4. Statement by the Minister for Education and Welsh Language: Welsh Language Community Housing

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:44 pm on 11 October 2022.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 3:44, 11 October 2022

Well, can I just firstly say that I thought very much that the Member's contribution started off better than it ended? I congratulate her on her use of Welsh in the Chamber, and encourage much more of that.

So, she made a number of wide-ranging points, some of which were germane to the statement, some of which were in relation to other areas. I think it's really important that we establish from the start that there is no tension between welcoming people into our communities and the success of the Welsh language. We see every day people from all parts of the world who've chosen to come to live here in Wales and we open our arms to them learning Welsh. I think that's really to be celebrated. It's a really fantastic thing to see. We've seen Ukrainian children learning Welsh. We see it with people coming from other parts of the UK and further afield. 

The role of the llysgenhadon diwylliannol is really important in this, in bringing people into the community, explaining the cultural context of the place that they've chosen to live. I think that's a really important part of creating that welcoming environment. I detect in the Member's question signs of having read the speech I gave at the Eisteddfod, so I'll thank her for the implicit compliment in that, but she's right to say that the headline numbers aren't sufficient if people aren't using the language every day. That's why we absolutely want to see local economies that are flourishing. I hear the point that she's made consistently about the threshold for self-catering accommodation. We need to make sure that property in that part of the sector is being used productively for the economy. We don't want to see those properties being empty for a long time and detracting from the ability of the community to flourish economically, socially and from a linguistic point of view. 

She is making many of the points in relation to employment opportunities in parts of Wales that I was making in the last Senedd when I was the Brexit Minister. I'm glad to see that she's finally realised the consequence of some of the decisions that she was happy to support at the tail end of the last Senedd. I think it's very welcome to see that Damascene conversion, which today's contribution was evidence of. I do also genuinely welcome the support that she gives for an ambitious approach in relation to place names. I do recognise that's probably in tension with her other commitment to the free market, so I think it's particularly significant that she sees that as part of the solution.

What I will say, though, in seriousness, in closing in response to her points, is that we have ambitious targets to build 20,000 social homes for rent, but she will know that the consequences of the economic collapse of the last 10 days has been to push up interest rates very considerably, and that will put incredible pressure on our Government's house-building targets and the targets of every other Government in the UK in that space as well. That's why it's so important that UK Government economic policy is set with these broader social objectives in mind. I share with her the ambition to make sure that we build plenty of homes in Wales for people to be able to live in them affordably, but the actions of her colleagues in Westminster are actually making that harder rather than easier.