Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:38 pm on 28 January 2020.
Thank you very much. I am going to reply in Welsh, because I'm aware that your Welsh is excellent, John—I'm sure that you don't need the headset, but we'll see—just to say that I'm very happy with the enthusiasm that there is in the Newport area and beyond in terms of the Welsh language, and it's wonderful to see that there'll be a new school in that area. The schools that are already there are full to the brim already, so there are opportunities for people to ensure that there are sufficient numbers of people speaking the language. And the next step is to ensure that they do speak Welsh outside of the school. There are two aims here. There's one to increase the number of people who can speak Welsh and then the second is to ensure that they do use the Welsh language. We need to double the number of people who use the Welsh language and we need to ensure that there are social opportunities available. That's why we hold events such as Dydd Miwsig Cymru—Welsh Language Music Day. I'm sure that there are events on that day in the Newport area, and it would be wonderful if you could let people know about those opportunities.
There are also opportunities for learners to come together through things such as the Siarad project, which is an additional project that we have launched with the national centre. So, I do think that it's important that we look at what these opportunities are to use the Welsh language once we've taught people, especially adults, so that they can use the language, so that it's not an artificial language, as some people have perceived it.
One of the things that's important for me is that we raise awareness again in that area. A few weeks ago, I went for a walk to the Llanthony area, which is just on the border with England. There are so many Welsh signs there. You forget that, at one time, the whole area was a Welsh stronghold. We need to raise this awareness again that this is where these people come from.