Written question WQ88188

During 2023-24 the Welsh Government is investing £2.5 million in the Cymraeg Gwaith programme. Cymraeg Gwaith has been managed by the National Centre for Learning Welsh since 2017; it provides Learn Welsh courses for the workplace. The provision includes online self-study taster courses, courses with tutors, and intensive residential courses.

During 2022-23, 637 employers engaged with Cymraeg Gwaith, of which 147 were new employers to the programme. 10,923 individuals have benefited from the scheme during the year. 5,748 employees followed short self-study taster courses, 1,279 accessed Learn Welsh courses which included self-study courses with tutor support. 327 employees attended intensive residential courses to increase their confidence and to increase the use of Welsh in their workplaces.

Cymraeg Gwaith also offers tailored provision designed to improve Welsh language skills within specific sectors. This includes tailored provision for employees in the higher and further education sectors, the social care sector, local authorities, and the childcare sector. The National Centre for Learning Welsh also works with employers to develop bespoke courses for their workplaces. For example, they have recently worked in partnership with the Football Association for Wales to develop tailored courses for their staff and coaches.

During 2023-24, the National Centre will be rolling out a new national Cymraeg Gwaith project for the Healthcare sector, working with Health Boards and Trusts to increase the Welsh language skills of the workforce. The initial focus will be on addressing gaps in Mwy na geiriau key priority areas and those who lack confidence in using the Welsh language with patients.

As well as increasing the use of Welsh within workplaces, Cymraeg Gwaith also allows bodies to provide better Welsh language services to their users and helps public bodies to comply with Welsh language standards.

In addition to this, 116 bodies are currently under duties to comply with Welsh language standards. Most of these bodies comply with operational standards which are designed to increase the internal use of Welsh and improve the services they provide to the public. The Welsh Language Commissioner works with bodies to increase the internal use of Welsh by offering guidance and sharing best practice.

As part of our grant to Canolfan Bedwyr, Bangor University, the Cysgliad software package (which includes a Welsh language grammar and spelling checker and thesaurus) is available to download free of charge by individuals, the third and educational sectors, and all organisations with 10 members of staff or fewer. Over 12,000 people have downloaded Cysgliad since it was made available free of charge in 2020.

It is also important to enhance the Welsh language skills of today's school pupils as they will be tomorrow's workforce. Each one of them deserves the opportunity to become a Welsh speaker. Our proposed Welsh Language Education Bill will reduce the gap in linguistic outcomes of schools to realise this ambition. We intend to establish a Welsh language skills continuum so that learners, teachers, parents and employers have a common understanding of the journey towards learning Welsh and the expected linguistic outcomes at each stage. By 2050, the goal will be for all pupils leaving statutory education, regardless of the language category of their schools, to speak Welsh confidently – having gained skills at least synonymous with level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

These policy interventions are being carried out in collaboration with Cefin Campbell MS, the Plaid Cymru designated member, as part of the Co-operation Agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru.