Amendments agreed to the Welsh Assembly Government's proposed Welsh Language Order will ensure a commonsense approach to safeguarding and promoting the Welsh language for the future, Secretary of State for Wales Peter Hain said today.
Mr Hain said: "As everyone is aware, I am a strong supporter of the Welsh language and I firmly believe that the National Assembly for Wales is the natural home to legislate in relation to the language.
"My aim is to ensure a strong and healthy future for the Welsh language, building on the solid foundations set out in the Welsh Language Act 1993 in a commonsense, evolutionary way, and ensuring that the Welsh language is a source of pride for everyone in Wales - whether or not they speak Welsh.
"Over the summer the Wales Office and Welsh Assembly Government agreed a number of changes to the proposed Legislative Competence Order (LCO) to ensure a more sustainable and commonsense approach to safeguarding and promoting the Welsh language for the future. We agreed these changes after considering the recommendations of the Welsh Affairs Committee and Assembly's Legislation Committee No 5, as well as the views of businesses and the Welsh public.
"I believe we are now striking the right balance in this LCO between the interests of those Welsh speakers who wish to conduct their day-to-day lives in the language, and the majority of people in Wales who do not speak Welsh."
Mr Hain added: "The new challenge mechanism gives strong reassurance to organisations that duties cannot be applied to them unreasonably or disproportionately. This is an especially important safeguard for smaller organisations and charities. Other modifications to the LCO make sensible changes to better define its scope and ensure that only essential sectors of business are included.
"No-one wants to see companies put off investing in Wales because of burdensome duties being imposed on business. The LCO allows the National Assembly to legislate on the language to apply solutions in a variety of circumstances - there's no 'one-size-fits-all' solution for delivering services in Welsh."
A Welsh Grand Debate on the Welsh Affairs Committee report on the Welsh Language Order will be held next Wednesday (14 October). The proposed Order is also set to be debated by all MPs on the floor of the House of Commons later in the autumn.
Notes to Editors
The UK Government and the Welsh Assembly Government have agreed changes to the Welsh Language LCO following the scrutiny of the proposed Order undertaken by the Welsh Affairs Select Committee at Westminster and a Committee of the National Assembly.
The key changes are:
- The Assembly will be able to impose duties on a body only if there is a means for that body to be able to challenge the imposition on grounds of reasonableness and proportionality. This means the reasonableness of duties will be a key consideration in developing an Assembly Measure.
- The minimum threshold for bodies receiving substantial sums of public money is increased to £400,000 a year. This higher threshold ensures key organisations of a national character, such as the National Botanic Garden, come within scope, but local voluntary, charitable and sporting bodies do not. Welsh language duties will not be placed on bodies receiving one-off grants.
- Bus services are to be brought within competence (railway services were already within scope).
- The type of bodies established by prerogative instrument (Royal Charter) which come within scope will be more clearly defined so as to leave out a long list of bodies, including the Girl Guides and Royal British Legion.
- Shops are excluded from the LCO, with the exception of certain retail services such as Post Office counter services and the sale of tickets and timetables for bus and railway services.
- Only training funded wholly or partly by public money will come within scope.
- Electricity and gas production and transmission are to be deleted from the LCO given that they have little direct interface with the public.
- Any Welsh language duties placed on broadcasters may not relate to programming or editorial freedom.
The Welsh Grand Committee will debate the LCO on 14 October. Following that debate, the Secretary of State and Welsh Assembly Government will reflect further and, subject to the Assembly's approval, will present the draft LCO to Parliament later in the autumn.
No comments:
Post a Comment