Almost half of Welsh councils don't teach swimming in the Welsh language, even in places where large numbers of children receive Welsh-medium education, according to figures released by Welsh language campaigners today (Thursday 29th April).In Carmarthenshire, the local authority admitted that less than one per cent of its swimming lessons - 10 out of 6,200 - were taught in Welsh in Rhydaman swimming pool last year, although 62% of the town's population and 50% of the county speak the language. In Powys, less than two per cent of lessons were in Welsh, in a county where over 20% speak it. One child in four is education through the medium of Welsh across the country.Figures collated by language campaigning body Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (The Welsh Language Society) show that nine local authorities in Wales , including Cardiff Council, provide swiming lessons in English-onlyand six fail to keep records of whether lessons are provided in Welsh or not.

Commenting on the news, Menna Machreth, Chair of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg said:'It doesn't make sense that there are so few opportunities for children to use Welsh outside of school. Provision is very poor even in counties where a lot o children receive Welsh medium schooling. According to specialists, opportunities for children to see and hear Welsh outside school are a very important to help increase use of the language. So failing to offer swimming lessons is damaging Welsh. The message we're giving to our children once again is that Welsh is something only for the classroom."The failure of the Language Board and government policy shows that strategies alone can't increase the use of the language. People, and especially children, need rights and the confidence that brings, without that people's expectations of the level of Welsh language services will be very low because wider society teaches children that Welsh is a peripheral language and English is the only relevant one. The figures about Rhydaman pool are very surprising; so many people speak Welsh in the area. The whole situation is astonishing.""Welsh goverment officials recently confirmed that plans for new language legislation won't mean local authorities have to provide more out of school classes for children. It begs the question: what is the law's value if it can't offer something as basic as that for children?"