Part of 3. Questions to the Assembly Commission – in the Senedd at 3:11 pm on 22 May 2019.
Thank you to Dai Lloyd for that supplementary question and for drawing attention to this problem. In the first place, may I say that I share your disappointment that the Government has failed to provide a Welsh language version of the explanatory memorandum to those specific regulations relating to the Welsh language in primary care when that memorandum was laid? It does not comply with the spirit of the scheme. I do understand that Assembly officials have gone back to ask the Government whether there was an intention to provide a bilingual version of the memorandum, and there was confirmation that there was no intention to provide a Welsh language version.
The Commission does expect the Welsh Government to respect the right of our Members to work in their language of choice, and it is not possible for Members to have that choice in preparing for proceedings if those documents aren't available. We also expect the Welsh Government to submit documents in both languages at the same time. It is not acceptable for those who wish to read documents in Welsh to have to wait longer—a very long time sometimes—for the Welsh language version.
As I said, I have already written to the Business Committee about this and I understand that discussions between Welsh Government officials and Assembly Commission officials, on the request of the Business Committee, have been positive ones. But, this specific case suggests that there is a need to take further steps, and I will ask officials to look at what further steps can be taken.