Item 9 on our agenda is a debate, and it's the Welsh Government's annual report for 'Cymraeg 2050' for 2019-20, and the Welsh Language Commissioner's annual report of 2019-20. I call on the Minister for Mental Health, Well-being and the Welsh Language to move the motion. Is the Minister there? Right, we'll have a couple of minutes' break until the Minister can join us virtually. 

Plenary was suspended at 17:22.

The Senedd reconvened at 17:23, with the Deputy Presiding Officer in the Chair.

As I was saying, we're on the debate on the Welsh Government's annual report for 'Cymraeg 2050' and the Welsh Language Commissioner's annual report, and I will ask, now, the Minister for Mental Health, Well-being and the Welsh Language to move the motion. Eluned Morgan.  

Motion NDM7485 Rebecca Evans

To propose that the Senedd:

1. Notes:

a) the Welsh Government’s Cymraeg 2050 Annual Report (2019-20);

b) the Welsh Language Commissioner's Annual Report (2019-20).

Motion moved.

Thank you very much, and apologies for my late arrival. I am here today to present two annual reports before the Senedd, which taken together show the steps that were taken in 2019-20 to reach our national well-being goal of seeing the Welsh language prosper. The reports covered are the Welsh Government's annual report for 'Cymraeg 2050' and the Welsh Language Commissioner's annual report, again for 2019-20. 

I want to start by looking at our annual report on our language strategy, namely 'Cymraeg 2050'. This report focuses on the financial year 2019-20 and shows the progress that we have made in implementing 'Cymraeg 2050' during those 12 months.

You will recall that 'Cymraeg 2050' includes two main objectives: increasing the number of Welsh speakers and increasing the use made of the Welsh language too. This report, therefore, demonstrates the work that has been done in response to these goals at the heart of our communities, by our grant partners, and steps taken by us as a Government. You will see that the report shows our work from early years, through statutory education provision into post-statutory education and Welsh for adults. It also covers projects to increase the use of the Welsh language in our communities.

The report is very diverse and varied because this work belongs to all parts of the Government’s work, identifying the importance of mainstreaming and rooting 'Cymraeg 2050' more broadly, and this report demonstrates very strong evidence of that.

I have no time to cover everything today, so I want to mention some highlights of the year before turning to what has happened since then in light of COVID-19. One of the highlights of last year was participation in the UNESCO International Year of Indigenous Languages. It was an excellent opportunity to raise Wales’s profile internationally as a bilingual nation and a nation that is in the vanguard in terms of linguistic regeneration.

During the reporting year, I reported on our intention to establish Prosiect 2050—a brand new unit co-ordinating the work of planning our route towards the 1 million. It will also create new initiatives to double the use of the Welsh language and will support policy departments across Government in implementing 'Cymraeg 2050'. It will work with various partners across Wales and beyond, and I look forward to seeing this innovative work carried out by the project.

Encouraging families to choose to use the Welsh language is one of the most important things that we can do on our journey towards the 1 million. So, I was very pleased to launch a consultation on the draft national policy on language transmission and its use in families. We will be publishing our final policy in the Senedd on 15 December.

Also, we have launched the Helo Blod service, which is a support and translation service available online and over the phone to small businesses and the third sector. We must also bear in mind the bread and butter work, such as increasing the number of cylchoedd meithrin, increasing the places available in Welsh-medium schools and the numbers attending those schools, making provisions for late arrivals, strengthening the education workforce, maintaining language use in the post-16 sector and developing quality educational resources, also increasing the number of adults learning, and providing a good range of Welsh-medium apprenticeships, and providing opportunities to use the Welsh language in workplaces, supporting grant partners, the Arfor programme, the role of the media, heritage, culture, tourism, language infrastructure and taking full advantage of technology.

You will see that the data contained within the report shows that we continue to face challenges in certain areas, for example, the recruitment of teachers and ensuring that young people continue to use the Welsh language once they pass 16 years of age. But, we are working hard across Government and with other partners and continue to keep a close eye on the data in order to adapt our plans if necessary.

