Mr. Aled Roberts:

It might be worthwhile to put the committee in contact with the Senedd Commission in Cardiff because it faces the exact same issues. As I mentioned, the percentage of Welsh spoken has been reducing but, as I said, I believe this was due to the reduction in those who spoke Welsh as a first language during the term of the last Senedd. Clearly, we face the same issues with regard to Senedd members wanting to make a point in English to get exposure in the English-medium channels in addition to the Welsh-medium channels. There is an action plan in place. One of the difficulties faced by Senedd members is that it may be the case that their staff in Cardiff do not speak Welsh. That means a lot of the research, speech writing and so on is undertaken in English. It is therefore the responsibility of the Senedd members themselves to ensure they are able to make their speeches in Welsh. There are practical issues, which the Senedd is tackling.

We have also had discussions with the government with regard to the amount of background information that is available in both languages.

Members of committees, for example, do not have to translate documentation themselves. It is now expected that all committee papers will be available in both languages. If I were to present evidence in both languages, that would be sent out to all committee members within scope. I am more than happy to share good practice within the Senedd with the committee but I do not want to create the impression it is all sweetness and light. We have a job of work to do. The fact the First Minister and the ministers for education and health all speak Welsh as their first language has ensured much more exposure to the language within the current Senedd than there was previously.

We do not have prior sight of language impact assessments. That is a live issue between ourselves and the government. We have policy standards and it would be worth it for the committee to look at these. The policy standards require all public bodies subject to the standards to carry out full assessments of the impact of any policy decision on the language. This year, we were involved in an action that went all the way to the Court of Appeal in London. We were of the opinion that a language assessment was not sufficient for proper consideration of a policy. As a result, we have issued new guidance to public bodies that are subject to the standards with regard to what we expect to see within a language assessment if it is to make a proper job of work of it as far as Welsh is concerned.

We do have the power to enforce a civil penalty on a public body. This has not been used since the standards were imposed. Although it is something I would always keep in my armoury, the real purpose of enforcement, to my mind, is to bring about a change of behaviour as far as the public body is concerned. Where civil penalties are imposed, for example, in areas related to the environment or some economic measures, these penalties will only actually bring about a change in the public body's behaviour if they are enough to cause that body some discomfort financially. My problem is that the maximum civil penalty I can impose is £5,000. We have to use this power sparingly and ensure its use is proportionate. Some of the other enforcement measures that are within my power bring about that change of behaviour much more rapidly than a civil penalty would. If I was trying to get the chief executive of a local authority to introduce something that would cost a given figure, if the embarrassment of being in breach of the language standards and of being the subject of an adverse report from the commissioner was not sufficient to change his or her mind, I am not sure a £5,000 civil penalty would bring about the change in attitude. It is within our powers but it is not something that has been used to date.

As far as Covid is concerned, the picture is mixed. All of the public written communication with individual householders and individuals has been fully bilingual. We are currently dealing with a complaint regarding some of the arrangements in respect of press conferences undertaken by the Welsh Government and whether the language was given equal status. We also have a problem in that some of the signage within certain vaccination centres was not bilingual and, in some instances where bilingual documentation was used, the English part was filled in by the health practitioners without asking the language choice of the patient. We have had complaints from people who are saying their vaccination cards were filled out in English even though they asked for them to be filled out in Welsh. Those are the subject of investigations.

However, I have to say the concern we had at the outset that Welsh would be put to one side because of the public health emergency was not realised to the extent we thought it would be. There was an attempt by the government and the public health authorities to ensure information was available bilingually and that proper consideration was given to the language. Even with regard to the letter from Boris Johnson in Downing Street that was addressed to everyone at the outset of the campaign, I had to have oxygen when I opened my envelope to see that the letter was in Welsh first and then in English.