Cymraeg 2050: Welsh language strategy action plan 2026 to 2027

We published the Welsh Government’s Welsh Language Strategy, Cymraeg 2050: A million Welsh speakers, in July 2017. The strategy’s second Work Programme was published in July 2021 outlining our work from 2021 to 2026.

Section 78 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 places a duty on Welsh Ministers to publish an annual action plan explaining how they will implement the proposals outlined in their language strategy during each financial year. This is the action plan for the 2026 to 2027 financial year.

In publishing this Plan for 2026 to 2027, we must acknowledge that this Senedd term is drawing to a close. The actions in this Plan are therefore presented as a continuation of the 2025 to 2026 Action Plan. It will be for the next Government to set new priorities as it sees fit as part of an updated ‘Cymraeg 2050’strategy that will be developed in response to the Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Act 2025.

 ‘Cymraeg 2050’ includes two main targets:

• The number of Welsh speakers to reach one million by 2050.
• The percentage of the population that speak Welsh daily, and can speak more than just a few words of Welsh, to increase from 10% (in 2013 to 2015) to 20% by 2050.

These targets provide a clear narrative for us all in Wales, in Government, in the public sector and as citizens, Cymraeg belongs to us all, as does the responsibility for its future. In addition, all we do under this Plan embraces both the letter and spirit of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, specifically, "A Wales of vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language".

‘Cymraeg 2050’ is based on three strategic themes:

1. Increasing the number of Welsh speakers.
2. Increasing the use of Welsh.
3. Creating favourable conditions, infrastructure and context.

We will continue to focus on these principles as we work across the Government’s policy areas, paying particular attention this year to the following:

• The importance of ensuring that Welsh remains the main language spoken in communities all over Wales by implementing the recommendations of both phases of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities.
• Implementation of the Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Act 2025, and in particular, consulting on a new Welsh language strategy, a National Framework for Welsh Language Education and Learning Welsh, and the Code to describe Welsh language ability.
• Continuing to increase access to Welsh-medium education in line with the Welsh in Education Strategic Plans (WESPs). 
• Continuing to support local authorities to expand their late immersion offer, to allow more learners to become Welsh speakers through the Welsh-medium education system.
• Improving the attainment of pupils studying the Welsh language in English-medium schools. 
• Creating bilingual citizens by offering opportunities for everyone of all ages to learn Welsh and use it regularly. 
• Continuing to analyse a range of data sources to understand how Welsh language ability varies among population groups.
• Continuing our work to increase the amount of Welsh language technology that’s available, and to enable easy access to this for all
• Continuing to focus on Welsh language transmission in the home and ensure an increase in Welsh-medium provision for the early years and the Childcare Offer.
• Developing the Welsh-medium workforce, especially in education and the early years. 
• Continuing with the Welsh Language Standards programme.
• Continuing to mainstream ‘Cymraeg 2050’ in all Government portfolios.
• Respond to the findings of the independent evaluation of the ‘Welsh Language Communities Housing Plan’.
• Continuing to deliver the Perthyn scheme across Wales.
• Continuing to support partners who host events and create opportunities to use the Welsh language unconditionally.
• Continuing to take steps to protect Welsh place names.
• Continuing to support the Welsh Language Commissioner, in particular with regard to protecting the rights of Welsh speakers and increasing the use of Welsh language services.

Theme 1: increasing the number of Welsh speakers

Creating bilingual citizens who can confidently use their Welsh language skills is at the core of ‘Cymraeg 2050’. We want people to have the ability and motivation to use their Welsh in the community, in the workplace and in their daily lives. We will therefore continue to ensure that diverse education provision is available across all learning phases, from the early years, statutory and post-compulsory education, both in the workplace and in the community. In this regard, the Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Act 2025 has set a clear and robust direction in relation to how we intend to improve the attainment of children and young people in terms of Welsh language skills in the education system. A key aspect of our ongoing work to implement the Act will be to promote Welsh-medium education across all learning phases.

The early years

We will continue to work with our key partner, Mudiad Meithrin, in 2026 to 2027 to expand Welsh-medium nursery provision across Wales as an entry point to Welsh-medium education for as many children as possible. This remains one of our top priorities.

