of Wales, particularly in the west of Wales, or the Arfor area, which is Anglesey, Ceredigion, Carmarthen and some neighbouring areas. Many of the residents of the areas live naturally through the medium of Welsh. And I sometimes think that there is a lack of understanding of this issue. This isn’t an artificial construct. That’s not what the Welsh language is in my life in Arfon; it’s a natural part of my family, social and community life, and we need to emphasise that community aspect as well as the emphasis on individual rights.

The Arfor area is among the poorest in Europe, and young people have to leave the area to find work, weakening the Welsh language and the linguistic social fabric. I would like to know what your policies are in terms of developing not only the Welsh language, but the economy, public services, housing and planning policy, transport and so on and so forth. What are your Government’s plans for a specific regional strategy for this area? Because the saying goes, ‘heb iaith, heb waith’—'without work, there’s no language'. So, what exactly are your plans in light of all of this?

And, if we are serious about sustaining the Welsh language as a community language in our Welsh speaking areas, then we need to ensure that there are quality jobs available in the west of Wales so that young people can remain in their communities if they choose to do so, and we could start by looking at the Government’s own jobs. So, my final question is: what plans does the Government have to relocate posts or to locate any new posts that are directly under the control of your Government—what plans are in place to locate these jobs in the Arfor area? Arfor, not Arfon.