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

I certainly agree. One of the reservations that I and my party have about the LCO process is that it is open for people who are not as committed to passing new powers to the Welsh Assembly, or who do not look as favourably on doing so, to use the process to slow down such things, or even stop them altogether. The right hon. Member for Cardiff, South and Penarth talked about the Assembly not having the processes—I cannot remember the exact term—to enable delay to take place. One thing that we have learned about this place is that if the Government—the party in power—wish to delay things, that is certainly open to them through a number of processes, and that makes the LCO not as strong or robust a way of passing new powers to the Assembly as we would wish. This debate has attracted a lot of interest. It is definitely the first time that I have received so many briefings from lobby groups for a meeting of the Welsh Grand Committee. The Liberal Democrats, particularly the Welsh Liberal Democrats, wholeheartedly welcome the order. Since the passage of the Welsh Language Act 1993, more and more people are using Welsh as their primary language, as can be seen by the fact that between 1996 and 2006 10,000 more young people were educated primarily through the medium of Welsh. The 2001 census showed that 20.8 per cent. of people used Welsh as their primary language, up from 18.7 per cent. in the previous census. Some 20 per cent. of children are now educated in Welsh-medium schools, and I think that even the most sceptical of those present would recognise that, particularly among the younger generation, there is greater enthusiasm for the language and greater ability to speak it, than before the 1993 Act. The greater number of Welsh speakers is mirrored by people’s desire to conduct more of their lives in the Welsh language, and by a greater confidence to speak Welsh and receive material written in Welsh. I would not for one minute argue that all those who describe themselves as Welsh speakers want to receive all information in Welsh, but I think that a sizeable number do, and it is right that they should be given the opportunity to do so when it is reasonable. As we heard earlier in the Committee, take-up rates for the voluntary schemes have not been great, but I am not sure that Welsh language provision is always marketed with the same gusto as English language services. It is also right that one of the reasons why the Welsh Assembly Government are keen to extend the Act is to continue to promote the language. The 1993 Act has been extremely successful in helping to promote the Welsh language, and I have no doubt that that work will be continued under the measures introduced as a consequence of the order. Turning specifically to the order, I thank the Select Committee for its work in scrutinising the LCO and for putting forward sensible points in its report. I also thank the Secretary of State for taking a constructive approach, and for working with the Assembly to put forward a practical option that I hope we can all sign up to. The principle is clear: the Welsh Language Act should be extended. There are obvious candidates for new provisions to be included. The difficulty that has been faced is how to apply a set of criteria to ensure that those who should be working bilingually do so, and that those for whom that is not a reasonable requirement do not have to comply. I support the Secretary of State’s approach. A reasonableness test that can be appealed is a useful concept, and I hope that will give the Assembly enough to work with when it looks at the measures. I am not sure that the chippy in Chepstow ever had much to fear from the order, but nevertheless the addition of that point helps. I know from discussions with my hon. Friend the Member for Ceredigion that one of the most striking features of the Select Committee’s scrutiny was how reassured business representatives were by the deliberations in the Assembly, and it is pleasing that scaremongering has not won the day. I welcome the agreement to raise the £200,000 threshold, but there are still issues to be discussed in that regard. The Select Committee talked about it, and concerns were raised, as the evidence to that Committee reveals. The Secretary of State has now provided a more plausible threshold, which will reassure many, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises. The Secretary of State and the Assembly Government agreed with the Select Committee’s conclusion that not all organisations that had been established by royal charter should be included in the order. I am pleased that that recommendation has been accepted, and welcome the fact that the services those organisations provide will be considered. That represents a significant response to a concern raised in later evidence to the Select Committee that organisations such as the Royal British Legion and even the Girl Guides could be adversely affected. I am pleased that an agreement has been reached to include larger bus companies within the scope of the order, mitigating the concern of those who felt that there was an inconsistency between the way bus and train companies are treated. The Secretary of State and the Assembly Government further agreed to the Select Committee’s recommendation that any duties placed on public broadcasters should be clarified to mean only their public business and not the preparation or broadcasting of programmes. That is a sensible suggestion, which meets the objectives of the Assembly Government and the desire for reasonableness and proportionality. Finally, the Secretary of State has agreed with the Committee’s suggestion to redraft the enacting words of the LCO to clarify the boundaries of the Assembly’s competence. That is a helpful change, which I imagine will be welcomed both here and in the Senedd. My party would like a referendum on further powers. We have been relentlessly critical of the LCO process, but we wish to see the process working as well as it possibly can. Assembly Members and members of the Committee should be commended on the way in which they have worked together on what was expected to be an extremely controversial proposal. Lessons have been learned from the affordable housing LCO and I hope that we can now continue to move forward in a way that will provide the best outcome for Wales. The one concern I had about the procedural aspect was that there were reports that the media were being briefed before the amended LCO was laid down in the Assembly. The Heritage Minister described himself as being miffed at that turn of events, and one can understand why. I warmly welcome the LCO—both the principle behind it and the order we now have. It is a shame that it has taken so long, but we now have an order that will take the Welsh language forward, while not making unreasonable requirements of organisations and businesses in Wales. My party fully supports the LCO and is keen to see it enacted as soon as possible.