Questions now from the party spokespeople. Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Siân Gwenllian.

Thank you very much. Last year, Undeb Myfyrwyr Cymraeg Caerdydd was launched, a significant development in terms of the Welsh language in the field of higher education, and I had a meeting yesterday with two of the union's leaders, Wil Rees and Jacob Morris. Last autumn, there was strong support by Cardiff University students in their annual meeting for the next step, which was to create an elected officer role, salaried and full-time, for the Welsh language, who would also be president of this new union. And, in December, the university students union trustees board confirmed that the role would be in place by spring of 2020. However, unfortunately, on the eve of this year’s annual meeting, it has become apparent that there's been a u-turn on plans to establish this salaried post for Welsh language students. A similar post exists, as you know, in Bangor, Aberystwyth and Swansea. The union board risks creating hostility towards the Welsh language by stating that there is a need to abolish provision for other groups in order to ensure appropriate provision for the Welsh language. Could you confirm that you're aware of this situation and that you share my concerns regarding the latest developments? And, if so, can you commit to correspond urgently with the college authorities and the union before their annual meeting tomorrow evening?

Thank you very much. I was also pleased to see the establishment of Undeb Myfyrwyr Cymraeg Caerdydd back in 2017, and I do think it’s crucially important. We know that there is a decline as people leave school and they don't have an opportunity to use their Welsh language skills, and I think it's very important that students have an opportunity to use the Welsh language in a social capacity, and this is exactly what this student union provides.

I was also aware that the board of trustees in the past had committed to appointing a full-time officer in Cardiff, and I am disappointed that they have stepped away from that. Of course, it's a matter for the student union itself to make a decision here, but I do think it's worth noting that Bangor is in the vanguard, as is Aberystwyth and Swansea too. Also, it's worth putting on record that there are more Welsh speakers going to Cardiff University than there are to the other universities. So, I do think that it's important that they do give serious consideration to this situation. I received correspondence on this issue on Monday, and now that you have mentioned that there is some urgency, I will look at it.

Great. Thank you very much, and I'm pleased that there is a consensus on this matter, and I really hope that this issue will be resolved positively. I would like to wish those students who are trying to push this ahead well.

I'd like to turn to another field now. On Monday evening, the Welsh Language Commissioner published a report in which he determines that workers in a factory in Ammanford had been prevented from speaking Welsh in the workplace. It causes me great heartache to hear of workers breaking down in tears when they're prevented from speaking their mother tongue, whatever language that may be. In the words of Aled Roberts:

'It is disappointing that an international company in the twenty-first century cannot see the merits of a linguistically diverse workforce that uses the Welsh language completely naturally.'

According to the commissioner’s latest annual report, this case is part of a wider trend of an increase in the number of cases relating to claims of interfering with the freedom of individuals in Wales to communicate with each other in Welsh. What specific steps will you be taking to respond to such a totally unacceptable increase in cases similar to the one that has become apparent in Ammanford?

Of course, I was very disappointed to see what had happened in this factory in Ammanford. I don't think it just relates to the Welsh language; it relates to the Polish language too. But I do think that we should respect people's rights to speak their language, particularly when that is the indigenous language of the nation. Of course, we do need to ensure that people are aware that people in this country do have rights, and they shouldn't be interfering with people's rights to communicate in the workplace. Of course, I will be having further discussions with the commissioner as to what more can be done to raise awareness, particularly in terms of private business, where many of these problems arise.

It's clear to me—and I know that you disagree with this—that cases such as these mean that we need to revisit legislation relating to the Welsh language in the private sector.

One area where the current legislation allows you to act today to promote workforces where staff can work through the medium of Welsh and safeguard their rights to use the Welsh language unhindered is in the workforces of housing associations. You will be aware that I've raised the position of Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd many a time with you, Minister. This body has a language scheme and it is committed to maintaining a Welsh language internal administration, and has also pledged that any member of staff can communicate in Welsh or English to support this policy. However, Adra—Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd previously—once again is recruiting for a managerial post where Welsh language skills aren’t essential. The truth is that there is nothing that can be done to hold this body to account, because no standards have been set in relation to housing associations. Draft regulations are collecting dust in your drawer. When will you be introducing standards for housing associations?

We have no plans to bring legislation forward in terms of the private sector. But we do have plans to introduce regulations for the water sector, and we will do that in the new year, as well as those for some health bodies. In terms of the housing associations, I do think at the moment that it is up to them to decide what their priorities are. Having a diverse range of skills is crucial for this work, and I do think it’s important that they consider what the critical skills for them are. There may be some technical expertise that they require and that they see that perhaps as being most important. So, I do think that they have to make decisions as to what their priorities in this area are.

The Conservative spokesperson, Darren Millar.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. Minister, will you update us on the timetable for the publication of the Welsh Government's international strategy, please?

Yes. In the light of the general election, and the fact that we had some guidance from the civil service that this would impact because of the connection with the Foreign Office, they suggested to us that we should postpone the publication of the international strategy. But that will be coming out, we hope, early in the new year.