We will continue to fund Mudiad Meithrin to establish and expand Welsh-medium early years provisions as part of the Set Up and Succeed (SAS) programme. The programme continues to work towards the target set in ‘Cymraeg 2050’ to establish 150 new early years provisions over a 10-year period. SAS has already opened or expanded 101 provisions, with a further 11 projects currently underway.

Developing the early years workforce is essential in supporting this area through programmes such as Mudiad Meithrin’s Cam wrth Gam scheme. Following a competitive grant process, Mudiad Meithrin have been awarded the tender to continue to deliver training in Welsh-medium childcare qualifications at levels 3 and 5 for a 3-year period from 2026 to 2027.

Work to expand and strengthen Welsh-medium early years provision through the Flying Start programme will continue during 2026 to 2027. Each local authority’s Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP) recognises the role of the Flying Start programme as they design Welsh-medium provision, with targets included to increase provision throughout the duration of the WESPs.

The Cymraeg for Kids programme will continue to support parents to use Welsh with their children during the early years, and to promote the benefits of Welsh-medium childcare and education.

We will also continue to implement our National Policy on Welsh Language Transmission and Use in Families.

Statutory education

Implementation of the Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Act 2025

The Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Act 2025 was passed by the Senedd in May and received Royal Assent in July 2025. The Act has been designed to give every child and every adult a fair opportunity to learn and use Welsh. The main aim of the Act is to ensure, by 2050, that all pupils are independent and confident Welsh language users, at least, by the time they reach the end of compulsory school age.

The Act provides a statutory basis for the ‘Cymraeg 2050’ target and ensures that clear targets around the planning of Welsh are set at a National, local and school level. The Act establishes a new method for people of all ages to describe their ability in Welsh based on the Council of Europe’s Common Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). Each school will have a Welsh learning goal to aim towards, with the learning goal corresponding to the CEFR levels appropriate to the school language category. A statutory body, the National Institute for Learning Welsh (the Athrofa) will be established by August 2027. It will co-ordinate the support of Welsh learning across the education system, the workplace and the community, providing training, resources and support to the workforce and learners of all ages. 

In 2026 to 2027, the Act’s implementation programme board, established in autumn 2025, will oversee the delivery of key aspects of the Act, including:

• preparation for consultation in the Autumn of 2026 on a revised ‘Cymraeg 2050’ Strategy, a draft National Framework for Welsh Language Education and Learning Welsh and on a draft Code to Describe Welsh language ability
• a programme of internal and external engagement to raise awareness of the Act’s provisions and gather information about the support needed by schools, local authorities, workplaces and other partners to deliver the Act’s aims
• working with Llinos Roberts, the Chair of the Athrofa effective from April 2026, to appoint board members and ensure that preparations are made for the establishment of the Athrofa

Welsh in Education Strategic Plans

The Welsh in Education Strategic Plans (WESPs) are the basis for planning Welsh-medium education across Wales. They aim to increase access to Welsh language learning across all school categories in all parts of Wales, regardless of the medium of learning. They support our ambition to see everyone learning in a school or setting in Wales being supported to enjoy using the Welsh language, to make continued progress in learning it, and to have the confidence and skills to be able to choose to use Welsh beyond educational settings.

All WESPs have been in operation since September 2022. They include a clear emphasis on increasing the number of Welsh-medium primary school locations across Wales. They make commitments to establish 23 new Welsh-medium primary schools and expand 25 Welsh-medium primary schools by 2032.

The current WESPs, prepared under the School Standards and Organisation (Wales) Act 2013, will continue to be in place until the provisions of the Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Act 2025 regarding Local Welsh in Education Strategic Plans are commenced. The consultation on the National Framework for Welsh Language Education and Learning Welsh that will be undertaken in 2026 to 2027 will include proposed targets for local authorities that will form the basis of their new Local Welsh in Education Strategic Plans that will be operational by September 2030.

In 2026 to 2027 we will continue to support the implementation of current WESPs through the Welsh-medium capital grant funding and through wider Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme investment. The planned budget for the Welsh Medium Capital Grant is at £15m per annum over the next 3 years (2026 and 2027 to 2028 and 2029) but remains subject to budget availability and existing priorities.

We will continue to work closely with local authorities to support schools to change their language category over the next year. A number of local authorities have prioritised moving schools along a linguistic continuum as their main mechanism of meeting their WESP target, commitments have been made to change the category of 42 schools across Wales over the WESP period.

