, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Yes, we have committed to that, and one of the things that we will be doing—well, we are doing it currently—is looking at the data that we have. We have conducted a swift study, for example, of the WESPs, the Welsh in education strategic plans, to look at the…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Diolch yn fawr for that one. I think Jeremy said earlier on that Arfor is being looked at, but you're quite right to point out that one of the things that will make it possible for Welsh to thrive in some of these communities is that there are jobs, there are…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
—designation, diolch yn fawr—of designating areas where use of Welsh is very high, it is what comes from such a designation that protects the language in its communities and develops it there. That may affect things like planning, for example, but that's what…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
I think in this particular context of dynodi—I can't remember what dynodi is in—
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Thank you very much for the question. What we've looked at—. The first commission, which was looking at areas where there was a higher use of the Welsh language, recommended designating areas of higher density linguistic significance. We are looking at…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Thank you very much. I have had two meetings, I think, with the housing and planning Minister. We've been looking specifically at town and country planning and the recommendations in that, which, clearly, bring planning and housing into the context of Welsh…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
And perhaps it's worth noting in that regard, in terms of town and country planning, in particular, there is a definite focus on that now, and that will come with a detailed timetable for implementation.
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Thank you very much. I don't know if—. Jeremy, do you know about Arfor and the timetable?
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Right, okay.
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Recommendations from the second phase, now?
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
I think—. Not that this is a specific part of the strategy, but what I do in Cardiff is I give it a go. And it's surprising how often I can have a conversation then in Welsh.
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
I think that is a factor, but I also think that opportunities, perhaps, to use the Welsh language are where the gap is, and that people don't know—people have to seek out those opportunities. So, I think what will be interesting about the response to the…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Thank you very much. That's a very important point, because we do want everyone to be clear that access to the Welsh language for every community in Wales is the driver behind this Government's work. And whilst policy is going to be a little different—well…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Thank you very much. I know we've repeated consistently the cross-government commitment to the Welsh language. I think when the programme for government was launched, this was one of the elements that was referred to by the First Minister specifically as a…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
I can't do that today, but there will be specific actions. There will be questions arising about the consultation from other members on the panel as well. But I think that will be the development of this strategy from the previous one: there will be more…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
That is work that is proceeding. The intention was to understand better the difference between the estimates of Welsh language use from the census, the annual population survey and other statistics, and drawing all of that together. But as Jeremy said, the…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
And that is a factor, but ensuring an effective evidence baseline is the intention in all of these discussions.
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Thank you very much. It's good to know that you feel perhaps that we are in a more positive position than some of the data would suggest. That's why, I think, for those reasons, we are looking at more careful and powerful ways of identifying ability and of…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
I hope you're right.
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
We will still continue to use, I think, the census information as the baseline; that is what has fed the strategy so far. It's enriching that and allowing us to interrogate that data more thoughtfully—more intelligently, I suppose—that the code will offer us…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
You're right, there's a lot of data pertaining to the Welsh language in the system at the moment, and we have, as did the previous Government, I think, the census figures as the baseline against which we measure our progress for the million by 2050. But there…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Thank you for your question.
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Thank you.
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Diolch yn fawr. Thank you.
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Thank you very much. There are a number of elements with regard to the language in the programme for government, and a number of those have already started. So, we have achieved every one of the commitments for the 100 days and have invested significantly in…
