5. Statement by the Minister for Mental Health, Wellbeing and Welsh Language: Promoting the use of Welsh in families (transmission in families policy)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:15 pm on 26 January 2021.

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Photo of Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan Labour 4:15, 26 January 2021

(Translated)

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.

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