It’s important to bear in mind that this is a snapshot of a particular period that came to an end at the end of March this year. That’s what’s contained within the report and we must bear in mind that the world has been entirely transformed since then. The Welsh language, like all other policy areas within Government, has faced major challenges as a result of COVID-19, but with all challenges, there also come opportunities. The innovation, determination and creativity of our partners have made a great impression on me. It was a pleasure to watch Eisteddfod T, Eisteddfod Amgen and to hear of the excellent voluntary work done by the young farmers and Merched y Wawr, as well as seeing all sorts of other events being staged online by the mentrau iaith. More learners have taken advantage of Welsh taster sessions at the National Centre for Learning Welsh since March of this year than the total number of learners in the previous three years taken together. And most of our partners have managed to continue to operate to the objectives of 'Cymraeg 2050' during this difficult period. I want to thank them for their great efforts in this area.

As a Government, we have responded to the pandemic by supporting partners, trying to anticipate situations and responding to them and we will continue to do that. For example, the Llond Haf o Gymraeg campaign was launched to support the parents of children who attend Welsh-medium schools. We have also held an audit of language use in our communities in order to understand the impact of COVID and to identify new opportunities for people to use the Welsh language. Now, the Cysgliad package is available free of charge to schools and small organisations. This makes it easier for more people to use the Welsh language.

We have also been considering the impact of COVID-19 and Brexit on the following: the use of the Welsh language in workplaces; the rural economy, including the agriculture sector; and the position of second homes and affordable homes. So, next year’s report will include more details on these issues and any findings on the impact of the pandemic on the Welsh language. This will all be considered as we prepare for the next 'Cymraeg 2050' work programme for the next Government.

I want to turn now to the Welsh Language Commissioner’s annual report for 2019-20, which is Aled Roberts's first full year in post. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him, once again, for his work. I do want to note that I appreciate the commissioner’s willingness, as well as his staff's willingness, to adapt the way that they have been working, particularly given the implications of COVID-19 on bodies providing Welsh language services.

The commissioner started in post by meeting a range of people in communities and organisations across Wales. He did that in order to understand the situation of the Welsh language across the nation. The journey was the basis for the commissioner’s vision for the way forward. I'm pleased that Aled shares our vision, as a Welsh Government, that regulation and creating opportunities to use the Welsh language go hand in hand. We need to do both things in order to succeed together in implementing 'Cymraeg 2050'.

The annual report refers to work that has been done in accordance with the commissioner's priorities, namely to continue to effectively regulate whilst also working with partners to promote the Welsh language. The commissioner continues to implement Welsh language standards. These standards were implemented into the health sector during the reporting period and the commissioner has also been working with bodies in supporting them to implement standards. I'm very grateful to the commissioner for his willingness to work with my officials to review the process of making the standards following recommendations made by the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee.

I'm eager to collaborate in order to push bodies forward in providing Welsh language services. We also want to create a situation where the rights of Welsh speakers are clear in order to increase the use of those services. The report also highlights the role of the commissioner in ensuring that the Welsh language is at the heart of the work of the Government as a whole. This year, more than ever before, the external challenge is crucial as we consider the long-term impacts of COVID-19 and the uncertainty posed to the Welsh language as we depart the European Union.

So, there we are. Two very comprehensive reports presenting a great deal of information about this crucially important work that is being done under the 'Cymraeg 2050' banner. Thank you.

Thank you, Minister. May I begin by expressing my disappointment that we are discussing both of these reports together? Five minutes to scrutinise both. There isn't sufficient time to scrutinise your success in relation to your activities. We can't go through the world of work, the field of education and the community, et cetera, and there's not enough time to look at the functions and the responsibilities of the commissioner and to work out whether he has sufficient resources and work out why he's had to spend more on legal and professional fees than expected. And it is important, because, for me, this suggests that the complaints procedure is still overly complex. Many of them have not actually been proven, as we see. It reduces the amount of money available for the other work that the commissioner should do, namely to assist to create more Welsh speakers and increase language usage.

May I welcome the code of practice that was published in February, which supports institutions to understand how to conform to the standards? Of course, there should be more standards to conform with by now. We said this last year as well, and the lack of enthusiasm for standards was most evident pre COVID. We can't blame the virus for that. But I have more enthusiasm for seeing an improvement on the work of promoting and persuading others, to attain the target of a million speakers. And as the Welsh Government is determined to bring more responsibilities for this back in house, we'll see how much time the Minister will have to accomplish this, considering her other new challenging and important responsibilities. 