The ability to provide a later entry point than the foundation phase for learners who want Welsh-medium education is a crucial part of this picture. This is what late immersion education offers. The provision supports learners to undertake an intensive period of language acquisition so that their education can continue through the medium of Welsh. More than 11,000 learners have benefited from late immersion programmes since the grant started in 2021, almost half of whom were completely new to the language.

Late immersion funding now forms part of the Local Authority Education Grant (LAEG). The funding will continue to support provision already established (centres or units) or will lead to establishing new late immersion provision.

We will continue to maintain our network to support Welsh-medium immersion education to give officials the opportunity to liaise with immersion teachers, so that they can raise awareness of the different provisions available, the latest developments and best practice used across Wales.

To enable learners to access a wider curriculum through the medium of Welsh at GCSE and A-level, we will continue to fund the e-sgol project, building on the 16 additional schools that took part in 2025 to 2026.

‘Carlam Courses’, delivered through the e-sgol project, are a series of free digital resources through the medium of Welsh and English to support pupils in years 11, 12 and 13 across Wales. Carlam review sessions will continue to be offered in 2026 to 2027, building on the over 1,000 revision videos which have been viewed over 130,000 times. The videos are now also available via the Carlam Cymru app.

E-sgol’s primary provision will continue to expand during 2026 to 2027. A range of different projects and provision have been developed, including offering international languages and creative writing sessions for more able pupils.

Tertiary Education

Medr has responsibility for funding and regulating the tertiary sector, and the Welsh Ministers have designated the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol to advise Medr on its range of responsibilities. 

During 2026 to 2027 Medr will continue to invest to increase and improve Welsh-medium and bilingual learning opportunities, so that more young people are encouraged to embrace the Welsh language learning opportunities when they leave school. Medr will work closely with the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, tertiary education providers, and other key stakeholders to develop its new National Plan for the Welsh language and to ensure that adequate provision is available which meets the needs of learners and reflects Wales’s economic and social needs.

The Coleg will continue to implement its latest Higher Education Academic Plan (2022), as well as working with the providers to ensure that students have access to Welsh-medium learning experiences as part of their studies. The Coleg will continue to award a range of subject grants to maintain and expand Welsh-medium provision in the higher education sector, as well as incentive grants which aim to assist providers in creating new Welsh-medium provision.

The Coleg’s undergraduate scholarships scheme will support students studying their entire course, or a portion of their course, through the medium of Welsh. The Coleg will also continue to run its Research Scholarship Scheme for prospective academics studying for a doctorate through the medium of Welsh. In the further education and apprenticeship sectors, the Coleg will continue to drive initiatives to increase Welsh-medium and bilingual provision across vocational learning. This includes developing provision and capacity in these sectors and ensuring learners have opportunities to develop and use Welsh in both education and the workplace.

The Coleg will build on strategic projects already completed to develop provision and capacity in further education colleges, extending opportunities for learners to study through the medium of Welsh and bilingually. In order to achieve this, the Coleg will work with strategic partners and the post-16 sector, establishing a sound infrastructure.

In the further education sector, the Coleg will continue to strengthen and support provision in priority areas such as Health and Care, Childcare, Construction, Public Services, Sport and Land-based Studies.

In the apprenticeships sector, the Coleg will continue to support strategic projects to develop capacity and maintain provision in the health and care, childcare and public services sectors, as well as develop infrastructure to support the growth of the Welsh language across the network of providers. In developing this structure, the intention is to enable more learners to speak Welsh and become confident bilingual speakers in the workplace.

The Coleg will support activities to promote and facilitate the use of Welsh in the further education and apprenticeships sector, recruiting ambassadors across colleges and apprenticeship providers, and implementing staff training and mentoring schemes.

Learn Welsh Provision

The National Centre for Learning Welsh (the Centre) will continue to build on the growing interest in learning Welsh, providing a wide range of on-line and face to face courses to diverse audiences. The provision will also include specific courses to raise the confidence of Welsh speakers to use the language, and a programme of learner support activities to encourage the use of Welsh, such as the Siarad scheme, which promotes bringing Welsh speakers and learners together.

