Item 6 on the agenda is a debate on the Welsh Language Commissioner's annual report of 2018-19. I call on the Minister for International Relations and the Welsh Language to move the motion—Eluned Morgan.

Motion NDM7173 Rebecca Evans

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

Notes the Welsh Language Commissioner's Annual Report for 2018-19 laid in the Table Office on 8 October 2019.

Motion moved.

Thank you very much. The annual report in front of us this afternoon reports on the last year of Meri Hughes's seven-year term as the Welsh Language Commissioner. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Meri for all of her work over her period as Welsh Language Commissioner. She, of course, was the first commissioner, and she has set firm foundations in place. We are indebted to Meri for the vital contribution that she has made, especially in introducing the Welsh language standards regime.

We've heard over the past year that support has developed across Wales for the standards regime and that the standards have raised the profile of the Welsh language within organisations and have given rights to Welsh speakers. The commissioner's annual report points to the work done to continue to implement the standards, which includes inquiries into complaints over the reporting period.

The report also outlines the activities completed to promote the Welsh language. One example of this work is the report published jointly with the Alzheimer's Society in Wales about the experiences of Welsh speakers of dementia services. This collaboration with bodies such as this is vital to mainstreaming the Welsh language across policy areas, which is a priority for us as a Government. The report also points to the role of the commissioner in ensuring that Welsh language services are provided across Government, and that external challenge is vital within Government to ensure a central place for the Welsh language.

But I don't want to spend this afternoon looking back. We have a new commissioner now, Aled Roberts, who has been in post since 1 April this year. Now, Aled's term of office corresponds with an exciting new period for the Welsh language. The months since I announced that we would not be introducing a Bill have given an us an opportunity as a Government, along with the commissioner, to plan how best to move forward in collaboration to achieve the Welsh 2050 target: a million Welsh speakers by 2050 and doubling the daily use of the Welsh language.

Some changes have already been made since April. In terms of the work of simplifying the standards regime, the commissioner has decided to operate in a different way in inquiring into suspected breaches of standards. Following an internal review, based on lessons from implementing the complaints regime, the commissioner has decided to use greater discretion about when to conduct an inquiry. This step means that it's possible to close simple cases in a more timely manner to give answers to the public more quickly, for example, if the bodies themselves have solved the issues quickly. These minor changes also save resources for the commissioner and for other organisations.

Now, as we heard in the Senedd some weeks ago, the evidence for the inquiry conducted by the Culture, Welsh Language and Communication Committee to support and promote the Welsh language shows concerns that the work to promote the Welsh language has been lost over the past few years and that we need clarity in terms of which body is leading on the work of different work streams. This was the basis of the White Paper, and I am still of the belief that this analysis is correct. It's worth restating the steps that I have taken in response to these points. I have announced my intention to establish the project 2050 board, a multidisciplinary unit within the Welsh Government that will be responsible for driving the Cymraeg 2050 strategy forward.

Developing a new working partnership with the Welsh Language Commissioner has been a priority for me over the first months of Aled's time in post. And I was very pleased to have agreed a new memorandum of understanding in August of this year. The intention of the memorandum is to give clarity to the Government and to the commissioner about how we will be working together, and to provide clarity for you, as Members, and to other stakeholders and the public about which body is leading on what, from the point of view of encouraging increase in the use of the Welsh language.

We have agreed that the commissioner will be leading on implementing the functions of the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, including imposing, monitoring and enforcing standards, and providing advice to organisations on how to comply with the standards. And may I emphasise that the regulatory work will have to be entirely independent?

The commissioner will also be working with banks, supermarkets and major businesses to increase provision of Welsh language services. At the heart of that will be getting more people to use the Welsh language, especially Welsh language services.

It is the Government that's responsible for ensuring that the principles of linguistic planning are followed in implementing policy, in accordance with the Cymraeg 2050 work programme. The Welsh language is the responsibility of the entire Government, and our desire, through the leadership offered by Cymraeg 2050, is to mainstream the Welsh language in all aspects of our work, so that we can reach the Cymraeg 2050 objectives.

But to turn to promoting the Welsh language, the Government and the commissioner have, certainly, a contribution to make, but the work belongs to all of us, and to all of our major partners. Effective collaboration with those who work on the ground is a vital element, therefore, of this promotional work. Every partner has a vital role to play in this work to ensure that we succeed in reaching our aim. It's important that we respond to the concerns that some aspects of the promotional work have been lost over the previous period. So, I have asked my officials to organise a further meeting of the major partners to discuss this issue. A great deal has happened in this field, but, of course, there is always room for improvement, particularly with regard to how we raise awareness and share information about the work that is being done.

I'm strongly of the belief that, together, with one voice, we can implement the objectives of Cymraeg 2050 to reach that million Welsh speakers and to double the use of the Welsh language, and collaboration with the commissioner will be at the heart of this. And may I thank publicly the commissioner for his first report?

The Llywydd took the Chair.