I'm very keen to see what will happen to the conclusions of this work with the planning authorities, because it appears to me that the impact on the Welsh language is just interpreted as a tick box, rather than thinking for opportunities under section 106 agreements, et cetera, as a way of increasing the demand for Welsh-medium education. I'm very pleased to see the commissioner presenting the case for a code of practice under the new curriculum. Mainstreaming the Welsh language in English-medium schools won't be easy, but this is the best way forward, in my view, to create more bilingual generations to come. It is much better than the very awkward proposals on trying to change two-stream schools into bilingual schools. That is not a good way of proceeding. In addition to that, we're still having difficulty in recruiting teachers, as the Minister said, especially on secondary level. Therefore, I encourage Welsh Government to consider the continuum code of practice seriously, and also to focus on early years provision, to make it easier to choose Welsh with confidence. 

Could you tell us, Minister, whether COVID has interrupted your plans to have 40 new nurseries by 2021, and how you are going to catch up? And could you tell me where the additional 800 children in nurseries across Wales—are these children scattered across the whole of Wales, or are they in English-medium placements? And I would ask the same about the increase in the percentage of children that move into Welsh-medium primary schools. Can I ask why you have actual figures for one, and then a percentage for the other? That's not at all transparent. Although I believe that the Camau programme is a wonderful idea, can you tell me whether every Flying Start setting has the appropriate staffing for Welsh language transmission? 

As I said, there are too many questions for me to cover today, but I wish to turn to the GCSE figures. It's a moderate success, and I welcome any kind of success, but perhaps seeing the grades of pupils would help me to understand something else—whether we should welcome this further, or whether there's a problem with attainment in this mandatory subject. And yes, it should be mandatory, because we still need to demonstrate that this remains a valuable qualification. We also need to reverse the fall in the demand for the A-level if we have any hope of getting the teachers we need. Thank you.

'We need to look towards the future not the past' according to the Minister in her foreword to her annual report on the 'Cymraeg 2050' strategy. And our work in the Senedd today is to review the activities of the 12 months between 1 April 2019 to 30 March of this year, which is what is reported on and encapsulated in the two reports before us today—a period that was almost entirely prior to the COVID crisis, of course. The commissioner and his team have already appeared before the Welsh language committee to answer questions on the annual report and the assurance report of the commissioner, so I will focus today on the Minister's responsibilities.

The Llywydd took the Chair.

It is right to say that COVID has changed society overnight, but it was only having an impact during the final fortnight of this reporting period, so COVID cannot excuse or hide the lack of progress that is so apparent in the Government's record. And one example that jumped out at me was the sweeping statement in the report that the head of the 2050 project had now been appointed and was in post, following delays as a result of COVID-19. But COVID wasn't to blame for that delay. The announcement of this single new post in the civil service was the major announcement made by the Minister in the Eisteddfod in Llanrwst in August 2019, which was to focus attention on the strategy. I saw that things were sluggish and I wrote to the Permanent Secretary in January 2020, asking for an update. It's very disappointing to see this lack of progress. It was characteristic, perhaps. Far too much time was lost with the appointment and therefore with the strategy itself.

Long-term strategies are important, but their implementation on an annual basis is even more important, and the main test of this, where you can identify lack of progress, is when Ministers are content just to make announcements rather than to identify real achievements. One of those was the launch of Helo Blod, a translation service for small businesses and the third sector—which sounds great, and is praiseworthy as far as it goes, but is entirely inadequate if we are serious about reaching a million Welsh speakers. Only major steps in the workplace, in law and in the education system will secure that aim. Education has a crucial role in creating that million Welsh speakers, but the report states that there are fewer Welsh-medium primary teachers in this period than there were even in 2015-16—fewer teachers. That is quite staggering. Eleven secondary Welsh medium teachers were trained—11—which is 367 teachers short of the target. The situation is critical, and in looking forward, COVID threatens what we already have. But what do we hear? Helo Blod, goodbye introduction of a standards program. Helo Blod, but goodbye to the Urdd. Helo Blod, but goodbye to viable Welsh speaking communities where second homes are entirely out of control. I'm sure you can hear the sarcasm and frustration in my voice, and I make no apology for that.