During 2026 to 2027, the Centre will continue to provide support for the statutory education sector workforce, ensuring that workers can access a Learn Welsh programme which offers various courses at all levels free of charge. Courses will be offered to meet the needs of specific schools and clusters, as well as specific courses for school Headteachers and Senior Leaders. During 2026 to 2027, the Centre will continue to manage the Sabbatical Scheme, which provides intensive courses for education practitioners with the aim of increasing the number of practitioners who can teach through the medium of Welsh or bilingually.

The Centre will continue to prioritise Welsh language learning for young people aged 16 to 25, which is funded through the ‘Ymlaen gyda’r Dysgu’ grant. During 2026 to 2027, the Centre will offer Welsh lessons in vocational areas in Further Education colleges, offer a residential course, and provide Welsh language learning lessons to undergraduates in the context of their degree.

The Centre will continue to run the Cymraeg Gwaith (Work Welsh scheme), with provision varying from on-line self-study taster courses to intensive residential courses. It will continue to offer sector-specific provision, including a national plan for the health and social care sector, in support of the Welsh Government’s More than Just Words Plan. During 2026 to 2027, the Centre will place Welsh language learning tutors in health authorities to help health and social care workers across Wales to increase their confidence to use the Welsh language with patients and colleagues.

During 2026 to 2027, the Centre will continue to work in partnership with our police forces and sports sector bodies. Welsh language learning tutors will be placed within the North Wales, South Wales and Gwent Police Forces, to provide training, mentoring and aftercare support. In the sports sector, the Centre will continue to provide courses and tailored resources for the Welsh Rugby Union, the Football Association of Wales and Wrexham Football Club. The aim is to target staff in these organisations as well as grassroots workers and supporters.

Learning Welsh in the workplace helps to strengthen employees’ confidence to use the language in everyday situations, which also allows organisations to provide better Welsh language services to their users. This contributes directly to our aim of increasing the number of Welsh-speakers and doubling the daily use of Welsh by 2050.

The new National Institute for Learning Welsh (the Athrofa) will support lifelong Welsh language learning, helping more people to learn and use Welsh every day, and giving everyone the chance to progress along their language journey. As part of the work to implement the Welsh Language and Education Act, work will continue during 2026 to 2027 to establish the Athrofa, which will start operating on 1 August 2027.

Education workforce 

We will continue to implement our Welsh in education workforce plan published in May 2022 to correspond with the 10-year period of the Welsh in Education Strategic Plans. Through the plan we are working in collaboration with a number of key stakeholders to address four aims:

• Increase the number of teachers able to teach Welsh as a subject, and other subjects through the medium of Welsh. 
• Increase the number of practitioners able to work through the medium of Welsh who are supporting learners.
• Develop all practitioners’ Welsh language skills and expertise to teach Welsh and through the medium of Welsh.
• Develop leadership capacity for Welsh-medium schools and equip all leaders with the skills to strategically plan the development of Welsh within a culture of schools as learning organisations.

Initiatives funded through the plan include the ‘Cynllun Pontio’ conversion scheme, the Welsh in Education Teacher Retention Bursary, the Capacity Building Grant, and tailored support by the National Centre for Learning Welsh to improve practitioners’ confidence and proficiency, including intensive support through the Sabbatical Scheme. We also offer the Iaith ‘Athrawon Yfory’ ITE incentive to attract new teachers. The Salaried PGCE, which enables schools to plan strategically and support their own workforce to become teachers, will continue in 2026 to 2027 with a higher level of salary contribution grant for student teachers in Welsh-medium and transitional category schools.

We will review and build upon the plan as we prepare to set out, in the National Framework for Welsh Language Education and Learning Welsh, the steps we will take to ensure the number of practitioners meets the need.

Alongside this, actions within the Strategic Education Workforce Plan for Schools will support the Welsh language education workforce, as part of a holistic plan to address challenges such as recruitment and retention, workload and wellbeing.

Theme 2: increasing the use of Welsh

The second main aim of ‘Cymraeg 2050’, which is to double the percentage who use Welsh every day, is well established. We have made it clear that increasing language use will be at the heart of everything we do in the context of ‘Cymraeg 2050’. During 2026 to 2027, we will continue to work across Government and with various partners across Wales to increase the use of our language at home, at a social and community level, on the schoolyard, in workplaces, in businesses, and digitally.

