I want to start my contribution by saying that we on this side of the Chamber tabled this debate because we believe that the Welsh language is a huge asset for our people and our society. Indeed, the Conservatives have been very supportive of increasing access to the Welsh language over many decades. Wales has a long and rich history, and retaining the Welsh language is part of that. That is why we support the ambition of 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050 and that is why we support creating more opportunities for people to develop their Welsh language skills in the workforce and the community, and that’s why we’re supporting further use of the language in business. It’s crucially important that we all work together, with our communities, with our businesses and with wider society to engender confidence in using the Welsh language in our daily lives. As politicians, our duty is to persuade and convince people of the merits and benefits of learning and using the Welsh language inside and outside business, but we as a nation are going to fall short of the target of a million Welsh speakers by 2050 unless we can get people to educate the next generation.

As I mentioned to the First Minister a month ago, the number of those currently undergoing teacher training who are able to teach through the medium of Welsh is at its lowest point for a decade and, unfortunately, at the moment there aren’t enough teachers choosing to teach through the medium of Welsh. We must change that. If this trend continues, we won’t unfortunately reach this important target by 2050. In her response to the debate this afternoon, perhaps the Minister can tell us what discussions she’s having with the education Minister and how we can change this situation and ensure that more teachers do enter teaching through the medium of Welsh in future. It’s important that we persuade more teachers to teach through the medium of Welsh because, unless we can do that, then persuading the next generation of entrepreneurs and business people to do this will be even more challenging.

Research by the commissioner’s office has shown that the food and drink industry has shown that using the Welsh language had a commercial value for those businesses and it retains and attracts customers. It delivers that USP that businesses need. That’s why we want to see an oral statement twice a year in this Chamber, from the Minister with responsibility for the Welsh language, so that we can monitor the development of the strategy, because we can’t scrutinise the Government here in three decades on the failings of the Government today.

So, how can we empower the next generation to build bilingual businesses? I’ve touched on education, but we also need to work with businesses, and the most effective way of encouraging truly bilingual business places is to promote a network of business facilitators that are run by business people for business people, and, in doing this, we could persuade businesses of the economic and social advantages of bilingualism in the workplace, and this will also provide confidence to those businesses to develop bilingualism within their businesses.

So, Deputy Presiding Officer, in conclusion, we need to increase the use of the Welsh language in the workplace on the basis of value for money, and provide empirical evidence as to why it would benefit businesses. Of course, the future of the Welsh language lies in the hands of those who have yet to learn the language, and it also is our hands, who have a duty to ensure that the language does survive.