Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:01 pm on 4 November 2020.
Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you to the three Members who contributed to the debate. I will keep my closing comments quite brief.
Suzy Davies, first of all. Thank you for those comments. Suzy said that she was disappointed to see the number using the Welsh language going down and she pointed the finger at herself. Nobody should do that, of course. What we need is encouragement and to give people the opportunity to consider their options to use the Welsh language. But it is something that we should be aware of, and in that regard, I agree entirely with what Suzy said. And we should also bear in mind that we need leadership from Government as well as from backbench Members.
There are challenges, of course, that we are seeking to overcome. And given the point that Suzy Davies made in terms of reaching out to schools and colleges, well, the linguistic challenges exist across Wales, and I do agree that we could be seeking ways to share good practice with those sectors, too. We will seek ways to do that, because it's an issue of the Senedd taking its national role seriously and reaching out to people and allowing people to learn from our experiences too.
In terms of the use of Welsh language—if I can return to that—she said that it's been an unusual year and I wonder whether that accounts for the reduced use of the Welsh language. Very strangely, I've found it easier to use the Welsh language in committee meetings and Plenary meetings; there is no delay now as people reach for their headphones and so on, it happens far more smoothly in the virtual scenario. So, there are benefits that can emerge from operating virtually in this way. But thank you for those comments.
Siân Gwenllian raised a number of points encouraging me as Commissioner. Now, I wouldn't disagree with the need to look again at what our status is and whether the Senedd should be subject to Welsh language standards, and so on. What I would say is that what's important is what we do as an institution, not so much what our motivations are or what the legal expectations upon us are. It's quite right that that debate should continue and it should be a lively debate.
In terms of technology, Siân made some very good points. Zoom was something miraculous that happened just before the pandemic. I came across Zoom for the first time in December of last year; all of a sudden, we have this platform where we can work entirely bilingually. And, yes, there is some catching up work to be done for other platforms, including Teams. Teams, of course, internationally, has had to develop from being a platform for just four people back in March; now it's a far larger platform. But we do need to make the most of the relationship that the Senedd has with companies like Microsoft in order to ensure that that ability to work bilingually on all platforms is made a reality.