Cymraeg 2050 Grant Scheme 

The contribution of our grant recipients to our work in increasing the use of Welsh is absolutely key as we implement ‘Cymraeg 2050’. From 2026 to 2027 grant recipients of our core grant scheme will receive longer term grant funding, which will enable them to plan their work in a more strategic and sustainable way.

The network of mentrau iaith operate as community language planners, responding proactively to the specific linguistic contexts and needs of their communities. In line with the recommendations of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities, we will work in partnership with and support the mentrau iaith to better plan for and measure their impact. This will support better alignment between their activities and the aims and objectives of ‘Cymraeg 2050’, while also strengthening their capacity to evaluate and understand their impact.

Planning an Eisteddfod is a community project that continues for a period of three years. It not only brings valuable economic benefit to an area but acts as a catalyst for raising awareness of our language and culture. The community activities leading up to the Eisteddfod not only increase the number of opportunities for people to use their Welsh in the run‑up to the event, but often also create spaces and activities that continue for years after the Eisteddfod has moved on from the area. 

We will embrace every opportunity the 850th celebration of the National Eisteddfod provides to raise awareness of how unique and valuable the Eisteddfod is to our language and culture. As the Eisteddfod prepare to host the festival in the county of Pembrokeshire, we will work with the Eisteddfod to ensure a lasting legacy for our language within the area. This year again, we will be supporting the Eisteddfod to offer free entry to lower income families, in order to offer local people the opportunity to attend the festival, many for the first time, to get a taste of our language and culture on their doorstep.

Welsh language transmission and use in families

Our National policy on Welsh language transmission and use in families focuses on: 

• Inspiring children and young people to speak Welsh with their children in the future.
• Reviving the Welsh language skills of those who may not have used the language since leaving school, or who lack confidence in their language skills, to speak Welsh with their children.
• Supporting and encouraging the use of Welsh within families where not everybody speaks Welsh.
• Supporting Welsh-speaking families to speak Welsh with their children.

We will disseminate the findings of our research which uses behavioural science to look at Welsh language transmission between parents and their children. This research follows three work streams:

1. music, and how it can be used as an incentive for parents and children to use the language
2. toys and their potential contribution to transmission behaviours 
3. information sent to parents about Welsh language use. 

Statistics clearly show that using Welsh at home as a child strongly influences the extent to which Welsh is used later in life. We will also examine the potential of other forms of language transmission (for example, between siblings, in the community, and the potential of parents who don’t speak Welsh to socialize their children in Cymraeg). The Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities second phase has also examined other forms of transmission. We will respond to the Commission’s recommendations during 2026 to 2027.

Youth sector 

Our focus will continue to be on bridging between education, community and family. Working extensively across Government and with external stakeholders, including young people, we will ensure that our interventions are fit for purpose and raises to the challenges we face in increasing the use of the Welsh language among young people. 

We will continue to work closely with the Urdd over the coming year to ensure that children and young people can continue to access invaluable opportunities to enjoy and use their Welsh. Similarly to the National Eisteddfod’s scheme mentioned above, we are pleased again this year to fund a package to give lower income local families the opportunity to enjoy free entry to the Urdd Eisteddfod in Ynys Môn in May. 

As the Young Farmers’ Clubs celebrates their 90th year, we will work closely with them to ensure that we give young people opportunities to use their Welsh in all sorts of contexts across the country. We will continue to work closely with other partners in the youth sector to support children and young people’s use of Welsh during this year.

Leading in a Bilingual Country 

This programme provides an opportunity for leaders to discuss how the spirit of ‘Cymraeg 2050’ can be embodied within their organisations. We will continue to run Leading in a Bilingual Country and invite new cohorts to take part in the programme in the coming year. Given the popularity of Leading in a Bilingual Country, we will also examine how we can expand the programme, possibly using a train the trainer model.

Use of Welsh within the Welsh Government 

During 2026 to 2027 we will continue to implement the second phase of our internal use of Welsh strategy, ‘Cymraeg. It belongs to us all’, to facilitate greater use of Welsh in our workplace. Our aim is to support the organisation to increasingly operate through the medium of Welsh and provide opportunities for our workforce to learn the language, develop their skills and use Welsh at work. 

