We move now to item 5, the motion to approve the official languages scheme for the sixth Senedd and to note the annual report on the official languages scheme for 2021-22. I call on Commissioner Rhun ap Iorwerth to move the motion.

Motion NDM8078 Elin Jones

To propose that the Senedd:

1. Approves the Senedd Commission's Official Languages Scheme, in accordance with paragraph 8(11)(d) of Schedule 2 of the Government of Wales Act 2006, laid before the Senedd on 21 September 2022; and

2. Notes the Annual Report on the Senedd Commission's Official Languages Scheme for the period 2021-22, in accordance with paragraph 8(8) of Schedule 2 of the Government of Wales Act 2006, laid before the Senedd on 30 June 2022.

Motion moved.

Thank you very much, Llywydd. I'm pleased to present the two documents laid before the Senedd today, namely the annual report on the Senedd official languages scheme for 2021-22, and the official languages scheme for the sixth Senedd.

Let me turn first to the annual report. Members will be familiar with the procedure of holding an annual debate on our work during the year. In accordance with the requirements of the National Assembly for Wales (Official Languages) Act 2012, the Senedd Commission must report annually on its work in providing bilingual services, and any complaints or cases of failure to comply that have been observed. As usual, the report was published in conjunction with the annual report and accounts of the Senedd Commission, and the annual reports on diversity and inclusion and sustainability, in June.

This year, the work of the official languages team has mainly focused on the process of preparing the official languages scheme for the sixth Senedd—I will turn to that scheme later on—and drawing to a close the scheme for the fifth Senedd.

During the course of the year, we welcomed a large number of new Senedd Members, and the team worked with those Members to ensure that they were aware of the requirements of the scheme, and also to ensure that they could work in their official language or languages of choice by default. I would like to thank all Members and their support staff for their support as we implement the requirements of the scheme, and for providing feedback, which is so important, on our bilingual services. 

In discussing bilingual services, it's also important to note that the number of learners who are having lessons from the tutoring team has increased; that's always great to see, whether those be re-elected Members re-engaging with their lessons, or those who are completely new learners. It is nice to see the Members who are learning using their skills during proceedings, and the way in which their fellow Members across the Chamber celebrate their successes as they contribute, perhaps for the first time, publicly in Welsh. It's not easy to give it a go and that support is vital in order to encourage Members to keep on learning, on the one hand, but more importantly, certainly, to use their Welsh.

Members will be aware of the statistical information that now forms part of the annual reports. This information is important. It allows us to monitor several areas, including the number of posts advertised at courtesy level, or that have a requirement for skills at a higher level, which forms part of our ongoing language planning processes. We also monitor the percentage of Welsh-medium contributions made in Plenary meetings like this, or in committee meetings. Gathering information of this kind helps us to monitor the effectiveness of the support available to Members, to assist them in using their preferred language when preparing for and taking part in proceedings. We will continue to monitor and to look for ways to nurture confidence in using the Welsh language, and to understand and remove barriers that exist from time to time, in order to ensure that the generally positive pattern continues.

And of course, this is equally important in making people who come into contact with the Senedd feel comfortable in using Welsh—witnesses in committees and so forth. I've previously mentioned that I believe that working online as a result of the pandemic has removed some of those barriers, in some ways, that translation happens naturally and flows better in some ways, without the need to put on or remove headphones. We need to learn from that, I think, for face-to-face and hybrid meetings as well.

Before I turn to the new scheme, it's worth highlighting the fact that no complaints were received this year about our bilingual services, and that there have been very few cases of failing to comply with the scheme—perhaps reflecting the fact that the principles of the scheme are embedded properly in the processes and everyday work of the organisation. Of course, when such cases arise, we will ensure that we take action to rectify that situation and record and share any lessons learned in order to avoid similar cases from arising in the future. And we are always learning.

I will now move on to the official languages scheme for the sixth Senedd. Those who are familiar with the official languages scheme for the fifth Senedd will immediately see that we have made a relatively significant change to the format of the scheme for the sixth Senedd. This is in response to comments made by Members and staff regarding the length of the document, possibly, and from time to time what was seen perhaps as the vague nature of some elements of the service standards. In drafting the scheme for the sixth Senedd, therefore, there was a deliberate attempt made to shorten the narrative and to draw up more specific service standards and to make them as clear as possible. It is our hope that this will create a document that is more relevant and easier to use for all our stakeholders.

