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

Let me make some progress—I will come back to the hon. Gentleman. I read a contribution made by one Rhodri Morgan, our First Minister, on the Welsh Language Act. May I formally wish him well in his retirement? I am sad that he is leaving the stage. I have always enjoyed his company and discussing matters with him. I may not agree with him politically but I acknowledge that he was an excellent parliamentarian and has made a first-class First Minister. In that debate, Rhodri said that it would be 56 years before the Welsh language was debated again. I am afraid he got that wrong. Even now, it is good that we are debating this provision. We can make a huge step forward in safeguarding the language and promoting its use, as well as engendering a genuine love for it. I want the Welsh language to be used as unselfconsciously and as widely as possible. I certainly do not want it to be politicised. Like the Secretary of State, my capacity for learning languages at an advanced age is less. However, I have been trying to get to grips with some Welsh. Despite spending my first 10 years in Wales, I was not taught any Welsh at all. I hope that I will have the opportunity to improve my fluency. There are still some serious issues that we need to consider, at least in respect of the original draft. Although I have listened to the Secretary of State, I want to raise some of those issues with him. I am still unclear about what is meant by an official language, and what the status of English will be in the make-up. Perhaps when we see the order again, we can consider that issue further. The £200,000 threshold was clearly arbitrary and encompassed a large number of small charities and organisations that would have been crippled by the costs of translation. After all, even the Assembly Government and the Presiding Officer tried to get out of translating Assembly documents into Welsh. What a farce.