Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 5. Questions to the Minister for International Relations and Welsh Language – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 1 July 2020.

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Photo of Suzy Davies Suzy Davies Conservative 2:23, 1 July 2020

(Translated)

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. If you'll just give me a second—thank you.

Good afternoon, Minister. We'll be discussing more contentious aspects of the Welsh language in the debate on the new curriculum later this afternoon, so I'll leave that issue for the time being. But I do want to ask you about your vision for reaching the 2050 target, and the impact of the pandemic on learners of Welsh. The current pandemic has shifted people's focus from other priorities. However, the supplementary budget hasn't hit your department too hard, possibly because the Welsh language budget isn't particularly large in the first instance, to be fair. So, what have you had to cut, and does it have most impact on developing new use of the Welsh language in education, business or community settings? Specifically with more families having to oversee home learning, how are cuts in your budget impacting on the National Centre for Learning Welsh, Mudiad Meithrin, the language immersion centres in Gwynedd, where cuts of £100,000 per annum have already been in place, and specific support for families who don't speak Welsh but have children in Welsh-medium education?