Since the strategy was first launched in 2020 we have developed a better understanding of the context and statistical change required to reach our objective of becoming a truly bilingual organisation by 2050. This work allows us to better understand the decisions that will need to be taken in the next few years to achieve the goal.

Our next steps to 2030 will therefore be to:

• Map the necessary pathway for the workforce to 2050.
• Change the way we describe and record the Welsh language ability of the workforce, by adopting the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).
• Develop and implement recruitment, promotion and training policies, based on evidence and statistical planning, that will, over time, allow us to become a bilingual organisation by 2050.

Welsh Language Standards

The Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Act 2025 places a duty on Welsh Ministers to review Welsh language standards which are specified under section 26 of the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011. The purpose of the review, which will begin during 2026 to 2027, will be to determine whether amendments are necessary to any of the standards relating to improving or assessing the Welsh language skills of the workforce as a result of the proposed Code to describe Welsh language ability, and to facilitate achieving targets set in a revised Welsh Language Strategy.

During 2026 to 2027, we will work with the Welsh Language Commissioner to consider which bodies and sectors should be prioritised in terms of preparing standards for them during the next Senedd term, and begin the work of implementing the agreed work programme.

Welsh Language Music Day

Building on previous success in celebrating the annual Welsh Language Music Day (Dydd Miwsig Cymru) campaign we will focus on creating deeper strategic relationships with key stakeholders within the Welsh music scene, with the view of promoting collaboration and innovation.

We will provide an emphasis on increasing the number of musical events held across Wales throughout the year by working with the sector. The aim as always will be to attract new audiences to the Welsh language, who are at different stages of their journey in relation to the language. We will do this by celebrating the full diversity of our vibrant music scene in all our communities across Wales and beyond.

Theme 3: creating favourable conditions, infrastructure and context

We will continue to work in a variety of areas to build a strong infrastructure that will create favourable conditions for the Welsh language to thrive so that everyone is given the opportunity to learn our language and use it.

Housing, language and employment

A number of different elements can affect the prosperity of our Welsh-speaking communities. We are aware that high numbers of second homes and short-term holiday accommodation in communities, particularly along our coast, can be detrimental to and affect the availability of affordable housing, the local economy, services and Welsh as a community language. 

We are committed to supporting the sustainability of Welsh-speaking communities by aligning housing, language planning, economy and economic development policies to offer a range of interventions to continue to be implemented during 2026 to 2027. These interventions are an integral part of the ‘Welsh Language Communities Housing Plan’.

The Perthyn project will continue during 2026 to 2027, with the main aim of providing specialist support for community groups to develop ideas in becoming social enterprises or community-led housing schemes. The grant fund will continue to be available across the whole of Wales to support community groups to set up as social enterprises, with the prosperity of the Welsh language a central part of their vision. The scheme has already supported many communities by meeting housing, economic and social needs. 

Since its launch in 2024, the network of Cultural Ambassadors has grown. The network aims to empower individuals to share knowledge about:

• our history
• our culture and heritage
• the history of the Welsh language
• the benefits of learning and using it in all walks of life
• promoting the use of Welsh amongst visitors and people new to the area

The course is part of the Ambassador Wales platform, and in 2026 to 2027 we will continue to collaborate with key partners and wider Ambassador Wales programmes to create opportunities to develop and support the network. 

During the 2025 to 2026 financial year, £500k was provided to continue aspects of the ARFOR programme, and to ‘pause and reflect’ on the lessons learnt and best practice from ARFOR 1 and 2. In 2026 to 2027 we will consider the findings and conclusions of the ‘pause and reflect’ exercise to inform opportunities for mainstreaming and the Government’s response to elements of the Commission for Welsh-speaking communities report.

Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities

The work of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities is split into two phases. The first phase examined communities with a higher density of Welsh speakers whilst the second examines communities with medium or lower densities of Welsh speakers. During 2026 to 2027 we will continue to implement the recommendations of the Commission’s ‘Empowering communities, strengthening the Welsh language’ report (phase 1), and in particular progress work to establish a system for designating areas of higher density linguistic significance. We will also pay close attention to the findings and recommendations of the Commission’s second phase and begin implementing both as we review and refresh ‘Cymraeg 2050’. The reports of both phases of the Commission’s work will provide a firm foundation for the refreshed ‘Cymraeg 2050’ strategy.

