We now move to item 5, which is a statement by the Minister for Mental Health, Wellbeing and Welsh Language, and this is on promoting the use of Welsh in families. I call the Minister, Eluned Morgan.

Thank you very much, Chair. I'm very pleased today to be able to publish our national policy on Welsh language transmission and use within families. I said back in February, when publishing the draft version of the policy, that it's important that we understand that the language we use at home affects how comfortable our children feel using that language later in life.

Our aim with this work is to support and encourage those with Welsh language skills who perhaps haven’t used them lately to speak more Welsh with their children—in other words, to transmit the language to the next generation. The policy focuses on how we can influence this. Of course, the language we use with our children—indeed, all language behaviour—is the result of many different factors. Changing our behaviour isn't easy, particularly when patterns have been established.

As the data and research show, there are homes in all parts of Wales where parents can speak Welsh, but for many reasons—lack of confidence, habit, a feeling that their Welsh is, somehow, not good enough—don't use the language with their own children. Therefore, we have to do everything we possibly can to help them to do so.

Back in February, I emphasized that I wanted to hear from families as part of the consultation on this policy—this work is being done for families, after all. As part of the consultation and our research into the transmission of the Welsh language, we've heard from families where parents have lost confidence in the use of the language. We've also heard opinions and experiences from parents who are the only adult in the home who is able to speak Welsh. Some of the people we've spoken to have been through the Welsh-medium education system themselves but they have been raised in English-medium households. We've heard, we've listened and we've fed all of these views into this work.

One parent—I'll call him Steve—spoke Welsh but explained that his partner didn't. Steve's partner felt that there was something missing from her life because she didn’t speak Welsh. Neither she nor Steve wanted their child to miss out. We've also heard from Lucy. Lucy can speak Welsh, and, in looking back at her time at school, she remembers that she only started using the Welsh she had in her teenage years. She's now an adult and a mother, and has a different perspective on her Welsh language ability. She was eager to use the language with her child from the very beginning. Each of these different perspectives, and many others, has enriched the development of this policy.

Of course we need to help parents to begin their own journeys with the language by offering opportunities to them to learn Welsh, and that's why we are already supporting that through the work of the National Centre for Learning Welsh, Mudiad Meithrin and other partners. But the focus of this policy is to influence homes where people can already speak Welsh in order to help them to use the language with their children. This will contribute to increasing the number of Welsh speakers and, all-importantly, double the daily use of Welsh, Cymraeg 2050's two main targets.

One single thing won't make more people transmit the Welsh language. This policy presents a series of actions that we will put in place over the next decade in order to create a virtuous circle of parents using Welsh with their children, and those children likewise speaking Welsh with their own children.

We want to build on the foundation of work undertaken in Wales over many years; we don't want to reinvent the wheel. We now need to push the boundaries and experiment with new ways of working, by taking risks from time to time, being prepared to fail, but also learning from those failures, and doing so without pointing the blame at anyone. Only by doing this can we understand the impact of our work and improve it.

We want to create an environment of collaboration between individuals and organisations where everyone has an opportunity to share. After all, nobody has a monopoly on good ideas. We won't see all the results of our work overnight. What we're trying to achieve is intergenerational—that's the whole point. But the work of ensuring that there are future generations of Welsh speakers in the family begins today. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Minister, for this statement. I've been saying that there is an unconscious choice of language very often and we need to face up to that if we are to have a successful policy. So, I'm pleased to see this move towards a better understanding of the role of language within the family dynamic. And in looking at the recommendations in the policy, I turn to the second, that family dynamic I mentioned, rather than structural language procurement. I suspect that the 'who' in every family is just as influential as the 'how'. There are a number of recommendations related to further research methodology, and certainly we need a cohort of more than 60 families for this. But is it necessarily a process that you intend to push forward? How do you intend to manage that in a sensitive manner and what have you learnt about the process of working with these 60 families?

I was also pleased to see, in the launch of the consultation last year, a recognition that it's the education system that will ensure language procurement, but it doesn't mean that it's necessarily transmitted. The report has said that and I don't want to look at the experiences of learners today, but we could agree, I'm sure, that it's not always been a positive experience for all. And for this current generation of young adults who've had a poor experience of learning Welsh, or who haven't enjoyed their Welsh-medium schooling, what can we tell them now to help them over what may be an emotional barrier? Because it's fine for people like me who have been determined from the very outset that my children should benefit from what I didn't benefit from, namely bilingualism at the time—I was determined in that. But what can you change now in the short term in terms of messaging for new parents who may have a negative outlook on the Welsh language that bilingualism is a virtue and it's particularly pertinent to those learning at home at the moment?

