Ms Meri Huws:

Diolch yn fawr. I now understand where the "angry men" saying comes from. One of the major challenges we face is making the language relevant. In terms of education, one of the challenges in Wales, in which we have not fully succeeded, is making the language something that exists outside the classroom, so that young people can see that it is relevant to plumbing, retail, beauty, health and social care. Wherever they want to go in the world, they can take the language as a skill with them, and it is an added skill. This is being done well in Wales, particularly in third level education, although Senator D'Arcy was talking about primary education, where it is being mainstreamed into young people's real interests in life. This works.

I have seen courses in which young plumbers are being taught their skills well and are also being encouraged to talk about it, not formally but in their day-to-day Welsh language. That works.

Spin Radio was mentioned. This places the language in a context which is familiar, where they have confidence and where they see it as being cool. That goes back to an issue the Chairman raised, that of "active offer". It is something that is critical. The Chairman also talked about service delivery, which, through the medium of Welsh, is improving. However, if the public are not aware that the services are there, if they are not marketed properly, if they are not evident, or if they have to ask specially, it makes it difficult for an individual to use the service. It is case of their saying "Oh, I've got to go and ask for it as well," and then it is delivered. Therefore, active offer is critical for us, so that where services are provided and delivered, they have to be well marketed and made evident. It is not a case of being given the Welsh form if one asks for it; the Welsh form needs to be there. The Welsh language nurse or the bilingual receptionist needs to be there.

That is appropriate from the right-spaced approach, but it also means that people gain confidence and see it as something that is part of what they should expect, rather than what they need to ask for. One of the things I often hear in Wales is someone saying "I don't want to upset someone," or "I don't want to ask for the service because I may not get it." I think we have to change that mentality.

The Chairman mentioned negativity. We still have pockets of negativity. I am not painting an absolutely rosy picture. One still has angry letters in our national newspapers about the language, but that is the reality. One will always find that element of negativity. We need to normalise the Welsh language within a bilingual country.