There is room to acknowledge a few glimmers of hope. Thank you to the Public Accounts Committee and the culture committee of the Senedd. The Permanent Secretary's feet were held to the fire, and there was a commitment and an action plan to make the Welsh language an administrative language within Welsh Government over a period of time. Judge Fraser's adjudication in the administrative court was made recently, which provides everyone with the right to continue in Welsh-medium education. Another glimmer of hope is the detailed work done by the Welsh Language Commissioner, which demonstrates where legislation on the curriculum provides us with a real opportunity to make progress on the linguistic continuum, if we bring a statutory code in order to move this situation onwards. And I do very much hope that the Minister will take that opportunity in responding to the debate, to give her support to the excellent work done by the commissioner in terms of the curriculum Bill. But what's important about these glimmers of hope that I've mentioned is it's not the Government that's been responsible for bringing them forward. These things have happened despite the Government, not because of the Government. We need to make progress.

'We need to look towards the future not the past' according to the Minister, and it will come as no surprise that I am more than happy to look to the future, a new future for the work of regenerating the Welsh language, and myself and Plaid Cymru have very clear ideas on the new direction, the new leadership and the new energy required for these efforts. A Plaid Cymru Government would promote the status of the Welsh language unit as a powerful cross-governmental directorate. We would introduce a Welsh langauge education Act to make it truly a language for all. We would save our national institutions that do so much for the language and provide a sustainable future for all of the communities of Wales. Thank you.

Thank you to the Minister for bringing the report forward.

When a Government tries to implement a policy, there are different methods that can be used in that cause. These can sometimes be divided into two basic elements, namely the carrot and the stick. I think that the Minister has been quite consistent in advocating the carrot rather than the stick in furthering the campaign of boosting the use of the Welsh language, and I am encouraged, after reading the 'Cymraeg 2050' report, that that appears to still be her basic approach.

I think the encouragement of groups and organisations to grow the use of Welsh is a far better measure than methods of compulsion, so I would generally endorse the methods that the Minister is pursuing, as outlined in this year's 'Cymraeg 2050' report, by supporting the various initiatives that are documented. The view of the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party is that, generally, we support these positive measures to encourage the growth of Welsh. Sometimes, making something compulsory does not really work. We did have the Welsh Government taking a decision a few years ago to make the teaching of Welsh in schools compulsory up to the age of 16. That decision has proved to be contentious and I wonder if it has actually worked in increasing to any meaningful level the usage of Welsh, by which I mean increasing the number of people in Wales who use Welsh on a daily basis.

My own observation, based on the experience of various relatives and relatives of friends who have gone through the school system in recent years is that we still have a sizeable section of young people who are fairly indifferent to the Welsh language and also fairly ignorant of it, despite having theoretically studied it up to the age of 16. So, in a sense, little has changed since I was at school 30 years ago. Having seen the stated figures, I'm not sure that the proportion of young people who significantly use Welsh has increased as a result of forcing more people to take it at school for three extra years. Can I refer to the lack of increase in the uptake of A-level Welsh at school, which is documented in the report? There has been no significant lasting increase in the numbers of school students taking A-level Welsh, so this, in itself, does indicate that, to a large extent, the policy of compelling school pupils to take Welsh up to the age of 16 has failed. I think that promoting parents' evenings to encourage more uptake of A-level Welsh is a good idea. We could take the same approach with GCSE Welsh in my view, but that is perhaps a discussion for another day. My main contention is that learning Welsh can be a very positive experience, but it has to be done with the consent and active input of the learner. The learner must want to learn, so the main thing is to encourage more young people to take up the subject as far as possible. Parents' evenings are fine, but, even there, we must ensure that the young students themselves are also involved in discussions on what A-levels they take.

There are related problems to the A-level uptake issue, such as the shortfall in primary school teachers and the bigger shortfall in secondary school teachers—issues that have already been raised today by earlier speakers. There is a conversion scheme, which is outlined in the report, the difficulty being that many primary school teachers may not want to convert to secondary school and also you already have a shortfall in primary school teachers, anyway. So, there are difficulties in moving forward towards the very good aspiration of improving the usage of the Welsh language. I do, though, commend the Minister for her overall approach. 

