Item 7 this afternoon is the statement by the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language on Welsh linguistic infrastructure. I call on the Minister, Jeremy Miles.

Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. 'A good word is to be treasured as part of our heritage'. So goes the Welsh adage, and today I'm here to introduce a policy that deals with words, and how to find them in Welsh, namely our Welsh language linguistic infrastructure policy.

When we talk about linguistic infrastructure, we mean the resources that help us use Welsh from day to day—things like dictionaries, termbases, corpora, and all the research and standardisation work that enables these resources to grow and develop. We sometimes take them for granted, but they're incredibly important for people who want to use Welsh.

Like a great many of us, I sometimes use Microsoft Translator or Google Translate to quickly find a word or term in Welsh. These resources are useful in some situations, but I also know that there's a danger that the answers I get won't always be 100 per cent accurate every time. And that's the problem: we have several fantastic projects here in Wales, but people aren't always aware of them.

Work on Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru, the standard historical Welsh dictionary, commenced in 1921, for example, and it is by now the basis for all other work on Welsh words and terms. Other resources, such as Bangor University's Porth Termau, and BydTermCymru in the Welsh Government, have arisen more recently, in response to gaps in the demand for up-to-date terms. But this area of work remains reactive, with terms only commissioned if there's a great demand for them.   

The question arises, therefore: is this good enough? If it comes to light that work is being planned in a new policy area, or that a certain industry is coming to Wales and that Welsh terms will be needed for the workforce, who should be responsible for ensuring that appropriate terms are available in time? These are some of the questions we asked in our consultation on the draft version of this policy. I'd like to thank everyone who responded to that consultation. 

The main messages from the consultation: that there are several resources, but there are times when this becomes a problem, rather than making it easy; that it's not always obvious which resource is the most appropriate one, and people need to jump from one website to another to search for a word or term; or that the answer in one place is different to an answer in another place.

The proposals in the linguistic infrastructure policy address these issues, and acknowledge that someone needs to be responsible for having an overview of this important area, now and in future. We’ve already started taking some of the things in the policy forward, such as setting up a unit in the Welsh Government to co-ordinate our linguistic infrastructure, and to make the different elements work together better. We’ve also set up a Welsh language standardisation panel to begin resolving linguistic problems, focusing initially on matters of orthography.

In conjunction with Bangor University, we’ve conducted a process to standardise equality terminology in the field of race and ethnicity, which included consulting with relevant stakeholders and individuals to create a contemporary list of terms. You can see these on the Welsh Government’s website. And we’ve started planning a website for everyone who wants to use Welsh, with the aim of helping people to find the most appropriate resources for them.

The steps outlined in this new document will be essential as wider Welsh language policy continues to develop. For example, we’ve just consulted on a White Paper that included proposals that will form the basis of a programme of work that will include a Welsh education Bill. The aim of the proposals in the White Paper is improving linguistic outcomes for learners between the ages of three and 16. But, it also suggests expanding the role of the National Centre for Learning Welsh to be a specialist organisation that supports the acquisition and learning of Welsh for learners of all ages in Wales. Ensuring that dictionaries and termbases that are easy to use are available to learners of all ages, as well as teachers, school pupils and parents, is essential for the success of these proposals, and for the success of the Curriculum for Wales in its entirety.

We’ve also set up a new company called Adnodd to maintain an overview of resources for learning and teaching. It will commission appropriate resources for the Curriculum for Wales and the new qualifications. Consistent terms are needed for these education resources so that they can be published simultaneously in Welsh and English. So, the relationship between the new unit, the language technologies unit at Bangor University, which is responsible for the Termiadur Addysg project, and Adnodd will be very important. The unit will also have one additional responsibility to what was proposed in the draft policy: its officials, along with Cadw officials, will lead on our commitment to safeguard Welsh place names, which stems from our programme for government and the co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru. We’ve set out our initial steps in relation to Welsh place names in our Welsh language communities housing plan, and we will be announcing more detailed steps on the basis of research that will be completed by the end of the year.

There’s no doubt that we need to improve the way in which Welsh language infrastructure works. With this policy, we now have a solid foundation to begin co-ordinating the different elements, commissioning terminology work according to need, and ensuring that resources are marketed effectively, so that they’re easily available to all. We believe that this will make it easier for everyone to use the language confidently, whether they’re new speakers, parents of schoolchildren, people using Welsh professionally at work, or even Members of the Senedd trying to find an appropriate term at the last minute in this Chamber. If we do that properly, Dirprwy Lywydd, we’ll succeed in improving provision for everyone who wants to use Welsh.

