Decision details

Debates are one of the most frequent items of business on the Plenary agenda. Many types of debate are brought forward in Plenary, including:

• Opposition party debates on a topic of their choice;

Other than in the case of Government debates, the time allocated for all other types of debates and their frequency are determined by the Business Committee

The item started at 16.03

 

Voting on the motion and amendments under this item was deferred until Voting Time.

 

A vote was taken on the motion without amendment:

 

NDM5129 Jocelyn Davies (South Wales East)

 

To propose that the National Assembly:

 

1. Celebrates that the Welsh language is an integral and essential part of the culture and heritage of Wales and welcomes that the number of Welsh speakers in several non-traditional areas has increased;

 

2. Regrets deeply the decline in the number and percentage of Welsh speakers noted in the 2011 Census;

 

3. Notes that action must urgently be taken to redress the decline and secure the future of Wales as a bilingual nation;

 

4. Regrets the decision by the UK Government to cut further the budget for S4C in the next two years at a time when everyone should be prioritising support for the language; and

 

5. Calls on the Welsh Government, in support of the six strategic areas for action set out in ‘A living language: a language for living’, to prioritise the following:

 

a) promoting and supporting enterpreneurship by Welsh speakers, particularly in those areas where the language is still widely spoken;

 

b) investing in infrastructure, particularly broadband, in support of Welsh speaking creative industries and communities;

 

c) placing the proposed Welsh language standards on a legal basis;

 

d) encouraging the growth and use of Welsh within the workplace, beginning with public authorities and working with the private sector;

 

e) ensuring better outcomes for the teaching of Welsh as a second language to both adults and children;

 

f) planning and promoting the case for the devolution of broadcasting and the internal devolution of broadcasting jobs;

 

g) reforming the planning system  to enable local authorities to place a cap on the number of second homes in specified localities; and

 

h) investigating how procurement policies can support both the use of Welsh by the workforce and by the local community and encourage the take-up of such policies.

 

For	Abstain	Against	Total
9	0	44	53

The motion without amendment was not agreed.

 

The following amendments were tabled:

 

Amendment 1 - Aled Roberts (North Wales)

 

Insert a new point after point 3 and re-number accordingly:

 

Regrets that the Welsh Government has not published a new Technical Advice Note (TAN) 20 even though the consultation on the new technical advice note was completed in June 2011.

 

A vote was taken on Amendment 1:

For	Abstain	Against	Total
26	0	27	53

Amendment 1 was not agreed.

 

Amendment 2 - Aled Roberts (North Wales)

 

Insert new point after point 3 and re-number accordingly:

 

Congratulates the Welsh Language Commissioner on the thorough and comprehensive consultation that she undertook on the proposed Welsh standards and supports the standards announced by her in November 2012.

 

A vote was taken on Amendment 2:

For	Abstain	Against	Total
26	0	27	53

Amendment 2 was not agreed.

 

Amendment 3 - William Graham (South Wales East)

 

Delete point 4 and replace with:

 

Acknowledges the importance of an efficient and modern S4C and welcomes the UK Government’s continued support for the broadcaster at a time when difficult spending decisions have to be made.

 

A vote was taken on Amendment 3:

For	Abstain	Against	Total
17	0	36	53

Amendment 3 was not agreed.

 

Amendment 4 - William Graham (South Wales East)

 

Delete point 5 and replace with:

 

Calls on the Welsh Government to demonstrate the action it is taking in support of the six strategic areas for action set out in “A Living Language: A Language for Living” and, in particular to:

 

(a) promote and support entrepreneurship by Welsh speakers;

 

(b) encourage the growth and use of Welsh within the workplace and promote the use of a Welsh Charter Mark to recognise high quality Welsh-medium services;

 

(c) promote the economic benefits of bilingual skills in areas of economic deprivation;

 

(d) investigate how procurement policies can support the use of Welsh;

 

(e) consider the merits of placing the proposed Welsh Language standards, when agreed, on a statutory basis;

