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?