Thank you. We now turn to party spokespeople to question the Minister. The first this afternoon is Conservative spokesperson, Suzy Davies.

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?

Thank you very much, Suzy. This is something that we are highly aware of—that there are risks that people won't have the opportunity to practise their Welsh language skills, particularly if they have children in Welsh-medium education, and they will now have had three months without that opportunity to practise their Welsh. It's good to see that children have returned this week, and we have been clear that there are numerous resources available through Hwb in order to enable parents to help their children. In addition to that, we have ensured that there is software available, free of charge, which assists people to spell correctly, it assists with grammar and so on and so forth. So, we also hope that that will assist people.

In terms of funding, like every other department, we have had to make cuts in our budgets. One of the areas where we had to make those cuts was in the National Centre for Learning Welsh. Of course, it wasn't possible for the centre to provide lessons in the way that it usually would. It was impossible for people to attend classes, for example. But what we have seen is that people are undertaking those lessons online. And, to tell the truth, more people are likely to turn up to their classes online than they were to turn up to the physical classes. So, it is interesting to see whether change is afoot. And, of course, as you develop resources for working online, there is also an opportunity for us to rethink the way in which we provide those resources.

You asked about Mudiad Meithrin, well, we are keeping a very close eye on what is happening there, and that is an issue, of course, for the education Minister. And the immersion centres—it is a shame that they have been in a position where that immersion couldn't happen. But, of course, we hope now that, as we move forward to September, we will be able to reconsider that and put measures in place to ensure that there are opportunities to recommence these activities, particularly for those people who are eager to have Welsh-medium education but need that additional support.

Well, thank you for that response. Yes, I was also pleased to hear that many people were using lockdown in terms of turning an ambiguous aspiration into reality, but it's easier to fall out of habits than it is to establish new ones. So, what opportunities will be available for learners to use their new skills in a meaningful way? Standards do some of that work for you, I know that, but will your current budget and your longer term budgets allow you to prioritise those people who could start to use their new skills in the workplace?

As this is a cross-governmental responsibility, what have you been telling your colleagues in the economy and education departments on three specific things: first, new support—can you offer childcare placements that offer bilingual opportunities or Welsh language opportunities to support staff who have been learning Welsh, whilst accepting the need to provide high-quality services for children; support for a further education and apprenticeship action plan through the medium of Welsh, through the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol; and how can you ensure that initial teacher training courses do develop Welsh language skills for all prospective teachers, because this is a serious challenge, particularly—

Can you come to a conclusion, please?

Yes, of course. And how to do that without preventing anyone from entering the profession in the first place. 

Well, there was a whole host of questions there, Suzy, and I won't have an opportunity to answer them all. But just to pick up on some of them—of course we will need to reconsider the way that we provide support, and we will have to consider how we can think again about providing opportunities for people to practise their Welsh language skills. There are ways of doing that online, and I know that there is a lot of innovative work being done by the national centre. 

In terms of skills and the importance of Welsh language skills—and I think it's important to highlight that speaking Welsh is a skill, and it's certainly something that's recognised within Welsh Government that will become more important in the future in terms of staffing within Welsh Government. And we hope that that will lead the way for other organisations across Wales, where there will be recognition that speaking Welsh as a skill is something that brings something additional to a post. 

In terms of childcare, I do know that there are people working at the moment on the process of seeking to ensure that Welsh-medium summer activities are available. So, work is being done on that at the moment. And, in terms of training courses, you will be aware, Suzy, that it is a requirement now for students to have some Welsh language learning if they do want to become teachers. So, that is now part of that curriculum, if you do wish to train to become a teacher in Wales.

Suzy Davies. 

No, those were all my questions together, Dirprwy Lywydd. 

Okay, thank you. That was helpful then, thank you. Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Siân Gwenllian. 

Good afternoon. The economic impact of the pandemic on the Welsh-medium creative industries has been immense, with many creative industries reliant on bringing people together. These were some of the first sectors to close down and it’s likely that they will be among the last to be able to return to a level of activity that's commercially viable. It is a very significant sector here in north Wales, with 14,000 people working within it—that is the Welsh- and English-medium sectors, of course—but, at the moment, there is no sign that further support is to be provided from Westminster. So, what discussions have you had with the Deputy Minister for culture on support for the Welsh-medium creative sector, given that the Deputy Minister had stated last week that he was willing to consider reassessing the support available for the arts?