Minister, I'm pleased to have heard this statement today, and thank you for giving us sight of it beforehand.

As we continue with our journey towards 'Cymraeg 2050', it's important that the infrastructure is in place to maintain and to take the people of Wales on that journey towards a million Welsh speakers. It's important that a portal of resources is available to help reach the targets of 'Cymraeg 2050', and it's important that this is accessible to everyone across Wales, be they at the beginning of their language journey or long into that journey. I'm pleased to see from the launch of the policy today that we need to bring all of the different resources together in a way that everyone can use easily, wherever they may be on their journey with the Welsh language, be they new speakers, children and their parents, students or people who use the Welsh language in the workplace.

In a statement back in December 2018, the Minister for the Welsh language at the time outlined how the Welsh Government is supporting a number of organisations that form a large part of the Welsh linguistic infrastructure. I acknowledge the importance of today's statement in bringing these resources together in a more co-ordinated and simpler way. I was very interested in noting the responses to the 2021 consultation on the national policy on Welsh linguistic infrastructure. There was support for the Welsh Government's approach in dealing with this, but respondents emphasised the need to ensure that resources are available to learners, as well as providing information about colloquial terms in order to reflect the different kinds of Welsh used in different parts of Wales. Minister, your statement mentions Welsh language standards and the importance of seeing more consistency in the way that words are spelt. Whilst I acknowledge the importance of standardising language, it's also crucial that the regional variations that exist, between the Welsh of Pembrokeshire—'gwlad y wes, wes', as it's called—and the Welsh spoken in other parts of the country, continue to exist. They add to the colour and vibrancy of our language and culture. Minister, I would also be eager to understand how the value of the new infrastructure will be assessed and what KPIs can be put in place in order to ensure that it provides value for money and is successful.

Finally, Minister, creating such an infrastructure loses some of its efficacy if there isn't adequate support available for teachers, who intend to teach some of the curriculum in Welsh. This is a problem that isn't specific to today's statement but is one that concerns me. How will today's statement help our teachers specifically? Like you, Minister, I will often use Google Translate to help me find a Welsh word that wasn't on the tip of my tongue or has slipped my mind. Before doing any interview on Radio Cymru, I write a crib sheet, with key terms in Welsh and English, to help me find that Welsh word when I'm under pressure. A go-to central resource will be very useful, and I think that this is an important step by the Government, and I welcome it. Thank you.

I thank Sam Kurtz for those supportive comments and the questions that he asked. It's very important, isn't it, that we do ensure that we maintain the variations in terms of dialects that we use across Wales. I was down his part of the world recently, hearing people say 'wes' and opening the 'iet', and it's very nice to hear those variations around Wales. But, along with that work, standardisation is very important as well. So, that's the contribution that this work is going to make, ensuring accessibility for all, to see what the right term is, or the new term, perhaps, for some things. When it comes to his checklist, or whatever the word he used—'cheat sheet' or whatever—

Crib sheet.

Crib sheet—thank you. I don't know what the Welsh word for 'crib sheet' is, but when he's compiling that next time, he will have a more convenient resource for doing that.

In terms of how will we know whether this succeeds, I think it's clear from the consultation, and the vast majority of the responses agreed with us, that we needed to do this and that the demand was there to ensure that this happened. So, there is a community of people involved very deeply in this area, ensuring that we are continuing to innovate and continuing to ensure that the language reflects new development, be they social, economic and so on. So, certainly, we will want to ensure, over the long term, that we continue with those discussions, and also find ways in which people can respond to the content that we produce. We will want to see how popular the use of the website is, for example, as that provide a good indication of how appropriate the provision is. So, those things will be in place.

And the final point that the Member made was regarding what the value is in a school. Well, as well as all the other things that I've just mentioned—namely ensuring that the lexicon is available for all sorts of uses in schools—the contribution of Adnodd, the new company that we've just established, will be a very important part of the broader content. One important element of the work of Adnodd is to ensure that resources are available for teaching the new curriculum, and that they're available in a standardised way, in both languages, simultaneously. That bilingual element, publishing bilingually, is very important. And, of course, we know that there are gaps in the provision at present, and the work that we've been doing in order to establish Adnodd shows that there's more that we can do to co-ordinate the work that's already happening in various bodies, including the Welsh Government. So, it's early days in that regard—the company has just been established, and they're recruiting the operational team at present, but, when that team is in place, I'm confident that rapid progress will be able to take place.

