I rise to contribute to this debate as the Chair of the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee. We felt it was incumbent upon us to take evidence with regard to the possible effects of the national development framework on the Welsh language and on the Government's own target to reach a million speakers of Welsh. We took evidence on 15 November and we have written to the Minister. Of course, we await her formal response in due course. It is true, at a national strategic level, that the framework does make a number of references to the Welsh language, but at a regional and spatial level, the references are much more general, and overall our committee believes, and the evidence that was presented to us showed, that this risks being a missed opportunity in terms of using our spatial planning as a nation to protect and ensure the future of our national language. 

Witnesses raised a number of concerns and I'll touch on a few of them briefly. One concern was around the issue of accountability at a regional level. The framework makes a great play of the need to operate at a regional level, and there is some reason for that, though I have personal concerns about the regions as set out in the framework. But, for example, the Welsh Language Commissioner's office noted that its oversight of statutory duties relates to legal entities and individual bodies, and it's very far from clear to the Welsh Language Commissioner how his legal responsibilities for ensuring that those bodies operate properly in the Welsh language legislation—how is that going to be carried out when they're co-operating at a regional level. Where is the responsibility? If he has to make representations about a failure, where and to whom does he make that representation? It isn't clear how the regional approach, as set out in the framework, will support and promote the Welsh language, and the committee would like the Welsh Government to show much more clearly how it intends to ensure greater transparency of the work of the regional bodies and how they can be accountable. 

Another area where we took extensive evidence was the issue of housing and the Welsh language. We know that for the language to have a future it needs to have live communities in which it is spoken regularly on a day-to-day basis. And we know that, in those communities in the north and the west, access to housing is a huge issue. Members will remember the story from last year of a headteacher of a primary school who could not afford, in Gwynedd, to buy a house that was within 40 miles of the school where she lived—for somebody in that senior professional position not to be able to afford a home in her community. Now, we don't feel that this is adequately addressed as an issue in the framework, and the impact of not having access to affordable and, crucially, social housing will really get in the way of those communities being able to survive as living communities and, therefore, the future of the language. We recommend that the link between social housing and affordable housing in Welsh-speaking areas, and the impact on the Welsh language, should be set out much more thoroughly in the framework document.

We are concerned about the way in which rural communities are referred to in the framework as a hinterland for towns and cities. It is in those rural communities where the Welsh language is often at its strongest, and to see rural communities as something that just exists in the context of the town that they surround is really an error, in our view. We would like the Government to take a more balanced approach to helping urban and rural centres to prosper, rather than one that focuses on urban centres with their hinterland, as if, somehow, the rural area belongs to the city or town. The framework we'd like to see updated to take account of the greater need for fast and reliable access to broadband—that, again, is crucial to enable people to work in those communities. And more information from the Government on what they're thinking on local hubs.

And finally, Llywydd, to touch on the issues of mainstreaming the language, there needs to be a recognition of the impact of these policies on the Welsh language at all levels of the document, not just at a national strategic level. We also think there's a need to see stronger links with other strategies. Where, for example, are the links with the Welsh in education plans? How will the framework contribute to the 'Cymraeg 2050' strategy? All this this needs to be spelt out, and then it needs to be monitored. We've asked the Government to specify how the contribution to the outcomes of 2050 will be measured and monitored if the framework is rolled out, and we've asked for the regional level of spatial planning in the framework to be flexible enough to allow the growth of partnerships that address specific issues. For example, those counties where Welsh is a community language should be able to work together beyond the framework as set out here.

We look forward as a committee to the Minister's formal response. There is still time to address our concerns. If they are not addressed, this will be a missed opportunity for the Government to put real meat on the bones of their commitment to 'Cymraeg 2050', and it will be necessary for an incoming Government to substantially reform the framework if this is not addressed.