While the director of BT in Wales is giving evidence to the Legislation Committee in the Assembly, at 9am on Tuesday March 31st, Cymdeithas yr Iaith (The Welsh Language Society) will be demonstrating outside the Senedd Building emphasising that the current language legislation is not satisfactory (as BT claim) and calling for a broad Legislative Competence Order (LCO). Cymdeithas yr Iaith will accuse BT and politicians who argue against a broad Welsh language LCO of blocking the way to the Welsh language.It came to Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg's attention recently, that BT charge more to customers in Wales who choose a Welsh language service from the telecommunication giant. Bethan Williams, Chair of Cymdeithas' Welsh Language Act Group, said:"BT is encouraging customers to receive their bills on-line, which is to be praised as this is more environmentally friendly. But if customers want to receive their bills in Welsh, they must receive them on paper for an extra cost of £1.23 a month, because BT doesn't offer an on-line Welsh language service. Another example is the 1571 answer phone service, which is free in English, but if you want to record the message in Welsh, you must pay £1.47 for this service. For the most basic services in the Welsh language, the customer is punished by a total of £32.40 extra per year by BT."

BT will be giving evidence to the Legislation Committee, calling for the powers over the Welsh language transferred to the Assembly to be limited even more and not to include the telecommunication sector, and stick to the voluntary approach as present. Bethan Williams added:"Ann Beynon (BT Director in Wales) and the CBI boast that BT provides Welsh language services of an equal standard to the English language services available, and they complain that customers don't use these services. The truth is that the services available in Welsh are extremely limited, takes a huge amount of effort to access on the part of the customer and cost more. This reinforces the need for a broad Legislative Competence Order (LCO) including every sector, which will enable the Assembly to create a measure that gives the people of Wales the right to receive a quality Welsh language service."Daily Post ArticleDaily Post EditorialWestern Mail Article