Thank you, Minister, for today's statement, and I'd also like to echo my thanks for having early sight of the statement. If you will forgive me, I'm going to start by talking about a personal connection to your statement. You referred to the fact that work on the University of Wales dictionary had commenced in 1921. Many people were involved in this ambitious and important project, but the first to have a leadership role was the Reverend John Bodfan Anwyl, brother of Sir Edward Anwyl. Before that, Bodfan was responsible for the sixth edition of the Spurrell Welsh-English dictionary, published in 1914, and the seventh edition of the English-Welsh dictionary, published in 1916. The reason why this is of interest to me is that my mother's surname is Anwyl, and that I, according to my family tree, am related to both. What I didn't know until very recently was that they both had lived in Pontypridd, and indeed lived in Pontypridd while working on these dictionaries, just a few streets from where I live now. It’s a small world indeed. But because of the family connection, we have several old dictionaries in our possession as a family, and it is interesting in the context of today's statement to reflect on the words of Sir Edward Anwyl in the preface to one of them, where he explains why some words are included and some are not:

'On the one hand it was necessary to eliminate from the dictionary all those words whose existence is only lexicographical, while, on the other hand, it was found necessary to include many words, both ancient and modern, which have from their actual use a true place in the Welsh tongue.'

He goes on to say:

'it was regarded as most important that the Dictionary should remain a convenient and portable volume'.

Well, what would Bodfan and Edward make of the fact that we are talking today about expanding what will be available through devices as small as this? Without doubt, we as a party will support today continued investment in the development of resources that help the use of the Welsh language on a day-to-day basis, in a way that is easy for everyone to use.

You referred to the fact that you want to establish a unit to lead on this. I'd like to ask how you'll ensure that this work reinforces and collaborates with work that is already in train in this area, such as through our universities—you mentioned Bangor University; obviously, Canolfan Bedwyr is crucial in terms of this work—and also, of course, the Welsh Language Commissioner's office, to avoid any duplication in terms of this work.

I'm sure it won't be a shock to you, Minister, as this emerges from the co-operation agreement, that we also welcome the fact that detailed work is taking place in terms of Welsh place names. Our hope is that the culmination of this work will be the introduction of legislation in this area, and it is good to see that consideration is being given to that. It is clear from the fact that many people regularly contact us as Senedd Members that there is a need to legislate in this area if we want to ensure the continuation of Welsh as a visible language in our communities too, as well as being a living language, as is mentioned in 'Cymraeg 2050'.

In your foreword to the policy, you refer to the use of Welsh-only place names by Eryri and Bannau Brycheiniog national parks as a positive statement. We should be taking every opportunity to normalise the use of the Welsh language, and take pride in keeping Welsh place names alive. It has been disappointing to see some reacting so angrily to these changes. Can I ask, therefore, will this work support and encourage other public bodies to follow these examples, and, if so, how?

And finally, Minister, may I ask, in terms of infrastructure, what work is being done to ensure that technology such as Siri and Alexa is also available in Welsh? It is now six years since Llyr Gruffydd spoke to Siri in Welsh in this Chamber and Siri was unable to answer him, or gave very strange responses, according to the record. Alun Davies at the time was Minister and he responded how important it was that we do see these developments. [Interruption.] Yes, he was a Minister, if people weren't aware of that. Can I ask, therefore, is there work in progress in this area? [Interruption.] I apologise—I was responding to the heckling. Is there work going on in this area so that we can see developments? Alun Davies and Llyr were saying back then that we should have these devices in our homes—yes, six years ago—that can communicate in Welsh. 

I thank the Member for the history lesson at the outset, and the questions. The fact that the subject of this statement can inspire that kind of historical tour de force shows how important Welsh language infrastructure policy can be. 

In terms of the questions that the Member asked, asking the unit to lead on the work for the Government in terms of place names is important in terms of co-ordinating the work that's happening in that area. But as the Member knows, there's a range of things happening, including a significant piece of research in terms of geographical names, and that's an important element of understanding what we need in terms of legislating and which approaches would be needed in that broader context. I haven't provided too much detail on that work regarding place names in this statement, given that the emphasis of the statement is infrastructure policy, but we'll have to look at that research before we consider the options and whether we need to legislate. In the meantime, Welsh Government officials are meeting regularly with officials in Môn, Gwynedd, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire to discuss best practice and common challenges that they come across specifically, in order to feed in to the broader understanding of that subject. 

