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National Assembly for Wales (Legislative Competence) (Welsh Language)

No, that was never raised with us. We understand that the intention behind the order is to require large organisations that have significant dealings with the public in Wales to offer a Welsh language service to the growing number of people who would prefer to use Welsh. At the same time, the aim is not to place an unreasonable burden on small companies or charitable bodies that might struggle to cope. That is an intention that the vast majority of Welsh people endorse. In legislation, however, good intentions are not enough. Clarity and equality of treatment are needed for bodies covered by the law and we concluded that changes were needed to the LCO to achieve that. Because of the problems with the list of categories in the order, we suggested in our report that the Government might want to consider an alternative approach to the LCO. During our inquiry, we heard about legislation in other countries which focuses much more on the type of service received by the customer or the size of the organisation involved rather than trying to divide up business sectors between those who are ““in”” and those who are ““out””. We believe that the aim should be to establish reasonable, proportionate and cost-effective language legislation. We also believe that more information is needed on the role of the proposed language commissioner in Wales. Furthermore, we believe that burdens should not be imposed on smaller bodies, such as charities, non-governmental organisations, organisations established by royal charter and very small companies. The spirit of our report focused more on the quality of the service provided to the citizen rather than exclusively on the needs of the provider, as has been emphasised by Maria Battle and Viv Sugar of Consumer Focus Wales. I welcome their progressive and enlightened approach, which they publish this week. Last week, the Wales Office published its response to our report and the Welsh Assembly Government announced how they intend to proceed with the order. I note from the Wales Office response to our report that much of our approach has been taken up positively, and we can expect the redrafted order to reflect that. My Committee looks forward to seeing the new draft order, with some of our fingerprints on it. It is true to say that my Committee sees the bulk of its work as being complete and it endorsed that view in its meeting yesterday. I am particularly pleased that steps will be taken to ensure that new duties will be proportionate to the size and functions of an organisation, as recommended by our report.