We have also combined the language skills strategy, which was previously a separate document, with the scheme itself. In discussions with stakeholders and users over the period of the fifth Senedd, there was a feeling that the strategy was an integral part of the official languages scheme and that it would therefore be more sensible to combine the two documents into one. We'll see whether you agree with that. This will not only ensure, I think, that we bear the requirements of the strategy in mind when developing and providing bilingual services in the future, but it will also make it easier for Members to hold us to account on the content during these annual debates, and that's very important, of course.

In accordance with the requirements of the Act, the scheme for the sixth Senedd also identifies those areas of work that the Senedd Commission will focus on over the period of the sixth Senedd, and will do so in the form of themes. These themes include objectives that will inform our work and that will ensure that we continue to provide a first-class bilingual service. We are trying to improve and strengthen services all the time. For example, we will review the recruitment systems in terms of language skills requirements that were implemented in the fifth Senedd. In truth, our feeling is that refining and maintaining our standards is the main purpose of the themes, so as to ensure that we maintain our reputation as a truly bilingual organisation that is leading the way in this field. We are always looking, of course, for opportunities to learn from others, but we are very eager to share our experiences and expertise, too.

Having now familiarised ourselves with the new normal following the pandemic, we will also, as I mentioned earlier, introduce a theme that will identify how we will learn from our experiences during the pandemic, specifically in terms of the use of our official languages during proceedings, but also more generally in terms of the challenges and opportunities that have arisen in terms of providing bilingual services.

As you know, before a new official languages scheme can be introduced, the Senedd Commission is required to consult on the content and consider any comments received. That consultation was undertaken in many forms, including face-to-face and online discussions, the submission of comments in electronic form, and formal consultation on our website, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped us through that process to draw up the scheme in its current form. Every comment was valuable and useful. I would like to give special thanks to the Members and their support staff for their time and comments, and also to the culture committee for taking the time to consider a draft of the scheme. We also received comments from external organisations, and had input from the trade union side and from staff at the Senedd Commission. And of course I’m extremely grateful to the team that pulled it all together.

In closing for the time being, I would like to echo what I said in the preface to the new scheme, namely that we as a Senedd serve a diverse nation, a nation that comprises a full range of linguistic ability, a nation that is multicultural. The people of Wales expect us to set the highest possible standards across all of our services, and let me say this: the Welsh Parliament is an institution for all, and the Welsh language is a language for all, and this scheme, I'm confident, sets a framework for providing bilingual services that support everyone, that encourage them to express their identity, and to make use of their language skills regardless of the level of those skills. I'm looking forward to the contributions. Thank you very much.

The Deputy Presiding Officer (David Rees) took the Chair.

Thank you to the Llywydd for introducing this item, and for the important work that she does in promoting the use of the language in this Chamber and across the Senedd estate. And thank you to the Member for Anglesey for opening the debate. It's important that we lead by example here in the Senedd, not only in delivering the ambitious targets of 'Cymraeg 2050', which we will receive an update on next week, but also to play our part in safeguarding the Welsh language for generations to come.

This sixth Senedd has witnessed two important days in the modern history of the Welsh language. Last October, there was the royal opening, the final visit of Queen Elizabeth. As the report notes, bilingualism was an integral part of that event, with contributions and performances making use of both official languages as part of those celebrations. The second also happened to be a royal visit, when the new King visited the Senedd earlier this month to receive our motion of condolence. We heard our King speak to this Chamber in Welsh—a truly bilingual address. This was a historic event, which shows how far the Welsh language has come. It will also give inspiration to many of our constituents.

