Are there any issues, legal or otherwise, that prevent the Minister from setting annual quotas that outline a minimum percentage in the medical workforce who are able to undertake training through the medium of Welsh and/or bilingually?
I am clear that individuals in receipt of health and care services should be able to communicate through the medium of Welsh should they want to. This is more important when individuals and their loved ones are at their most vulnerable.
That is why we developed “More than Just Words….” a Strategic Framework to strengthen Welsh language services in health, social care and social services in 2013, along with its follow-on framework in 2016 and more recently its action plan for 2019- 2020.
At the heart of the framework is the concept that being able to use your own language is an integral part of care. Care and language go hand in hand and organisations have a responsibility to establish a supportive culture to ensure that services are available to Welsh speakers including developing Welsh language skills of staff and assessing the need for Welsh language skills when advertising posts.
We have a number of schemes and measures in place to raise the importance of Welsh language skills and awareness to encourage and support Welsh and Welsh speaking students who are interested in pursuing a career in medicine, and better prepare Welsh students to access medical programmes.
The setting of quotas or any form of preferential treatment is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010. The Welsh language is not listed as a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010, however giving preference to it could indirectly discriminate on the grounds of race.
HEIs in Wales are independent, autonomous bodies and the Welsh Ministers are prevented by statute from interfering in matters relating to admissions. However, we have been working with Cardiff and Swansea Medical Schools, to identify how we can encourage more Welsh students to consider medicine as a career, increase opportunities for those who wish to do so to study in Wales and to identify and overcome any barriers that might prevent them from doing so. In addition, Cardiff and Bangor Universities have formed a collaboration to allow the direct delivery of medical education in Bangor University,
‘A Healthier Wales’, our long term plan for health and social care includes actions to develop a new workforce strategy for health and social care in Wales. HEIW and Social Care Wales were commissioned by the Welsh Government to develop the strategy, this was submitted to Welsh Government late last year. We are currently in the process of considering next steps for the strategy. The strategy has Welsh language as a golden thread and will be a key focus in its future implementation.
We will also continue to look for ways to expand opportunities within the current legislative arrangements.