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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:52 pm on 11 October 2022.

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Photo of Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles Labour 3:52, 11 October 2022

(Translated)

Thank you for those further questions. If I could begin on the issue of funding, I haven't outlined all funding sources related to the work that we're dealing with today. We have provided funding to Cwmpas to support co-operative enterprises and housing so that we can bring in the experience of co-operatives such as PLANED, Partneriaeth Ogwen and Cwmni Bro Ffestiniog. There's a lot of that that has been funded through the programme that Cwmpas is working with us on at the moment. 

I agree entirely with what the Member said; the Welsh language belongs to everyone. One of the exciting elements in the work of the new commission, I think, will be to look at the position of the Welsh language in all parts of Wales, and that will help us to understand the economic and social impact on the language. That will help us to draw up policies that will be applicable in all parts of Wales in due time. This will happen as part of the work of the commission. One of the elements currently under consideration is this concept of areas of linguistic sensitivity, where there is a possibility that education policy, planning policy and other areas may have an impact on the Welsh language in that community. The work of the commission will be very important in creating an evidence base for that, and that will work in different ways in the Welsh-speaking heartlands on the one hand, as compared to other areas of Wales on the other. So, that's part of the work of the commission in the medium term, too.

We await the census results, as the Member said. I don't know what they will be at the moment. What we've endeavoured to do in this and with the other steps that we've taken in terms of our response to the challenge of second homes—and, by the way, in the context of education policy in relation to the Welsh language—is that we are as ambitious as we can be. We don't know what the census results will be; we will know by the end of the year, hopefully. Whatever they are, we have more work to do, and that's the intention here—to be as ambitious as possible. The steps we've taken here, in planning, and in taxation, have been major steps forward, as the Member acknowledged in his contribution. But, we will look again at the trajectory when we get the census results to see if it's applicable for the next five or 10 years. So, we'll have an opportunity to review the trajectory to 2050 in that context.

In terms of the fair chance scheme, the question of what's devolved and what's not devolved is pertinent in terms of our ability as a Government to tackle this, but we are looking at one legal element, namely what more can sellers do in terms of covenants on their properties. So, that work will be ongoing, and there's a legal element to that, which will perhaps offer some kind of opportunity.

In a similar vein, he asked about the legislative basis for the work on place names. I'm not putting to one side the possibility of doing something legislative, but the legislative programme for this Senedd is very full indeed. We wouldn't yet know what we'd need that legislation to do. The situation is different in terms of place names, the names of houses, and business names, and that's quite a complex area in terms of powers and in terms of what happens on the ground. But the purpose of looking at the evidence base and commissioning that research is that we can see exactly where we need legislation to achieve our objectives, and what we can do without legislation. We don't yet know the answers to those questions.