Call for appointment of a new Welsh Language Commissioner

Call for urgent appointment of a new Welsh Language Commissioner with a deep commitment to language rights

Cymdeithas yr Iaith has called for the urgent appointment of a new, permanent, Welsh Language Commissioner with a track record of taking action to defend language rights, following the resignation of the current postholder.

In August this year, the campaign group voiced serious concerns about the Commissioner’s failures to regulate properly, pointing to the lowest number of complaint investigations on record, concerns about the relocation of the Commissioner’s office to the Welsh Government’s headquarters, and the weakening of a range of language rights policies.

Welcoming the appointment of Lowri Williams as Deputy Commissioner and wishing her well, Cymdeithas yr Iaith is calling for a swift appointment of a permanent Commissioner who will take forward the role’s core function of regulation by expanding and strengthening Welsh language standards, holding public bodies and companies to account for their shortcomings, and re-establishing the Commissioner’s independence.

Heledd Gwyndaf, Chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith’s Language Rights Group, said:

“Having an effective regulator with a deep commitment to language rights is essential. Cymdeithas yr Iaith has long expressed concern about the weakening and devaluing of the Commissioner’s important regulatory role.

“What we have seen is the erosion of the office’s independence and its transformation into a body that promotes the Welsh language through soft approaches, siding with institutions while becoming increasingly dismissive of ordinary people’s experiences and the barriers citizens still face when trying to live their lives through Welsh.

“The new Welsh Government has been elected on ambitious promises to expand and strengthen rights, including extending them to banks, supermarkets and private car parks. We must have a Commissioner who is prepared to return the organisation to its core function of standing up for Welsh-language rights.

“To turn the tide in favour of our language rights, the next Commissioner must start with a clean slate by committing to abandon the failed experiment of co-regulation. That work should begin immediately under the new leadership of Lowri Williams as Deputy Commissioner. We need the appointment of a permanent Commissioner that will restore confidence in the role as a serious, independent regulator - someone with the determination and commitment to exercise the full force of the law for the benefit of the Welsh language.”