I'm pleased to be part of a Senedd that is a strong example of a bilingual workplace that is open and supportive, and nurtures development and the use of the Welsh language at the same level as English. The figures are available to demonstrate how the use of the Welsh language has increased in official business conducted by Members of the Senedd. Fourteen per cent of oral questions were asked in Welsh or bilingually in 2021-22, up from 11 per cent in the year before COVID, which is 2018-19. During the same period, 30 per cent of contributions on the floor of the Senedd were made bilingually or in Welsh, as compared to 18 per cent in 2018-19. These are excellent developments, but there is far more still to be done.

It's worth noting that, over the same period of time, the number of written questions submitted through the medium of Welsh had fallen from 10 per cent to 4 per cent, which is a sign perhaps that people are more comfortable in using spoken Welsh rather than written Welsh—something that I personally feel. I note from the report that there are many plans in place to develop the official languages scheme further during this parliamentary term. I would encourage some focus on the written aspect as well as the spoken word, and I would be interested to hear whether there are any targets in place to measure the success of the scheme in ensuing years in this regard.

Dirprwy Lywydd, the success of this scheme is important. As the Conservative Party, the scheme has our support, and I will do everything I can to see it being successful and seeing further development of the Welsh language across the Senedd's activity and in all aspects of our work. Thank you.

Thank you very much for the scheme and for these reports. Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of singing with my choir, CF1, with another choir, for a tv show with Rhys Meirion, Canu Gyda fy Arwr, which will be broadcast early next year. It's not unusual for us to join another choir, but what was unusual in this case was that the choirs were not only singing but also using Makaton, which is a form of British Sign Language. Lleisiau Llawen, trained by Ceri and Sian, and located in Caernarfon, are a well-known choir that give very special opportunities to people with disabilities. It was a pleasure to see members of that choir expressing themselves through song, and the joy on their faces in performing was very emotional indeed. The experience reminded me and highlighted the importance of Plaid Cymru's vision to make Wales a fairer and more inclusive country, a nation where nobody is left behind—that's the Wales that I want to be part of. With that in mind, has any consideration been given to making BSL an official language within the Senedd? If you can't give us that commitment today, what further measures can be taken in order to promote BSL and to encourage people to use it on a daily basis to improve their ability to engage with the Senedd? Thank you.  

I call on Rhun ap Iorwerth to reply to the debate. 

Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I thank both contributors for their contributions—Sam Kurtz and Peredur Owen Griffiths. Just a few comments from me, therefore, to respond. I thank Sam. Yes, it is important that we do as an organisation show leadership. Certainly, we want to show here, don't we, how naturally bilingualism can operate in one of the most formal situations you can have, in a way. But the element that the Member referred to in terms of oral Welsh is something that I'm very eager to celebrate. In terms of being fluent, people's use of the language varies from one person to another, and we need to support and celebrate the ways in which people use the language. 

In terms of measuring success, as I mentioned, there are ways in which we can gather data—as bare as in terms of how Welsh is used in terms of activities of the Senedd. But there is more than that to this issue. We don't just count the number of words; that's not the measure of how naturally bilingualism happens. I think it happens in feedback all the time. I want Members to feel that they can speak to me as as a commissioner—and I'm sure I can speak on behalf of the Presiding Officer and the Deputy Presiding Officer—so that there is a feeling of being able to share our ideas and our concerns about how to expand bilingualism here. 

To Peredur Owen Griffiths, thank you for sharing that experience of singing with choir, and referring to the principles of inclusivity and fairness, which are so important to us. Those are values or principles that can be applied to the use of language as well. It's difficult for me to give that commitment that you suggested in terms of creating official language status, but what I will say about BSL is that the Senedd is very eager to work with partners to ensure that as much use as possible is made of BSL, and, certainly, that when people are engaged with the Senedd, in different formal situations, for example job applications and so forth, that inclusivity is shown towards people who do use BSL. Our provision is far from being perfect here as an organisation, but, of course, we're very eager to learn and improve all the time. 

So, thank you for the time to be able to discuss these two reports today. The fact that we can discuss reports in this way shows how normalised and natural and comfortable bilingualism is here in the Senedd. There is room for improvement, and there is room for us to pass our expertise on to others, but don't wait until formal consultations to discuss with the Commission your ideas in terms of the use of language. Our door as a Commission is always open. 

The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? I see no objections. The motion is therefore agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36. 

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.