Welsh Language Commissioner’s independence ‘watered down’ say activists

Martin Shipton

Language activists have established that a commitment underpinning the independence of the Welsh Language Commissioner from the Welsh Government has been removed from the document that spells out the nature of the two bodies’ relationship.

Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg has compared the wording of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the commissioner and the government in 2019 with a later version from 2024.

The 2019 version included a clause which stated: “The Commissioner will operate at arm’s length from Government – and provide an independent opinion – but will have a clear focus on increasing the use of the Welsh language in a way that contributes to delivering the Cymraeg 2050 strategy.”

The clause does not, however, appear in the 2024 version of the MoU.

Cathays Park

Cymdeithas points out that the removal of the clause coincides with the move of the Welsh Language Commissioner’s office to the Cathays Park headquarters of the Welsh Government in Cardiff.

An “Office Options Discussion Paper” also unearthed by Cymsdeithas discloses that the Welsh Language Commissioner was aware that another Commissioner had concluded a similar move on their part to Welsh Government offices would be inappropriate due to concerns about their independence.

A spokesperson for Cymdeithas yr Iaith said: “We have FOI’d the Children’s and Older People’s Commissioner but cannot establish which Commissioner this was.

The question to the Welsh Language Commissioner is – considering its particular and unique regulatory power (which is over and above the other commissioners functions) over the Government in imposing Welsh Language Standards and regulating compliance, on what basis did they think it appropriate to move into Government headquarters?

“The paper only discusses one option. There’s a list of organisations that were contacted to ask for space options but there’s no information about them.
“There wasn’t a visit to anywhere except Cathays Park. Why was that if all options were genuinely under serious consideration?

“The paper acknowledges the Commissioner’s unique role in regulating the Government such that it could be viewed that the Commissioner’s regulatory operations are ‘influenced by the commercial relationship of a lease’. It makes the suggestion that the MoU between the government and the commissioner be revised to make this crystal clear. The opposite seems to have happened – the memorandum has dropped the clause about operating at arm’s length. Why was that?

“The Commissioner appears to justify the move on cost saving grounds. However, the lease document itself which we’ve obtained by FoI to the Welsh Government has the annual cost of the lease at £13k per year, while this paper puts the cost at £48,500 a year.
“So what is the cost of IT and maintaining an independent internet connection at the Welsh Government offices for the Commissioner – is this above the £48,500 amount which the offices at Cathays Park are costing the Commissioner per annum?

“In our view this has all led to weakening the role as we see it, in several ways, including a decrease in the number of complaints. The percentage of investigations into complaints about the government has fallen and the percentage is significantly less than investigations into complaints about other bodies.”

Enforcement policy

Cymdeithas says its big concern is the need to beef up the enforcement policy against organisations that are legally obliged to provide services in Welsh. The spokesperson said: “We’ve been working on trying to get the Commissioner to start again with the enforcement policy. There was a consultation that ended in January – the report and final decision is still being prepared and is expected to be sent to the government for approval (a rubber stamp process) during the summer.

“The objectives in the Welsh Language Commissioner’s Strategic Plan for 2025–30 focus on increasing and improving services, increasing opportunities, and puts the onus on users to make use of services, whereas the previous plan had objectives relating to fairness, justice and rights for Welsh speakers and strong regulation.

“Equally, the Commissioner has recently moved towards ‘co-regulating’ and is doing more of the promotion work, so there is much less emphasis on regulating and ensuring that services are being provided as they should and dealing with complaints and failure to comply with the Welsh Language Standards.”

‘National vision’

In the Welsh Language Commissioner’s most recent annual report, for 2023-24, Commissioner Efa Gruffudd Jones said: “I have consistently noted that there are many elements to our promotion of the Welsh language, and that our work to ensure compliance with Welsh language duties goes hand in hand with our work in other sectors. My clear aim is to create more opportunities for the people of Wales to use the Welsh language every day.

“I carry out my regulatory duties in the context of the national vision of increasing the number of Welsh speakers and increasing the use of the language. I want to be a regulator with a specific and strategic purpose, being very clear about what we’re ultimately trying to achieve.”