Now, teacher training—I’m enthusiastic about hearing more about where the education profession fits in to this from the point of view of the psychology of language transmission, because this strikes me as a case of 'physician heal thyself' on occasion. With far more teachers in schools and colleges with Welsh language skills than are willing to teach Welsh, or to teach through the medium of Welsh, how do you see that specific recommendation in the policy working?

And, finally, I was speaking to someone who leads the international language mentoring schemes run by some of our universities in Wales, and she made the point that safe spaces were needed for adults who had some knowledge and skills to make mistakes, and you've just focused on that yourself in your final remarks. The family could be one of those places, and it's just another way of playing with the language—that's what making mistakes is. Playing with the language like this could help children in terms of their language patterns and encourage them to ask questions without criticism, never mind increasing the confidence of adults. So, what is your broader thinking about safe spaces for adults to play with the language outside of the home? And, if possible, I would recommend our policy, and if you'd like to know more, I'm happy to tell you. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Suzy. First of all, I do think it's worth looking back historically at what's happened, because we do know that, in the first half of the twentieth century, many people who were Welsh speakers decided not to pass on the language to the next generation. We have to learn from what happened there and what the historical context was. The chapels were in decline, there were all sorts of things changing. There were social changes happening and we do have to learn from our past. And we also have to be sensitive to the fact that intervening within families is something that's very difficult indeed, and I don't think there's a role for Government. We have to be very, very sensitive indeed in terms of how the Government can intervene in families, and that's why I think we have to tread very carefully in this area.

What's clear is that in some families, the choice of language is something that's decided; it's been discussed. And, certainly, in my family, it was a condition of marriage that my husband had to learn Welsh so that we could speak Welsh to our children. Now, we're not going to ask the people of Wales to make speaking Welsh a condition of marriage, but I do think that what we hope to do is that people at least are encouraged to have that discussion, that they make language choice a consideration. Because what's been clear from what we've heard is that it's something that people fall into without really considering, and it's only later, after language patterns have been established, that they start to consider it in earnest, and it's more difficult once people have fallen into those language patterns.

What we're doing here, of course, is building on existing programmes. Twf, for example, from 2001, and the Cymraeg i Blant programme. So, we're building on those and have considered lessons learnt from those, and it's important that we bring all of that together. This isn't aimed at teachers, but I do think that there is some research that teachers could assist us with here. That is why tone and the words we use are very important, that we get that right and that we don't push people into doing things that they're not comfortable with. And there's a great deal of work that we've done as a department that has assisted us in terms of what will help others to make more use of the Welsh language. Therefore, I do think that it's important that we do look at lessons we can learn. Failure is an important element here, as you've said, Suzy, and learning from failure. And I think it is important that there are spaces where people aren't criticised, and I would be more than happy to hear some of your ideas, Suzy, because one thing we've made clear here is that we have no monopoly on good ideas; we're very eager to hear if people have alternative ideas. Because this is a relatively new area; there are not many people in the world doing this. We've looked at other countries. The Basques have done certain things that we're interested in looking at, for example, as steps forward too.

Thank you for the statement and the report, and I look forward to reading it in detail. The focus of the policy, as you said, is to influence homes where people are already able to speak Welsh in order to help them to use the language with their children. Now, at the end of the day, it's pride in the Welsh language and confidence in its value that will create this great shift that is required, and I'd like to know what will be in your manifesto in terms of promoting that to all families in Wales in an ambitious way over the next years.

You said that there isn't a silver bullet that's going to make more people transfer the Welsh language, and that this policy introduces a series of action points. So, can you outline what those actions are, broadly speaking, and how did you decide upon them? What's the evidence underpinning these actions that you have selected, and how are you going to monitor the success of these to see whether they are reaching their objectives or not? And as you've mentioned, there is some work that has been done over the years in helping families to make more use of the Welsh language with their children. The aim of the Twf project, which was in place between 2001 and 2016, was to raise awareness among families of the benefits of raising children bilingually, and having a positive impact on their use of the Welsh language. I clearly remember the Twf scheme when it was operational in parts of my constituency, and I have to say that I was very disappointed when it came to an end because it did succeed. I witnessed that myself in terms of the families that I saw benefit from being encouraged through this scheme. Cymraeg i Blant was put in place as a successor to Twf in 2016, but without sufficient investment. Would you agree with me on that, that there wasn't sufficient investment for Cymraeg i Blant? I think the aim is to increase the number of children in receipt of Welsh-medium education—so the emphasis has shifted slightly—and also to support parents, carers, prospective parents, prospective carers and other members of the family to introduce the Welsh language at home and to transmit the language to their children, but as part of the effort to get more children into Welsh-medium education. Do you believe that there is now an argument for reintroducing the Twf scheme, given that it is still considered to be a successful programme, which is still used as an example of good practice in this area?

