WRITTEN STATEMENT
BY
THE WELSH GOVERNMENT
TITLE
Programme to promote the use of the Welsh language
DATE
6 April 2017
BY
Alun Davies AM, Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh
Language
I wish to inform Members how the Welsh Government will invest £2 million over the course
of 2017-18 to support a national programme to promote and facilitate the use of the Welsh
language. This forms part of our additional £5 million which we have invested in the Welsh
language for 2017-18 to help us work towards our vision of a million Welsh speakers by
2050.
Promoting and facilitating the use of the Welsh language are key elements to our efforts to
realise our vision. I am keen that we, as a Government, give more attention to promoting
and facilitating the use of Welsh across our communities and workplaces, both in formal and
informal settings.
As part of our new programme, we will focus on:
 Establishing a Contact Point which will help both individuals and bodies to access
relevant information on the Welsh language, including short translations for small
businesses and others.
 Creating and expanding national promotion campaigns to encourage the use of
Welsh in specific areas such as the private sector, working with parents to encourage
them to send their children to Welsh-medium schools, encouraging people to access
services in Welsh, and promoting the use of Welsh amongst young people,
especially in the workplace and sports.
 Coordinating and commissioning practical support to facilitate the use of the
Welsh language amongst small businesses
 Increase cooperation between staff who work in the language planning field in
order to strengthen networks and share expertise
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I will establish a Task and Finish Group to advise us on the work of the programme to
support the use of the Welsh language. I am happy to announce that Rhian Huws Williams
will chair the group. Rhian has significant experience of promoting the importance of using
the Welsh language – recently, she chaired a group that developed our Welsh language
strategy in the health sector – More than Just Words, on behalf of the Health Minister, and
I’m confident that her support, and that of the other members of the Group, will be
invaluable to us in moving the agenda forward. I will announce the names of the other
members of the Group in the coming weeks.
One of the themes which was raised during our consultation on a new strategy for the
Welsh language was the need for increased awareness amongst individuals concerning
who to turn to for advice and guidance in terms of how to promote the use of the Welsh
language. This is a matter the White Paper on amending the Welsh Language Measure will
consider when it is published in the summer. We will give further consideration to the most
appropriate structures for the future in order to create an appropriate balance in the
relationship between promoting and facilitating on the one hand, and regulation on the
other.
This investment is an opportunity for us to enhance the work which is already ongoing, and
to enable us to experiment and innovate with new methods. The work will be led and
delivered by the Government in cooperation with our partners, and we will work closely with
the Welsh Language Commissioner to deliver the Project’s priorities.
I would also like to note that the work of drafting our long term strategy to realise our vision
is ongoing and our intention is to publish it in the summer. In the meantime, our current
strategy: A living language: a language for living and the current action plan will continue to
be operational.
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