What preparatory action is the Commission taking to ensure that the status and use of the Welsh language is safeguarded and widened in the politics and proceedings of the Seventh Senedd?
The National Assembly for Wales (Official Languages) Act 2012 makes provision regarding use of Welsh and English in the proceedings of the Senedd and in the Senedd Commission carrying out its functions. The Act establishes the need for both languages to be treated equally in Senedd proceedings, as well as the right of individuals to use their preferred official language in proceedings. It is also a statutory requirement for the Senedd Commission to adopt and publish an Official Languages Scheme for each Senedd.
As we approach the end of the Sixth Senedd, planning for the transition to the Seventh Senedd will begin. Part of the process will be to work on a draft Official Languages Scheme to be agreed in Plenary by Members of the Seventh Senedd. Officials will consult with Members and Support Staff of the Sixth Senedd to get their views on the current scheme and any changes that would strengthen the provision of bilingual services for the Seventh Senedd.
The aim of the Official Languages Scheme is to ensure that Members of the Senedd and their support staff are free to undertake their work in their preferred official language. In practice this means that the Senedd Commission will provide services to Members and their support staff by default in their preferred language, and will continuously seek ways of improving the provision.
The Senedd Commission conducts a Welsh language skills survey at least once in each Senedd in order to ensure that staff across all services have the appropriate skills to facilitate bilingual working. In addition, as part of the process of capacity planning across services, a service is required to maintain a service language plan for assessing and recording Welsh language skills. All advertised jobs are also assessed to ensure that any Welsh language skills requirements are included in the job description. The Welsh language skills requirements for all posts with the Senedd Commission vary from courtesy level to level 5, and a description of these levels may be found in the Commission's Language Skills Matrix (https://senedd.wales/media/sm2jznsi/skills-matrix.pdf). All of this ensures that the Senedd Commission is able to support and facilitate default use of the Welsh language.
The Official Languages Team also provides training to develop or improve the language skills of Members, their support staff and Senedd Commission staff. This includes specific provision for Welsh speakers that wish to make more use of their language skills either orally or in writing. The team can also provide tailored training for individuals or groups as required.
Our official languages are also a key part of the wider planning work for the Seventh Senedd. There is representation from the Official Languages Team on the Seventh Senedd Project Board in order to ensure an overview of all the developments and changes that are taking place. Also, as part of this work, we will be looking at the official languages framework to ensure that it is fit for purpose for the Seventh Senedd, and working on an approach to ensure that we collect accurate information about Members' language preferences as they go through the induction process during their early days as elected Members.