Warning against weak Welsh Language and Education Bill

Warning against a policy of "hoping for the best" regarding the Welsh Language and Education Bill

In an oral evidence session on 26 September 2024, to the Senedd Children, Young People and Education Committee on the Welsh Government's Welsh Language and Education Bill, Cymdeithas yr Iaith warned that statutory targets for increasing Welsh education must be placed "on the face" of the legislation rather than "hoping for the best”.

Despite it being one of the objectives of the Bill that all children leave school with the ability to speak Welsh, Cymdeithas yr Iaith have warned that this will not be the outcome of the Bill in its current form.

As part of their written evidence to the Committee's consultation on the legislation, Cymdeithas yr Iaith have called for a percentage target to be set on the face of the Bill for the number of children in Welsh-medium education alongside the target to reach one million speakers by 2050, recommending that the target be set at 100%, in order to ensure that every child's right to speak Welsh confidently is realised.

Osian Rhys from Cymdeithas yr Iaith explained in the oral evidence session in the Senedd today:

"A great concern we have is that so much in the Bill depends on regulations. A great deal depends on the decisions of ministers and civil servants in the future and there is very little in the Bill that will ensure that things change compared to the current system.

“We are calling for statutory targets on the face of the Bill; the statutory basis in the Bill for creating targets as regulations is very different.

"For us, the target should be that one hundred percent of schools should teach through the medium of Welsh by 2050. The Bill does not set any target - there is no percentage, the Bill is completely vague.

"Whatever the Government's intention is, we think that needs to be clear on the face of the Bill, rather than the situation we have at the moment where there is a feeling of 'hoping for the best.' "

There was consensus among representatives from Cymdeithas yr Iaith, Dyfodol i’r Iaith and Mentrau Iaith in the evidence session that Welsh-medium education is the only way to create confident Welsh speakers, and that this is the only way to enable a child's right to the Welsh language.

Osian Rhys added:

"For us, we begin with the children. 80% of Welsh children leave school basically without being able to speak Welsh. The Government's own reports – Sioned Davies' [One Language for All] report from 2013 – have made it absolutely clear that just teaching Welsh as a subject does not create confident Welsh speakers.

"For the next few years, even the next decades, the majority of children will leave school without the ability to speak Welsh, and our analysis is that there is nothing in the Bill that is going to change that."