Technology and the Welsh language 

We will continue to work to increase the amount of Welsh language technology that’s available, and to enable easy access to this for all. We will do this through our Welsh language technology and AI priorities.

These are:

• Technology to increase the daily use of Cymraeg.
• Making sure everyone can access Welsh language technology.
• Improving Welsh language artificial intelligence (AI) and speech technologies (through data sharing and other ways).

This year, we will continue to work with the Welsh Language Commissioner, for example to make the Iaith Gwaith / Working Welsh logo more prominent in the digital world. This is part of our wider work with the Commissioner on developing the use of Welsh language digital technology and services in workplaces and beyond.

We will continue to work with companies to identify gaps and offer data and resources on Welsh language support for people with specific needs. Our work with Tobii Dynavox for example, a company that creates software to help people communicate, has already led to Welsh language software that supports children and adults who have difficulty speaking, and we will continue to work in this field this year. We will also continue to support research into user experience of bilingual technology, gathering evidence on alternative and augmentative communication (AAC) technology specifically. We will continue to work with the RNIB to issue licences for the Geraint and Gwyneth synthetic voices, which are available to people with vision impairments either directly through the RNIB, or Hwb.

We will continue to work with Microsoft to further develop provisions for bilingual use cases and to further improve how Copilot processes Welsh. We will also continue to work with UNESCO as part of their Decade of Indigenous Languages so that our work on this can help multilingual communities around the world.

Our main message remains that we will do everything we can to make it easier to use Welsh in technology, and that we will use everything that technology has to offer to help us use Welsh.

Linguistic infrastructure 

We will continue to implement our Welsh linguistic infrastructure policy, published in 2023. That means continuing to develop a more interconnected structure to maintain and develop the linguistic infrastructure of the Welsh language. The aim is to help people to know where to access support when using Welsh, giving them the confidence to use the language freely.

We will continue to monitor and develop our Get Welsh Words web pages, launched in 2025 to help anyone find the right Welsh words and terms for them, with a focus on adding useful terminology lists and tools that are useful to users of all levels. We will continue to hold meetings of the Welsh Language Standardisation Panel with the aim of creating more consistency between resources. We will also begin to explore the possibilities AI brings in terms of the ability to search multiple linguistic resources in one place. 

Welsh place names 

Having published research on current trends in relation to place name changes in Wales in June 2025, we set out our priorities for Welsh place names in an Oral Statement by the Minister for Finance and Welsh Language in September. 

During 2026 to 2027, we will therefore continue to work on the priorities set out in the Oral Statement. 

This will include:

• developing clearer and more practical guidance to support organisations responsible for place names
• commissioning research into topographical names, especially those used by tourism and outdoor pursuits communities and later adopted locally and online, to help us better understand how these versions emerge and how Welsh language names can be safeguarded
• promoting our Place Names Recording Tool on DataMapWales, where anyone can record Welsh and historic names that don’t already appear on online maps, and sharing those names as widely as possible for inclusion on digital maps and other materials

We will also continue to work with a variety of partners and bodies to explore ways of safeguarding and promoting Welsh place names. 

This will include:

• Local Authorities and National Parks in Wales
• the Welsh Language Commissioner
• the curator of the statutory List of Historic Place Names, which is maintained by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
• mapping projects both in Wales (Mapio Cymru) and on a UK level (such as the Ordnance Survey)
• the UNESCO Working Group on Geographical Names as Cultural Heritage

Wales and the wider world 

We will continue to promote the Welsh language on the international stage. This will include playing a leading role in international networks on language planning, such as the Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity (NPLD), the British-Irish Council and UNESCO’s Decade of Indigenous Languages 2022 to 2032. The work of the British-Irish Council will continue to focus on increasing language use (at home in the early years, amongst young people and in workplaces), linguistic infrastructure and culture. We are also a member of the UNESCO ad hoc group focusing on equality and digital issues, and will focus on ensuring that the world’s different multilingual communities learn from each other and come together to make it easier to create content in more languages through technology.

We will also continue to implement various work programmes and Memoranda of Understanding with regions and countries around the world, such as Cornwall, Brittany, Catalonia, the Basque Country and Ireland.

We will continue to highlight the importance of the Welsh language and our bilingualism as we promote Wales internationally, as part of our international strategy.