I think that if you look at what the arts council has done in terms of its funding, they've restructured that, they've understood that there is a crisis within the industry, and they have ensured that it's possible for people to apply for funding through the process that they've established. I'm very grateful that Dafydd Elis-Thomas has led on that work. And, of course, there is an opportunity within that for those working in the creative industries through the medium of Welsh to access that funding. That isn't sufficient. We are highly aware that there is a crisis in the arts at present.

Our hope, of course, is that the Westminster Government will bring forward a new package of funding, and, if that does happen, of course, we would be very hopeful that we could provide the appropriate Welsh share in order to provide new support, which would ensure that there is support available for this sector. This sector has grown immensely over the past 10 years. There are around 50,000 people across Wales working in the sector and it would be tragic if we were to miss this opportunity to build on what was already in place. But, of course, it is suffering at the moment, and many of the jobs in this sector are not full-time posts; they are not roles where individuals can rely on a regular salary. We're highly aware of all of this and we're hopeful and we are pushing the UK Government to ensure that they understand the situation and provide funding to us.

Well, I'm very pleased that you have acknowledged that there is a very real crisis in this particular sector and that the Welsh-medium sector is an integral part of this, and that you will strive to ensure that this sector is given support, be there funding from Westminster or not. I do think that we need to invest in this sector directly, and that the Welsh Government needs to do that if the Tories in Westminster don't see the sector as being important enough for them to support financially.

Public service broadcasting has also been very important during this lockdown period, hasn't it, with large numbers turning to S4C for Welsh-medium output, and it has a particular role in supporting and conveying Welsh language culture to children. A large percentage of children in Welsh-medium education come from homes where the Welsh language isn't spoken, and they are turning in their thousands to Cyw and Ysgol Cyw on S4C. Since lockdown, viewership of S4C's programming for children has increased by 182 per cent.

Now, there is room for further development, and particularly to develop the educational digital elements, and there is an opportunity to do that through strengthening the partnership between Hwb and S4C Clic. So, will you commit to progressing with this work as soon as possible—this partnership work between Hwb and S4C Clic?

Thank you. Certainly, I think that S4C has been of great assistance, particularly to those from non-Welsh-speaking households, giving them an opportunity to listen to the Welsh language, particularly the younger children who get so much joy from watching Cyw. Certainly, as a parent, I know that that was a means for me to have a break from time to time when I was responsible for childcare.

But, just to say, in terms of the digital dimension, we are highly aware of the importance of Hwb and we will seek to see how we can link what is happening on Hwb with the digital resource available through S4C. We've already spoken to S4C about the new curriculum to see what resources are available. Of course, S4C has a large archive that could perhaps be adapted for the new curriculum. So, those discussions have been ongoing and they will certainly develop in the future.

I'm sure that non-Welsh-speaking parents specifically will appreciate those developments. We know that there is concern that they're unable to support their children fully during this period. So, to take that discussion a little further, what conversations have you had with the education Minister on this issue, on those specific concerns that exist around the Welsh-medium sector, and do you feel that there needs to be a specific strategy in place for Welsh-medium education, with guidance and meaningful training in place for the workforce so that they can use virtual platforms to their full potential? It's crucial, isn't it, in terms of language acquisition and usage to have that direct interaction between pupil and teacher—it's even more important, perhaps, when we're talking of learning a language. Also, I think that parents need to know what resources are available to them and how to access those resources. So, can you commit to promoting those resources and the support that is available for those parents who do want to support their children during the next weeks and months?

Of course, I do meet the education Minister regularly to discuss issues related to education and the Welsh language. I know that she is highly aware of the importance of ensuring that children have an opportunity to practice their Welsh language skills during this difficult time. But I would say that guidance has already been provided—not just from Government, but we have also asked headteachers to distribute those resources to children within schools. I am aware, for example, that I, as a parent, have received information through the school as to what resources are available. So, it's good to know that that system is working and that the direction that we have provided has reached those parents. So, I am hopeful that that will develop. Just to say, of course, I do think that all teachers will need to reconsider how they teach virtually, and to see what resources are available to them. Of course, we have to consider that in the Welsh and the English-medium sectors.

Thank you. We turn to questions on the order paper, and questions 3, 4 and 5 will all be answered by the Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism. So, question 3—Mark Isherwood.