National Assembly for Wales should have broad powers to legislate on Welsh Language

An Assembly Committee Report, published today, states that the broadest scope of legislative power possible over the Welsh Language should be conferred on the National Assembly for Wales.

Members of Legislation Committee No.5 who have been considering the Welsh Government’s bid for legislative powers in this field, believe that the National Assembly should have the right to legislate in this field.

“We agree with the many individuals and organisations who support the transfer of legislative competence, that the Welsh language is an issue which relates uniquely to the Welsh nation and it is logical therefore that the National Assembly for Wales has the right to legislate on this matter,” said committee chair, Mark Isherwood AM

“What we are recommending is that the Assembly should have broad powers over the Welsh language, which avoids getting tangled up in the detail of who may or may not be subject to future legislation at this point. We believe that we can have a far better informed debate when the proposed Measures are brought forward.

“The Minister stated that it is not his intention to impose duties on small businesses and that the majority of businesses in Wales will not be affected.”

In its recommendations, the Committee took account of the concerns highlighted in the oral and written evidence received from witnesses in the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Members believe that this stems from the detailed nature of the proposed Order, and the inevitable lack of clarity, at this stage in the legislative process. Consideration of the potential implications for them of subsequent Measures which would follow the Order will be a matter for the Assembly to consider and scrutinise at the Measure stage.

The Committee agreed that if the Minister is unable to accept the Committee’s main recommendation that the Assembly should receive the broad scope of legislative power over the Welsh language, then Members would want him to amend the proposed Order to specify which additional bodies or organisations should fall within the scope of the Assembly’s legislative competence on the language.

These recommendations would include expanding the scope of the Order to include:

• partnership bodies providing services to the public;

• transport services including rail, bus, air travel and sea;

• large financial institutions, including banks.

The Committee supports the inclusion of public sector organisations; utility services; telecommunications services; postal services and post offices; education, training or career guidance and educational qualifications services as proposed in the order by the Welsh government.

However, the Committee is critical of the provision which is aimed at potentially imposing duties on any organisations providing a public service and receiving more than £200,000 of public funds, which it believes to be an arbitrary threshold. The Committee believes that no financial limit should be included in the proposed Order and strongly recommends that the Minister redrafts this provision.

Although the Committee agrees with the principle that organisations in regular receipt of public funds should be subject to duties, this category should be more precisely defined in subsequent Measures. The Committee believes that the Minister will have to take account of the nature of the services provided to the public, the size of the organisation and its legal status in any future Measure.

“Subject to our recommendations, the proposed Order should provide the Assembly with the legislative competence to achieve the social objective which would allow the people of Wales to live their lives through the medium of either Welsh or English,”” Mr Isherwood added.

“We believe that this is best done through emphasis on cooperation and consensus.”

A copy of the report and further information about the Committee