And finally from me, there have been major problems that have emerged as a result of the pandemic, in terms of parents who aren't confident in their Welsh language skills, or don't speak Welsh at all, trying to support children in Welsh-medium education. And I can imagine that it's a huge challenge to try and do that. Estyn has noted it as a major risk. Will this be given a prominent role in the Government's education recovery programme? What discussions are you having with the finance Minister and the education Minister to secure additional funding to support the great rebuilding work that is required—and will be required—over the next months, way beyond the period where the virus is in decline?

Thank you very much. I think you're quite right: the way we ensure that this works is to ensure that those who do speak Welsh feel pride in the fact that they speak Welsh. But we also need to raise the confidence of those people who've been through Welsh-medium education, have stopped using the language for a time, and we need to relight that fire within them, so that when they do have children, they want to ensure that they speak Welsh to those children. And what surprised me was that it's still an issue, for example, in Anglesey, where there was one parent who spoke Welsh, only 38 per cent of those children spoke Welsh at three years of age. And even when there were two Welsh-speaking adults in the family, it was only 76 per cent who were transferring the language to their children. So, there is a problem there, and even if we were to start there, we would already be making progress in terms of increasing numbers. So, this is part of our programme to reach that 2050 target.

Of course, you'll have to wait to hear the details of our manifesto, but you will be aware, in terms of the curriculum, that we are very eager to ensure that awareness of Wales and Welsh history is all very important, and that an awareness of the Welsh language is part of what we hope people will learn in the future.

In terms of the action points, it's a mix of things where there is evidence of what's happening, because we have looked at programmes such as Twf and Cymraeg i Blant and have learned from those, but it is also innovative, and we don't want to apologise for being innovative in this area. Cymraeg i Blant, of course, has been assessed, and as part of that assessment we have looked at the gaps that we believe need to be filled, we've also looked at Twf and we've considered whether we can get the best out of Cymraeg i Blant and this new scheme. Of course, some £700,000 is spent on Cymraeg i Blant, which is quite a fair bit of funding, and that helps with ensuring that midwives speak to parents at those very early stages and so on.

In terms of the pandemic, of course, it is important that we maintain the confidence of children and their parents, particularly those who send their children to Welsh-medium schools, but don't speak the language. We've done a great deal of work with Bangor University to try and ensure that there are blogs available for parents, so that they understand, because we have a great deal of experience here in Wales of reintroducing the language and ensuring that children can learn the language quickly. Those moving to Wales are immersed in the Welsh language when they reach communities, we know how to do this and we know what's possible. Evidence shows that it won't be a problem, but what we must do is to increase those parents' confidence, so that they are aware of that work that has been done already. Of course, we will be doing a great deal of work to ensure that we hasten that process and that we do restore the situation as soon as the children are back in schools.

And finally, Mike Hedges.

Thank you, Chair. I welcome the Minister's statement. I know from experience that learning a language as an adult is not easy. If Welsh is to become a community language, then the best place to start is in the home and from the cradle.

For anyone interested in the future of the Welsh language, the 2011 census results were very disappointing. They showed a reduction in the number of Welsh speakers since the 2001 census, and if this rate of decline continues, only in Gwynedd will there be over half of the population that will be Welsh speaking by 2051, and that will only be by 1 per cent. The challenge is to promote speaking the Welsh language in families where only one parent is Welsh speaking, or where only the grandparents speak the language. Would the Minister agree that we need to see the Welsh language taught at home and then used in the community?

Thank you very much, Mike, and I know that you're an example of someone who's learned Welsh, but that your daughter has been through Welsh-medium education, and I'm sure that one day, when maybe she has children, she will speak it to those children. So, it's an excellent contribution. Thank you very much, Mike, another step to keeping the language alive.

What's important, I think, is that we do understand that using the Welsh language at home is important, as you've said, Mike, and what we have discovered is that those who speak Welsh within the home are more confident in their Welsh language skills and are therefore more likely to use the language when they're older. That makes a huge difference, and that's why—. What we need to crack here is that next generation of children who've been educated through the medium of Welsh, who may have lost their skills a little as they've gone into the workplace or may have left Wales for a period of time and then returned, that they pick it up again and give that gift to the next generation. That, of course, will be a very special gift, and a gift to the nation, too. I do think it's important, Mike, that we do mention grandparents and others who can help in this regard. That's certainly something that we should be considering too.

Diolch yn fawr. I now hand the chair back to the Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm not sure we have a smooth transition here. Has the Deputy Presiding Officer returned yet?

Yes, she's here, but we can't hear her. 

Can we unmute the DPO? Well, whilst we are dealing with this technical difficulty, I will call the next item.