Agenda and minutes

No apologies had been received.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes were agreed.

The National Assembly for Wales (Official Languages) Act 2012 places a duty on the Commission to adopt and publish an Official Languages Scheme. The scheme sets out measures the Commission will take in order to comply with its duties as outlined in the Act and the steps that will be taken to fulfil the Commission’s ambition to become a truly bilingual organisation. A number of priority areas and targets are included in the Scheme that will be delivered over the next three years that will position the organisation as an exemplar in the delivery of bilingual services. The Scheme also addresses matters raised by Assembly Members and consultees during the Assembly’s consideration of the Official Languages Bill.

The draft Official Languages Scheme was approved by the Commission. It will be considered by the Assembly during the last week of term.

Commissioners also discussed ways of enhancing the provision of bilingual services to ensure the best use of resources. In particular it was felt that there were significant opportunities to make innovative use of new technologies.

It was agreed that officials would continue to investigate and test options for machine translation and bring proposals back to the Commission in the Autumn.

Commissioners concluded that it would be appropriate to give consideration to future options for the record of Proceedings. However, they wanted to examine practice and plans in other parliaments, and make progress on the audio visual record, before making decisions on changes to the approach.

It was agreed that officials would explore the issues and options for the Record of Proceedings and that the matter would be considered more fully by the Commission in the Autumn.

Commissioners thanked Rhodri Glyn Thomas and officials for their work on the draft Scheme and continued efforts in this area.

It was agreed that only the Agenda and Minutes of this meeting would be published.  The Scheme will be laid before the Assembly on 17 July 2013.

Actions:

Commissioners to be provided with up to date information about the number of Assembly Members making their contributions in Welsh in plenary and committee meetings.

Officials to look at the provision of English and Welsh spellcheckers/dictionaries.