Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:49 pm on 11 February 2020.
Thank you, Minister. I hope you'll feel better soon. I welcome this, because I think we all understand how crucial this is to the success of the 2050 policy, but I also welcome the recognition that language choice is a very personal issue, particularly within families. I was in the same situation as you, Minister, but I was the non-Welsh speaker. We as a family decided to bring up the children through the medium of Welsh, but there was no condition in terms of speaking Welsh before I got married. But we did that despite the fact that myself and my husband found it almost impossible to speak Welsh to each other, because we started conversing in English. And that's just one example of how complex this aim is in terms of its delivery.
You talk of families with Welsh language skills who don't perhaps have the confidence, motivation or aspiration to speak Welsh at home. So, what have you discovered already as to why families such as this don't wish to transmit the language? Why don't they wish to do that? Why is there no incentive for them to do that? Because I have had a quick look at the consultation document, but it's not clear to me—or rather, I don't accept that loss of confidence can be the only reason for the failure in transmission at the moment.
What have you learnt from the success or failure of the Twf programme, for example? Because it strikes me as being quite strange to prepare that programme without knowing the answers to my first question. And the reason for that is, I do accept that there have been social changes that have taken place, that people have been learning Welsh in schools over the past 20 years, and it's those people who are now in a position to have children and make this choice as to which language they speak at home. So, there is something of a disconnect between what's been provided already in schools and what young parents are willing to do now.
Having said that, I do understand the principles underpinning the recommendations in the document, and I do note the decisions of children themselves on the language, especially older children who have been brought up speaking Welsh, but then choose to speak more English when they become teenagers and so on. So, I would like to know what's the current offer to them? How do children at that age fit into the experiences of those in the Basque Country, for example? Because you do mention the Basque Country in the document, but I haven't heard many relevant details in terms of how that relates to older young people, if you like.
And, just to conclude: funding. How much is this going to cost? Who do you think is going to be responsible for implementing any programme that emerges from this consultation? And for how long will that continue? Thank you.