I thank the Minister again for her report.

The Minister, now, to reply to the debate—Eluned Morgan.

Thank you very much, and thank you for those responses. To start with Suzy, of course, since we decided not to proceed with new Welsh language legislation, we had started to make progress with some new Welsh language standards, but then COVID interrupted that work. However, we do hope to have at least one further group of standards in place before the end of this parliamentary session.

I think the fact that I have a new role, in a way, helps me to shine some light in terms of that area of mental health and the Welsh language, and I've already asked for some work to be done on that very issue. So, I don't see them as being in competition with each other; I think there is room for us to work together on those issues.

In terms of mainstreaming the Welsh language, let me be clear that I have no interest in seeing any tensions between languages in our communities. It is important that we work together and that we understand that there is a responsibility not just on those attending Welsh-medium schools, but also on those not attending Welsh-medium schools—that they too should learn enough of the language. And, of course, it is important that we do more work in that area. We've already been speaking to organisations such as the National Centre for Learning Welsh to see how they can help, given their new experience of working online.

In terms of nurseries, we're still on target to deliver the 40 nurseries that we had hoped to put in place, and, to just be clear, we have asked them to focus on those areas where such facilities haven't traditionally been available. Welsh language as a qualification is also valuable, and people need to understand that it is a qualification as well as a means of communication. Of course, we have sought to put money on the table—£150,000 has been put on the table—to encourage more people to study A-level, and, as Gareth Bennett noted, more work needs to be done in that particular area. We are doing our best here. We have a number of incentives in place, and if anyone has any further ideas, we'd be more than happy to listen to them, particularly when it comes to attracting more teachers to teach through the medium of Welsh. There are at least 10 measures already in place to try to encourage more people to undertake this work, and I know that this is something that Siân Gwenllian is very interested in.

I don't accept that we haven't made progress during that period. The head of Prosiect 2050 is now in place, and the work that was done is work that will now continue. It was only just starting before that appointment was made, so it wasn't that the work wasn't happening. For example, on language transmission within families, a great deal of work was being done there. A great deal of work was also being done on Welsh language and technology. So, those things that are so important in ensuring that the steps are in place to secure opportunities for people to use the Welsh language, they were already in train before that appointment was made.

In terms of Work Welsh, I think excellent work has been done here, but, of course, much of that came to an end with COVID. But it is important that we recommence that work once the opportunity arises, so that people can once again go into the workplace and learn the Welsh language there and use the Welsh language in the workplace too.

You said that we haven't provided support to the Urdd. My goodness, we have stood shoulder to shoulder with the Urdd in an exceptional way. Of course, we need to do more to support the Urdd, but we are doing our level best with them, of all organisations, because we appreciate the excellent and important work that they do in supporting the Welsh language with our young people. I have kept in touch with the commissioner and the Minister for Education to ensure that the curriculum is moving in the right direction in terms of the Welsh language, and it's a shame that Siân didn't hear what I mentioned in terms of the work that we are doing on second homes.

I'm pleased to hear that Gareth Bennett, as part of the Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party, does support the idea of supporting the Welsh language. What we're endeavouring to do—if I could just look at a few of the points that he raised—in terms of language use once pupils leave school, is to provide the opportunities to do that, and that's why the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol has been established. That's why there are more apprenticeships in place and available through the medium of Welsh, and that's why there are now modules as part of FE courses partly through the medium of Welsh for those who attended Welsh-medium schools.

So, just to conclude, it's likely that next year's report will be very different, given the changes in the world around us. And although the context of our work has changed dramatically since 'Cymraeg 2050' was launched, our priorities have remained the same. Our intention is still to increase the number of Welsh speakers, to increase the use of the Welsh language and to improve infrastructure, and that's why I've noted some of those issues this afternoon. Much work has already been done and we have a strong foundation in place in order to ensure that the next Government can continue with that vision of reaching a million Welsh speakers by 2050. Thank you.

The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? No objections, and the motion is therefore agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.