5. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the progress of the Welsh language education Bill? OQ61189

The work on finishing the preparations for the Welsh language and education Bill, and the supporting documents, continues. I very much hope to introduce the Bill before the summer recess.

Thank you very much, Minister. I'm very pleased to hear that. And we've already heard this afternoon about the aim of reaching a million Welsh speakers. I'm sure we could all agree that this Bill is a crucial step towards achieving that goal, to ensure that Welsh-medium education and the Welsh language are available to all the children of Wales. I was also very pleased to hear your commitment to Siân Gwenllian that the Welsh language policy set out in the co-operation agreement continues. That agreement was a pledge to the people of Wales that we would work to ensure that the Welsh language was available to everyone and belonged to everyone.

However, once again this year we've heard about a number of difficulties that parents are having in securing Welsh-medium education for their children, and a lack of planning by local authorities. What is the Minister and Government doing to ensure that local authorities do ensure that Welsh-medium education is accessible to all the children of Wales? Thank you.

I thank Rhys ab Owen for that. And could I just mention the fact that I'm very grateful to Plaid Cymru and Cefin Campbell for the work that we've done on developing the Bill? And our intention is to continue with that work and to keep in contact on how we can proceed with that in a co-operative way, in terms of the Bill and the Act, ultimately.

The Member makes an important point in terms of planning for Welsh-medium places. The Bill deals in a broader way than just with Welsh-medium schools. We have seen, I think, progress in terms of the ambition in the Welsh in education strategic plans, and also ensuring, through the changes and reforms that we've made to the grants that go to the schools and the consortia historically—. We are combining those to ensure that they can be used in a more flexible way, in order to mitigate some of the challenges that authorities experience in terms of planning. But the Member is right to say that we need to ensure that we are providing Welsh-medium education to any child who wishes to receive that education, and that that is accessible in all parts of Wales.