DWLP02

Pwyllgor Diwylliant, Cyfathrebu, y Gymraeg, Chwaraeon, a Chysylltiadau Rhyngwladol | Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee

Dear Chair

4 April 2024

 

I am writing in response to your consultation in to the development of post-16 Welsh language provision. 

As you will already be aware, the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research – the new Welsh Government-sponsored body responsible for funding and regulation of post-16 education and research – will be established on 1 August 2024. 

The Commission has eleven strategic duties, including: “Promoting tertiary education through the medium of Welsh”. This duty requires the Commission to encourage demand for, and participation in, Welsh tertiary education provided through the medium of Welsh, and to take all reasonable steps to ensure that there is sufficient Welsh tertiary education provided through the medium of Welsh to meet demand. In the first instance, the Commission will inherit funding commitments made by its predecessor bodies, HEFCW in relation to higher education, and Welsh Government in relation to further education and apprenticeships, including adult and community learning and sixth forms. These include funding aimed at supporting delivery through the medium of Welsh. 

The Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act 2022 also allows Welsh Ministers to designate a person to give relevant advice to the Commission for the purpose of assisting the discharge of this duty. The Minister for Education and Welsh Language designated the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol as the person to give relevant advice to the Commission on 5 June 2023. 

In addition to the strategic duties set out in the legislation, the Commission also receives a Statement of Strategic Priorities from the Welsh Government. The first of these was published and provided to the Commission on 28 February 2024. 

This included additional reference to the Welsh Language, with the Commission instructed to “Develop a plan to increase and improve the provision and promotion of Welsh-medium education and assessment in the whole of the tertiary system recognising the role of Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, as the designated person

Under Section 9 of the 2022 Act and Qualifications Wales as the independent qualifications regulator. This is a key part of the seamless pathway for learners into the tertiary education of their choosing.” 

Work has now begun on the Commission’s strategic plan in response to the Statement of Strategic Priorities, which will be submitted to Welsh Ministers by 15 December 2024. The Commission will be engaging and consulting with a broad range of stakeholders and providers in the production of that plan, including key Welsh language stakeholders such as the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and the Welsh Language Commissioner. 

As the Commission takes up its full range of functions, we look forward to contributing to future discussions of post-16 Welsh language provision and its funding, in order to support a coherent approach across the tertiary sector to achieving the ambitions of Cymraeg 2050.  As such, we will be following the Committee’s findings with interest . 

Cofion cynnes,

 

Simon Pirotte

Simon Pirotte OBE

Chief Executive Officer, Commission for Tertiary Education and Research