 

(f) invest in infrastructure, particularly broadband, in support of the use of Welsh in creative industries and daily life in communities;

 

(g) examine why more young people do not consider themselves able to speak Welsh after over a decade of compulsory teaching of Welsh in schools, and to ensure better outcomes for the teaching of Welsh as a second language;

 

(h) report on the level of regard each local authority gives to the growth and sustainability of the use of the Welsh language when making planning decisions for its area;

 

(i) examine which areas  of the broadcasting industry in Wales could be accountable to both the Welsh and UK  governments and then pursue the case for sharing responsibility

 

A vote was taken on Amendment 4:

For	Abstain	Against	Total
12	0	41	53

Amendment 4 was not agreed.

 

Amendment 5 - Jane Hutt (Vale of Glamorgan)

 

Delete point 5 and replace with:

 

5. Notes the Welsh Government's vision of seeing the Welsh language thrive and the six areas of action set out in its Welsh Language Strategy 2012-17, A living language: a language for living, which are:

 

a) to encourage and support the use of the Welsh language within families;

 

b) to increase the provision of Welsh-medium activities for children and young people and to increase their awareness of the value of the language;

 

c) to strengthen the position of the Welsh language in the community;

 

d) to increase opportunities for people to use Welsh in the workplace;

 

e) to improve Welsh language services to citizens; and

 

f) to strengthen the infrastructure for the language, including digital technology.

 

A vote was taken on Amendment 5:

For	Abstain	Against	Total
39	0	14	53

Amendment 5 was agreed.

 

As Amendment 5 was agreed, Amendment 6 was de-selected.

 

Amendment 7 - Aled Roberts (North Wales)

 

Add a new point at the end of the motion:

 

Calls on Welsh Ministers to act on their commitment to mainstream the Welsh language across all of the Welsh Government’s activities by:

 

(a) requiring an independent body to conduct a comprehensive review of all Government expenditure and to assess the relationship between the expenditure and the Welsh language – that is to measure the language impact of the expenditure – and, from then on, to assess the language impact of the Welsh Government’s annual budget every year;

 

(b) including the welfare of the Welsh language as part of the statutory definition of sustainable development in the proposed Sustainable Development Bill; and

 

(c) establishing a Welsh medium labour market that will include monitoring the need for a Welsh-medium workforce in sectors and locations throughout Wales and planning to meet the demand for a workforce that has Welsh-language skills, including an ambitious Welsh in the workplace training scheme.

 

A vote was taken on Amendment 7:

For	Abstain	Against	Total
25	1	27	53

Amendment 7 was not agreed.

 

A vote was taken on the motion as amended:

 

NDM5129 Jocelyn Davies (South Wales East)

 

To propose that the National Assembly:

 

1. Celebrates that the Welsh language is an integral and essential part of the culture and heritage of Wales and welcomes that the number of Welsh speakers in several non-traditional areas has increased;

 

2. Regrets deeply the decline in the number and percentage of Welsh speakers noted in the 2011 Census;

 

3. Notes that action must urgently be taken to redress the decline and secure the future of Wales as a bilingual nation;

 

4. Regrets the decision by the UK Government to cut further the budget for S4C in the next two years at a time when everyone should be prioritising support for the language; and

 

5. Notes the Welsh Government's vision of seeing the Welsh language thrive and the six areas of action set out in its Welsh Language Strategy 2012-17, A living language: a language for living, which are:

 

a) to encourage and support the use of the Welsh language within families;

 

b) to increase the provision of Welsh-medium activities for children and young people and to increase their awareness of the value of the language;

 

c) to strengthen the position of the Welsh language in the community;

 

d) to increase opportunities for people to use Welsh in the workplace;

 

e) to improve Welsh language services to citizens; and

 

f) to strengthen the infrastructure for the language, including digital technology.

 

For	Abstain	Against	Total
27	17	9	53

The motion as amended was agreed.