In terms of the relationship between the work of the unit and other bodies, and the work of the various organisations that I mentioned in the statement today, I don't think that, for example, including place names within the remit of the unit will affect the work of the commissioner; the Member asked about that. The commissioner, as the Member understands, has a leadership role in terms of standardisation of place names—towns, villages and cities—and my officials have ongoing discussions with the commissioner about that. The commissioner had a copy of the policy before we published it, and has been part of the discussions regarding the infrastructure policy in its entirety. So, that relationship is working well. And the same person chairs, for example, the Welsh language standardisation panel and the commissioner's standardisation panel for place names, so it will be easy to communicate between those bodies to ensure that there is no duplication in the same area. So, that has been worked through as part of the planning.   

I think that the developments in Bannau Brycheiniog and Eryri have been very encouraging, and it's great to see that happening. I know that people have been critical, including some who have stated their pride in the Welsh language in this Chamber. At the end of the day, we have to act on these issues, rather than just make statements. 'Bannau Brycheiniog' has been a Welsh name for a very long time, and I think use of it can be an attraction for people. People come to Wales not just for the beauty of its landscape, but also the beauty of our language and culture, and that's a very good way of reminding people of the fact that that is part of the unique offer that we have. 

Regarding the important final question that the Member asked about technology, developments are happening consistently in this area. We've been working with Microsoft in the context of Teams, and I went to Bangor recently to look at developments that are being funded by us as a Government to tackle voice recognition, and how that works with ChatGPT, for example, to create a system that can respond online to oral questions, and that can provide answers in text form. So, there are a lot of innovations happening in this area, and it wold be great in due course to see that being available as an offer in the broader market, as it were. 

And finally, Alun Davies. 

Thank you very much, Dirprwy Lywydd. I welcome the statement and I'm pleased to hear the Minister making a clear statement, although I do have to admit I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I saw that there was to be a statement on Welsh linguistic infrastructure; I didn't know what that meant when the Minister stood up. But I do welcome what we've heard.

I'm also very pleased to hear what he says about technology, and the place of the Welsh language in our day-to-day tech. I see a member of the culture committee just over there, and I do think that we as a committee have to consider what the Government is doing in this area, because at the moment the Government is moving forward with this work and I'm not sure that we as a Senedd quite understand the Government's direction of travel. I do think that we as a committee and as a Senedd should better understand that.

I'd like to ask the Minister—. I saw pictures of him on social media during his visit to Bangor. He seemed to be enjoying the visit, but what have you learnt, Minister, and what is the vision? What's the timetable? What's the strategy for this work? What will we see in two years' time, in five years' time? How is this going to encourage us to get to that million Welsh speakers? And what are you doing as a Government to talk to the global corporations like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and others in order to ensure that there is a space for the Welsh language in what they produce in terms of their hardware and software? Because I do think that this work is extremely important, and I think that as a Senedd, and as a Government, we should consider what we can do together to ensure that there is space for the Welsh language in all of these new technologies. On occasion, I have to admit, I don't understand.

I would welcome that opportunity, if the committee did wish to look more deeply into this. It would be a great opportunity to have a broader discussion, as the Member and former Minister is asking for. [Interruption.] Yes, there’s more than one former Minister for the Welsh language here.

But the point that the Member makes is very important in terms of ensuring that the Welsh language is part of the contemporary world and social media, and also devices and other provision. So I think that the work that we’ve done with Microsoft shows the kind of ambition that we have. It’s the first time, for example, for them to be open to create bilingual provision where it’s possible to provide simultaneous interpretation. So, the work that we’ve done with them in that regard ensures that the offer on Teams has been transformed internationally. So that’s the kind of ambition that we have, and the work that I saw in Bangor does offer that kind of innovation so that it’s possible to use that technology in all kinds of interaction with technology.

At the end of the day, the contribution that this can make to the million Welsh speakers is the fundamental question of use. That is, creating Welsh speakers on its own isn’t enough. We need to ensure that young people in our schools, but also adults, see that the Welsh language is relevant in all parts of life. Ensuring progress in technology is vital to that.

I thank the Minister.