We will also continue to work with the Urdd on its Message of Peace and Goodwill for 2026.

The Welsh language and equality

We will continue to work across Government, and beyond, to implement our various social justice action plans. 

We are committed to implementing the actions within our ‘Anti Racist Wales Action Plan’.

We will continue to promote access to Welsh-medium education and ensure that our marketing and communications activity reflects the communities we serve, and that the Welsh terminology we use is appropriate and culturally sensitive. 

We will continue to work with the National Centre for Learning Welsh to provide opportunities for refugees and asylum seekers to learn Welsh on courses available through their Croeso i Bawb scheme. This will include opportunities to learn Welsh through languages such as Cantonese, Syrian Arabic, Farsi, Pashto and Ukrainian.

We are also mindful of the commitments made in responding to the recommendations of the Commission for Welsh‑speaking Communities, including the need to build on existing engagement with equality groups and minority communities to better understand their experiences and inform future policy.

Broadcasting 

During 2026 to 2027, we will continue to support Welsh language productions and content through Creative Wales’ production funding, working with S4C through our Memorandum of Understanding. This will build on recent successes such as 'Cleddau / The One that Got Away', 'Y Deis, Athrawon, Y Wal and Y Golau: Dŵr'. We will also continue our focus on supporting Welsh language feature film, following support for the latest wave of projects through Sinema Cymru, our partnership with S4C and FfilmCymru, which includes 'Llyfr Glas Nebo' by writer Manon Steffan Ros, produced by Severn Screen and 'MOGI', by Mared Swain, produced by Divergence.

In addition, we will continue our work on matters such as BBC Charter Renewal and ongoing implementation of the Media Act to support a fit for purpose regulatory framework to ensure provision of Welsh language programming and services meets the needs of audiences in Wales.

Culture

We will continue the implementation of the Welsh Government’s Priorities for Culture, published in May 2025, which include a clear ambition around supporting and promoting the Welsh language and reflecting Wales as a bilingual and multilingual nation.

Arm’s-length bodies in the culture sector, including the Arts Council of Wales, Amgueddfa Cymru, the National Library of Wales and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales will continue to make an important contribution to the implementation of ‘Cymraeg 2050’ during 2026 to 2027.

The Welsh language will continue to benefit from our financial support for the culture sector in Wales, including our support for local libraries, museums and archives.

Research and statistics 

We will continue to expand our evidence base as a foundation for implementing ‘Cymraeg 2050’ in the coming year. We published our ‘Cymraeg 2050’ Areas of Research Interest in January 2026, which sets out the types of evidence that will currently be most valuable in informing our decisions. Throughout the next year, the ARI will support our engagement with the research community to build a strong evidence base.

Its aims are to:

• support knowledge sharing
• stimulate new research aligned to ‘Cymraeg 2050’ priorities
• encourage increased investment in research relating to the Welsh language

We will continue our work with the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Jesus College, University of Oxford, and the University of the Highlands and Islands on Prosiect BRO, a comprehensive socio-linguistic study of the Welsh language in its heartlands. The project aims to further our understanding of the policy interventions needed to protect Welsh-speaking communities by providing a detailed analysis of the use of Welsh, something the census figures are unable to do. The first output of the project, a compendium analysing Census statistics at local authority and LSOA (lower super output area) level, was published as part of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities’ report in August 2024. Further outputs are expected in the coming year. 

We have commissioned an evaluation of the ‘Welsh Language Communities Housing Plan’ to establish how the Plan has empowered communities to create and develop plans to address the challenges facing Welsh-speaking communities with high levels of second homes. 

We are commissioning research into Set up and Succeed (Sefydlu a Symud) in order to inform future work to expand Welsh-medium early years provision. 

We will undertake planning for an evaluation of the Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Act 2025.

During 2026 to 2027, we will proceed with the joint work plan with the Office for National Statistics to improve our understanding of the surveys and the main sources of administrative data about the Welsh language. Over the past year, we undertook a consultation on the case for collecting data about Welsh speakers living outside Wales. We intend to publish findings in due course. We are also progressing work to update the statistical pathway towards one million Welsh speakers by 2050, using Census 2021 data and the latest population data.

We will continue to work closely with the Office for National Statistics as it plans to hold a census in Wales in 2031, which we will use to monitor our progress towards a million Welsh speakers.