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

Thank you, Llywydd. During a question to the First Minister yesterday, I raised the case of an elderly Welsh-speaking man from Anglesey who's living with dementia. The fact that a health board that is supposed to be acting in accordance with the language standards is even considering providing care for this individual in England, where, of course, there would be no Welsh language service available, is unambiguous proof that the standards placed on the health board are deficient.

Now, under your own standards as they stand, the situation facing this gentleman from Anglesey is entirely legal and there is no legal safeguard for patients. Surely it should be an expectation on a health board to provide a service for vulnerable patients, such as dementia patients, in their first language, and it shouldn't fall to families, politicians and pressure groups to safeguard the human right of Welsh speakers to a service through the medium of their own language. Do you agree with the suggestion of the First Minister yesterday that there are fundamental deficiencies in the health standards and that they must be revisited as a matter of urgency?

Well, if I could add to what the First Minister said yesterday, it’s difficult for us to discuss personal matters regarding one individual, but it is important that we understand as well that there are clinical matters sometimes that mean that it is a requirement for people to leave our country. But I do agree with the First Minister when he said that there is a need for us to recognise that the rights of Welsh speakers to have their issues dealt with through the medium of Welsh, and their care through the medium of Welsh, is something that we see as something that’s fundamental and that’s what we should be offered in Wales.

According to an e-mail that you sent to officials asking questions before passing the health standards—. It becomes apparent, in reading that e-mail, that you were entirely aware of the deficiencies of the health standards. And I quote—you ask this: 

'So, I want to be clear, if a little 90-year-old lady from Gwynedd who speaks poor English goes to hospital and is about to have a complicated operation, she cannot legally ask for someone to explain to her in Welsh what is happening, and that what we are offering is that the health board makes plans so that they can set out to what extent they will be able to carry out clinical consultations in Welsh five years from now, which presumably could mean they still won't be able to.'

And you go on to say: 

And you also say:

'I think this is quite a tough sell. Any ideas?'

Isn't the truth of the matter that your Government's policy can't guarantee Welsh language services—even basic Welsh language services—for vulnerable patients today, and that you are entirely right in your own analysis that they won't be available in five years' time either, unless we change those health standards? As you said yourself, a situation like this is a tough sell for Welsh speakers.

I do think that there are differences across the country. I think if you look at somewhere such as Betsi, there is a commitment towards the Welsh language and it's something that is now being seen as something that is fundamental. They have to be aware of what the language requirements of the patients who come to see them are. And I do think there has been a change in the attitude within health departments that we have across Wales.

Well, I'm hugely disappointed by that response. We are talking about Betsi Cadwaladr health board in the case of the gentleman with dementia from Anglesey, as it happens. So, what you say is, simply, wrong.

Another problem that you identified in the discussion on the health standards, before they were passed, was the lack of coverage for workforce planning in the medical workforce through training. The advice of your officials at the time was that that would need to be dealt with through policy steps, and I agree. It's crucial that you do plan the workforce appropriately. Setting targets in order to ensure that you recruit an adequate number of candidates who are Welsh speakers on courses of that kind would ensure that the future workforce would be planned on the basis of the needs of the people of Wales.

So, can you confirm that your Government will do that? Because, in failing to do it, the danger is that we will be no nearer providing these services that are so crucial in terms of safety and quality of care for the people of Wales in their hour of need?

We are aware that there is a need to do more in terms of language planning, and that's why we've brought forward the 2050 project. That will start with the Government and will look at language planning within the Government, and then it will ensure that we are effective outside Government, ensuring that we're pushing some of those opportunities in terms of the public services, to ensure that they take on their responsibilities in a considerate way.

I also think that it's important to underline that we have asked Academi—they are committed to ensuring that leaders of the future within the Government are aware of their influence and of their responsibility towards the Welsh language in the way that they are going to lead in our public centres in the future.

Conservative spokesperson, David Melding. 

Diolch yn fawr. Minister, you'll know that we're in the middle of the tv and film awards season around the world, and I'm sure you will want to join me in congratulating Aberystwyth's own Taron Egerton on his fantastic—

Hear, hear. [Laughter.]

I thought this might be pleasing to you, Presiding Officer.

I congratulate him on his fantastic success so far. His talent is making people remember that Wales is renowned as a breeding ground for extraordinary success on the big screen, and I wish him all the best for his future career. Whilst he's a shining example of what we can achieve in the Welsh film and television industry; as a whole, Minister, I think it's fair to say that we're not quite reaching our full potential at the moment, especially when we compare ourselves to other countries of similar size.