I think that's an incredibly disappointing answer, if I may say, Minister. You've been the Minister for international relations now for almost 12 months. It took you more than seven months to actually produce a draft strategy for consultation, and now you're telling us that you're going to delay the publication of the final strategy until the new year. You say it's because of the general election, and yet we've seen announcements from other members of the Welsh Government on matters that, frankly, are completely non-devolved, such as broadband just last week, and yet you say that you can't publish your own international strategy and therefore we can't hold you to account for your delivery against the priorities that you have set out. Now, if you're not able to share the strategy with us at the moment, perhaps you can tell us what your current thinking is as a Welsh Government with regard to the engagement that you propose having in the future with developing nations around the world.

Thank you. Well, our work on the strategy and on what we're doing in the international arena has not stopped. We are being very active on lots and lots of different fronts. And if you look at just what we achieved in Japan, I think that will give you an example of how we are reaching out beyond Wales and making sure we take advantage of situations. We are very pleased that Wales now will be going to the European cup, and that will give us another opportunity for us to raise our profile internationally as well.

The key thing that is most important for me is that, actually, this is not just about a Government international relations plan; this has got to be about everybody buying into this as much as possible so that we can really amplify our voice overseas. And in order to do that, what was crucial is to make sure we got the engagement right on developing the strategy. We've had over 110 responses in relation to our draft strategy and we have processed those now. By tomorrow, or the end of this week, we'll be publishing what those responses are. But that engagement is absolutely crucial, and that engagement in particular with developing countries is something that we have already undertaken in relation to the Wales for Africa project. But also, there's lots and lots of other work that we think we could be doing. But using our diaspora, as John was suggesting earlier, is an opportunity for us to reach back into some of those countries where we are keen to make further relationships.

Thank you for your response. It didn't focus a great deal on the engagement with developing nations, but at least it told us that you were trying to crack on with things, in spite of having a strategy to work with. One of the references in your draft document said, and I quote: we will,

'demonstrate global responsibility by rebranding the successful Wales for Africa programme to become the Wales and Africa programme with a focus on sustainability', which doesn't strike me as sounding very ambitious—a simple rebrand of that programme. You've already heard this afternoon that its success has been lauded by Assembly Members on all sides of this Chamber in all political parties. And I, too, want to congratulate the Welsh Government on the success of that programme. I think it's a very valuable and noble programme that is making a real difference in the lives of people in sub-Saharan Africa. But the heart of the Welsh people goes beyond just sub-Saharan Africa. There are many organisations that have engagement with nations in the far east, in south America, in the middle east and all sorts of other places around the world, where, I believe that, with a little bit of support from the Welsh Government, we can amplify the impact that Wales has in those nations and make a real difference.

Just yesterday, I attended a presentation by the Disasters Emergency Committee, which clearly demonstrated just how passionate people in Wales are and how much they care about these other parts of the world. They told us about when the Disasters Emergency Committee launched appeals in the past and gave us some figures in terms of the Welsh contribution to the overall giving. They told us that, with the Nepal earthquake appeal back in April 2015, over £2.5 million was raised here in Wales. They told us that, in response to an appeal about the crisis in Yemen in December 2016, over £1 million was raised. They told us that the Myanmar appeal in 2017 raised over £842,000, and the Indonesia tsunami appeal in 2018 raised over £871,000. These are huge sums of money, all of which are much more in excess of the actual total budget—in fact, every one of those appeals—for the whole of the Wales for Africa programme.

Minister, do you agree with me that it's time we had a Wales for the world programme, where actually we can expand what we do, we can be more globally responsible, and we can amplify the Welsh presence in those developing nations and show some leadership, yes, on climate change, but also on alleviating poverty and responding to these sorts of situations that, very clearly, the people of Wales are passionate about?

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Ann Jones) took the Chair.

It's absolutely true that people in Wales, I think, are very generous and understanding of the need to support poorer communities around the globe. I'm sure you'll be very pleased to hear that the Welsh Government actually supports the co-ordination of the work of the Disasters Emergency Committee, and we've been actually paying for that co-ordination work by helping to pay for an administrator. What we know is that that co-ordination of different charities—. There are about 14 charities that come together, and the plan is to get as much money in as fast as possible. I think that's a valuable piece of work, and you'll be aware that the First Minister always does a video to help promote those as well. 

So, there's no question about the generosity of the people of Wales, but the question for us is: with the small budget that we have, how do we make that work best? Now, we can scattergun it throughout the world or we can focus it, and I think that there is a case to be made for focusing that funding, and that's what we're proposing to do. We're focusing it on various themes—for example, on sustainability—but also focusing it on countries where we do have particularly strong relationships, namely Lesotho and Uganda, where recently, you'll have heard, we planted the ten-millionth tree. So, I think there's an opportunity for us to work there, but the broader we go, the less impact we're likely to have.

Question 3, Alun Davies. You've had your three questions, Darren Millar.

No, I haven't, with respect.

Sorry, I think you have. I think you have had three. I've got it down that you've had three questions.

Have I really?

Sorry, you have, yes. That's why I allowed you to go on on your third question, because I knew you weren't coming back. Sorry.

Question 3, Alun Davies.