Ms Meri Huws:

I note that head 7, which details the proposed section 14, refers to moving the duration of schemes from three years to seven. If I, as Welsh language commissioner, were confronted with the same proposal in Wales, I would be very concerned by the inflexibility it might introduce into the situation. When it comes to public sector organisations, change is constant. My concern is that a seven-year scheme would not be sufficiently flexible. Reference was made to there being opportunities to call in the schemes and ask that they be amended, but that would have to be exceptional. I would be very concerned if it were a statutory requirement that organisations move from three to seven years. There may be a happy medium in five years, but seven seems like a very long period of time in the State sector.