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

Mr. Jones, it is a privilege to serve again under your chairmanship and to see the bow tie proudly adorning the top table. It is a privilege too to follow my hon. Friend the Member for Aberavon, who once again demonstrated with distinction his historic depth and breadth, his love of Wales and his love for the Welsh language. We are all genuinely grateful to the Welsh Affairs Committee under his leadership, because it has done a very good job. It is exemplary parliamentary scrutiny at its very best. My right hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth highlighted the consensus that has arisen——and that I hope will be reflected in our Committee today——as a result of the Welsh Affairs Committee’s work and that of all its members, particularly my right hon. Friend, who has done a good job too. It gives me great pleasure to be here today to debate the order and the Welsh Affairs Committee’s report. I asked for this debate so that all members of the Committee could give their views on this important order. I am a strong supporter of the Welsh language and I hope that my record speaks for itself. For example, when I was Minister for Welsh education in 1998, I extended Welsh as a compulsory subject to the GCSE age cohort in the face of hostile criticism in some quarters. I am strongly committed to the future development of the language. I understand the central role it plays in Welsh society and in the day-to-day lives of many people in Wales. Parts of my constituency are strongly Welsh-speaking, especially in the valleys, and Neath hosted the National Eisteddfod in 1994 where I give a welcome address, speaking in Welsh——after considerable coaching, as my Welsh is very limited. I wanted to do that to make a statement of solidarity with the language, its culture and traditions and I was grateful for the response that I received. I requested this sitting of the Welsh Grand Committee because I believe it is essential that Parliament give this order full consideration and thorough scrutiny. When my hon. Friend the Member for Carmarthen, West and South Pembrokeshire was at the Wales Office, he and Jane Hutt, then the Assembly’s Business Minister, submitted a memorandum of evidence to the Welsh Affairs Committee inquiry into legislative competence orders in 2006. It said something important for our consideration today, stating: ““It is anticipated that the Report of the Welsh Affairs Committee, following its pre-legislative scrutiny process, would usually be sufficient for the Commons. However if proposals were extensive, complex, or of considerable political interest it may be necessary for the Welsh Grand Committee to be convened to debate that Report.”” My hon. Friend will recall that he mentioned that possibility and the procedure to be followed on the Floor of the House when he took the Government of Wales Bill through the Commons.