May I also start by expressing my personal thanks to Meri Huws? She prepared the ground, after all, and that wasn't always easy: the overreaction of the previous Minister to the establishment of the standards, the erosion of her budget and her freedom in delivering her responsibilities in promoting the Welsh language weren't easy things for her to deal with. And for me, coming to this portfolio without any background in it and restricted language skills, her encouragement and her support was something that I continue to appreciate. So, thank you, Meri.

Certainly, we agreed that we needed to change the system of inquiring into complaints. There isn't much contained on this within the report, probably because of the failure of the proposals for new legislation. However, these issues were raised again in the report of the culture committee published recently, and I do hope that Aled Roberts will continue to press for reform of this system. We need to conduct thorough inquiries into complaints, but in a way that is proportionate, with some discretion about the professional views, as the Minister has already said, in terms of the best possible way of resolving any complaint.

So, I'm pleased to see two specific things in this report: an understanding that certain rights can be more valuable than others—and I'll return to that point in a few moments' time—and how the commissioner's enforcement powers have been used. I note the diversity of complaints, but it appears that the emphasis in most of them has been on positive performance for the future rather than penalties for failure, and if standards are to succeed, then it’s far better that we see rights being delivered more and more, and a greater understanding as to why that is a positive thing, rather than penalising and causing ill feeling.

And that's why I was particularly pleased to see the work on dementia. This is a case where a right to Welsh language services isn't a matter of choice, it's a matter of real need. In terms of priorities, some rights are more valuable than others. But the report was published on this work a year ago, and it’s not acceptable to wait so long for a response from Government on this. This will be a significant response—it will help us to understand the Welsh Government’s response to other areas where rights are a requirement, rather than just being desirable: speech and language therapy, for example; dealing with those with additional learning needs; and ensuring that we have clinicians who are able to work through the medium of Welsh is an ongoing issue.

I'm also looking forward to having a better understanding of the role of the commissioner in terms of legislation on the new curriculum, implementing the continuum and creating fair examination systems. And the report refers to the commissioner’s work on Welsh-medium education. Now, I would have liked to have seen specific references to other teaching locations, not just Welsh medium, because Welsh language rights, as safeguarded by standards, are relevant to everybody, but we haven't yet reached a position where we can be sure that learners appreciate those rights and are eager to exercise them.

Now, I don't know why the Welsh Government is taking so long to approve the good-practice guidance, but that's only half the story, in any case. As the commissioner has now reacquired the powers to promote the Welsh language, I hope that he will promote Welsh language rights for future speakers as well as current speakers.

Everybody working in this wider area—the councils, schools, the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, the National Centre for Learning Welsh, the mentrau—all of them should be judged according to their impact, not their activities. And the same should be true of the commissioner. He isn't only a language policeman, of course—he is a midwife for a bilingual Wales.

And, finally, the budget. If the commissioner is going to continue to share responsibility for promotion, then, therefore, the funding must also be shared, and the pot must be enhanced. We will see how this memorandum of understanding between the commissioner and Government will work. I hope that it does.

But I have some other concerns about budgets, specifically the seeming failure to plan for salary increases and justification on the figure for unexpected events. I think those could have been explained a little more fully in the report, but the main story is the pressure to use reserves. The culture committee has heard about that, but if there is any way that the Government and the commissioner could collaborate appropriately on this, I would be very pleased to see that happening. Thank you.

I, too, give thanks for this report by the commissioner on the work that has been completed between 2018 and 2019—a period, as we’ve already mentioned, that is a transition period between two commissioners, namely Meri Huws, who has finished, and now Aled Roberts, who will be in post until 2026. And I would like to thank both of them very much for being so willing to meet regularly and to give me constant updates about the work of the commissioner’s office, across all of its many responsibilities.

It is true to say that the period in this report has been a period of uncertainty in terms of the commissioners work. Over the summer of 2017, the Government announced proposals that would have eradicated the post of the Welsh Language Commissioner. It's hard to believe that now, because, thank goodness, 18 months after those proposals were published, there was a u-turn and the plans to introduce a Welsh language Bill were dropped, in the face of opposition from various bodies and organisations, campaigners and experts, and also, of course, in the face of firm and robust evidence that was put forward by almost every witness who appeared before the culture and welsh language committee. And we in Plaid Cymru were also opposed to that intention, because it would have led to a significant weakening of the rights of Welsh speakers.

The report does refer to this u-turn that took place and says that now, and I quote, there is certainty for them to continue with their work. We need that assurance. One concern that I have is that there has been a significant decrease in staffing levels in the commissioner’s office over the past few years, despite the important function of the commissioner as an independent regulator, responsible for ensuring the rights of Welsh speakers and the general welfare of the language.

Funding the commissioner’s office directly from the Assembly would be an important step that could be considered, and an important step forward, I believe, from the point of view of giving that financial security, but also to strengthen the independence of the commissioner. The report does say this about the Government u-turn and the decision to continue with the post:

'It also means that the Government is able to proceed with introducing more standards regulations that will enable us to impose standards on other organisations in due course.'

The report also says:

'We have already achieved the first stage of the introduction of standards, namely undertaking a standards investigation into the water, energy, transport and social housing sectors…the process…has been at a standstill.'

