Proposed Welsh Language Act Legislative Competence Order

Eleanor Burnham

Pre-ballot Information: Outline Proposed Legislative Competence Order

Outline of proposed Order

Field 20 (Welsh Language) of Part 1 of Schedule 5 to the Government of Wales Act 2006 is to be amended as follows:

After Field 20: Welsh Language insert “Matter 20.1 Provision to amend the Welsh Language Act 1993”

Pre-ballot Information: Explanatory Memorandum

Policy Objectives of the Proposed Order

We seek the powers to amend the Welsh Language Act 1993 to:

give official language status to Welsh alongside English within Wales

The Welsh Language Act 1993 states that “in Wales the English and Welsh languages should be treated on a basis of equality”, however the Act has key exemptions that mean it fails to fulfil this ambition.

The new measure must legally redress the balance between English and Welsh as the dual languages of Wales.

Extend the rights of individuals and responsibilities of public bodies with regard to the use of the Welsh Language.

Establish and protect the right of an individual to a service Welsh in correspondence with public bodies.

Update the outdated definition of ‘public bodies’.

Since the Act was passed in 1993 many bodies have migrated from the public sector, or have disappeared altogether. The new measure must update this definition to reflect these changes.

Extend the powers of the Welsh Language Board to reflect the newly enshrined rights of the individual with relation to safeguard those rights.

Include provision for the protection of individual rights.

Extending the powers of the Welsh Language Board in the new measure, allowing it to act in the style of a Commissioner to investigate individual complaints would protect the rights of Welsh Language users.

Support Received

At the time of the 2007 general election in Wales, the Welsh Conservatives, Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Liberal Democrats had all committed to supporting a new Welsh Language measure, including the provisions listed here.

Cymdeithas Yr Iaith has campaigned for a new Welsh Language measure, including the provisions listed here, since the original Welsh Language Act was passed in 1993.