New Zealand, for example, has a thriving film and tv industry that is built upon its attractions as a fantastic physical location—and that's a feat, obviously, we could also emulate. The industry there is worth around £0.5 billion a year to New Zealand. Now, I'm not saying we'll necessarily set our sights that high, but, at the moment, I think it's fair to say we've not done as well as we would have hoped in the last five years. What is your Government doing to promote Wales as a top location for the film industry now that the media investment budget is in abeyance?

Can I also offer my congratulations to Taron Egerton? We are very, very proud of him, and we look forward to the Oscars, where I'm sure we are hopeful that he will also be awarded. He was very helpful to us in the last Government, in helping us to promote Wales as a place to come and invest in relation to tv and film, back in November. So, it is a relationship that we're very proud to have. And of course, we must also underline the fact that we have two starring Welsh actors in the main roles in The Two Popes as well, which is a great film that I would recommend that you also look at.

I must say that I'm very aware of the fact that, actually, we do have a tremendous reputation now as a place where we can make quality tv and films. That's why, in terms of the international strategy, which we'll launch next week, one of the three sectors that we're hoping will really promote Wales, in terms of how we want to be perceived internationally, is tv and film. And if you look at the developments over the past 10 years, we now have about 50,000 people working in this industry, and that, I think, is a growth of about 50 per cent in the past 10 years. So, I think we're heading in the right direction, but we need to shout about it internationally, and that's certainly something I hope to be doing.

Thank you for that answer, Minister, and I think everyone shares this ambition, but it's really what's the roadmap to get us there; because, if we look at the draft international strategy, it's very thin on what we're going to do to build on our past success to reach full potential in terms of what the transformation of the creative industries of tv and film, in particular, could achieve.

And, again, if you look at what tv programmes can do in terms of generating tourism, programmes like Game of Thrones have had a huge impact on the tourism of Croatia and Northern Ireland, for instance, and other areas. And in New Zealand, as I earlier referenced, a whole part of their tourist economy is now based on Tolkien and the success that's followed The Lord of the Rings production there.

I just wonder if we're going to get some real detail in the full strategy, because at the moment it does seem to be very, very thin. And this is clearly—I do grant you this—this is clearly an area where Wales can have a profound competitive advantage, and we should really move to take that full potential to fulfilment now.

The Deputy Minister is in charge of issues relating to the creative economy. What you will see is, shortly after the international strategy is launched, there will be a Creative Wales strategy that will be launched, and that will be the opportunity to put some more meat on the bone, which you were asking for. And that will go alongside the tourism strategy as well, so that's being refreshed. So, I think it's really important to see these three strategies together as an opportunity for us to shout. And of course, His Dark Materials is another example where Wales now has sold that series internationally, and there's an opportunity for us also to make sure that we bounce off not just how brilliant technically we are in terms of these film developments, but also our opportunity to show a bit of the landscape of Wales as well. That should hopefully encourage more tourism as well.

Minister, if I could turn to domestic production, it's now been 27 years since a Welsh language film was nominated for an Oscar; Hedd Wyn, in 1993, and a very fine film it is. And of course, this can be a key part of our international strategy in portraying to a modern Wales the vital Welsh language culture that we do enjoy here. Now, during the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee's inquiry into this area, there was a perception that Welsh language films were commercially unviable, which made it hard for producers to secure financial support. There was also criticism about the bureaucracy involved and many people complaining about how frustrating that was, legally restrictive, and other requirements were described as onerous. But, I think the international strategy allows us really to capitalise on these sorts of things as well. And is there not scope for the Welsh Government to do much more to promote Welsh language film making for the international arthouse audience, which could have huge benefits for how people around the world perceive Wales? And indeed, that audience tends to contain many, many opinion formers and decision makers.

Thank you, that's absolutely right, and it was great to see Hedd Wyn being nominated in that situation for an Oscar. But, there were several examples before that. My first job was to sell animation for S4C and there were several occasions when S4C's animation production companies in Wales actually succeeded in those international arenas as well. 

I think one of the things that we do need to do is to look at where were are uniquely placed in terms of tv and film, and an example of that is how we make back-to-back productions. So, if you think of some of the productions that S4C create, they do a Welsh version and an English version, and that is something that we think is worth exploring to see if other nations would like to look at how we do that. 

This is something that I've discussed with S4C and with some other tv companies. I held a round-table recently with the heads of tv and film in Wales to discuss exactly this: what is it that, uniquely, Wales can offer in this space? So, one of the things I've been trying to do is really trying to hone what is the message when we are selling tv and film to the world? What makes us unique? What makes us different? And certainly, that back-to-back production is something that came across.