I have raised this a number of times and I don't apologise for doing so again today. Unfortunately it's clear that the Government doesn't have much of an intention or the will to move this important work forward, despite what is in the legislation. I have mentioned several times that the Government needs to announce and implement a timetable to enable the commissioner to impose standards on all of the remaining sectors in the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, in order to strengthen the rights of Welsh speakers, in order to create Welsh-medium workplaces, and in order to ensure consistency in the legislative framework that organisations adhere to in terms of using the Welsh language. And all this would maintain the momentum of the standards regime at a time when we are all craving the achievement of that aim of a million Welsh speakers.

So, I'll ask the Minister again to announce that timetable, but I'm not confident that I'll have a positive response. And I have to say that the failure of the Welsh Government to announce and implement a timetable for expanding linguistic rights, in the age of Brexit and all the threats facing the Welsh language, is a cause of great disappointment.

One area that is very weak in terms of providing basic Welsh-medium services is the rail services in Wales. I wonder whether we can have clarity this afternoon about the duties of KeolisAmey and Transport for Wales with regard to the language and what discussions are taking place with those bodies.

Finally, I turn to an area that is part of the commissioner’s responsibilities. We've talked about it already, namely holding statutory investigations into complaints. Now, I note that there's been a significant decline in inquiries and investigations and you've explained a little why that is, but this Assembly hasn't agreed to any changes to the legislation with regard to the complaints regime. And I've just received a copy of a letter that was sent by the Minister to the Welsh Language Commissioner, on 4 September this year, congratulating him for succeeding in decreasing the number of investigations undertaken. Now, I very much hope that that doesn't mean that there is a connection made between the decrease and the number of investigations and the changes to the budget for the commissioner. Could you also explain how is it appropriate for a Government to make a specific effort to influence an independent regulator in this way? Thank you.

The Minister for the Welsh language to reply to the debate.

Briefly, thank you very much to Suzy and to Siân for their contributions to this debate. I do think it’s important that we recognise that a change in the complaints investigation process is something that is independent of Government; the commissioner decides. The commissioner decides on that regime. But I think that we would all welcome the fact that the system is now working more swiftly and more smoothly, and I think that that helps everyone.

Everyone needs to know where they stand, but also that it's important that we have a system in place where the commissioner can assist, as Suzy said, in terms of seeing where standards need to develop for the future. It's not a matter of always looking back, but of looking forward to how we can improve services within these organisations for the future. I do think that that monitoring work and sharing good practice is exceptionally important in terms of the commissioner's activities.

I also think that prioritising Alzheimer's is something that has been extremely constructive on the part of the commissioner. You will be aware, from the Welsh Government's perspective, that we have funded technology to assist people to live with dementia. There are a number of apps currently being developed to assist people in this arena.

In terms of rights, Suzy is quite right: our interest doesn't only lie with current Welsh speakers, but also with Welsh speakers in the future. If we want to attain that target of 1 million Welsh speakers, we do have to recognise that we have to provide much more assistance to Welsh learners, and help them to have opportunities to use the Welsh language in their workplaces or in social environments too.

Additional funding was provided last year in order to help with pensions within the commissioner's office. But, of course, Suzy, we are eager to work very closely with the commissioner wherever possible, and I do hope that we are all on the same page in that regard. I'm pleased that Siân Gwenllian acknowledged that the Government had listened. Of course, we are interested in developing the new standards. You will be aware that we have already stated that we will introduce new standards for water and certain areas of health next year. I do think that providing a concrete timetable—. You said that Brexit shouldn't get in the way, but Brexit gets in the way of everything. So, locking down the exact dates is something that's extremely difficult.

Will you take an intervention?

Yes.

What I was saying about Brexit, of course, was that Brexit is a threat to the existence of the Welsh language, because it threatens the existence of communities where the Welsh language is the language of everyday life. So, that was why I referred to Brexit.

I don't like this language of threats and that this is going to be entirely negative. I do think that we have to ensure that we work in a positive manner in relation to the Welsh language. That's why we have recently been ensuring that we are doing more to have a full understanding of the link between the Welsh language and the economy. We've been doing far more work in that area recently, because we are concerned about the situation surrounding Brexit. And that is, of course, something that we have to recognise. But then, of course, that does have an impact on the timetable in terms of introducing standards. But we have said clearly, as I've already said, that these new standards for the water industry will be introduced next year.

But, in terms of the new regime, that is a matter for the commissioner. We have not intervened. Of course, we want to see things moving more swiftly, and we want something that is simplified, because that was the evidence that was received by the committee of which you were a member. Simplification of the system was something that came through very, very clearly in those inquiries. So, of course, it's a matter for the commissioner; we won't intervene in anything in relation to regulation when it comes to the commissioner's responsibility. But may I just say that we do welcome this report from Aled Roberts? I do think that he's made an exceptionally good start, and we do hope that that collaboration will continue for the future. Thank you. 

The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? The motion is therefore agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

And that brings today's proceedings to a close. Thank you. 

The meeting ended at 17:35.