Senedd Cymru (Member Accountability and Elections) Bill: Welsh Language impact assessment

Cymraeg 2050 is our national strategy for increasing the number of Welsh speakers to a million by 2050.

The Welsh Government is fully committed to the new strategy, with the target of a million speakers included in its Programme for Government. A thriving Welsh language is also included in one of the 7 well-being goals in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.

We also have a statutory obligation to fully consider the effects of our work on the Welsh Language. This means that any Welsh Government policy should consider how our policies affect the language and those who speak it.

The Cymraeg 2050 strategy has 3 interrelated themes:

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Theme 1: Increasing the number of Welsh speakers

• Language transmission in the family
• The early years
• Statutory education
• Post-compulsory education
• The education workforce, resources and qualifications

Theme 2: Increasing the use of Welsh

• The workplace
• Services
• Social use of Welsh

Theme 3: Creating favourable conditions - infrastructure and context

• Community and economy
• Culture and media
• Wales and wider world
• Digital technology
• Linguistic infrastructure
• Language planning
• Evaluation and research

Senedd Cymru (Member Accountability and Elections) Bill

The Senedd Cymru (Member Accountability and Elections) Bill introduces a system of recall of Members of the Senedd from office during their term. It will allow electors the final say on whether a Member of the Senedd should be removed or retained following one of two possible trigger events having occurred:

• a Member is convicted of an offence in the United Kingdom and receiving a custodial sentence or ordered to be imprisoned or detained (and it is a sentence that does not result in automatic disqualification from office)
• the Senedd agreeing to submit a Member to a recall poll following a recommendation from the Standards of Conduct Committee (‘SoCC’) to impose the sanction of recall.

It also includes measures which aim to strengthen the Senedd’s standards process including:

• providing for additional flexibility for the Senedd Commissioner for Standards (‘the Commissioner’) to carry out an investigation into a Member’s conduct of their own initiative
• allowing the Senedd (should they choose to do so) the ability to appoint lay Members to the SoCC
• requiring the Senedd to establish a SoCC in every future Seneddau, and
• providing for the ability for the Senedd to establish an appeals mechanism as part of the standards process.

The Bill also clarifies the Welsh Ministers’ existing powers in the Government of Wales Act 2006 to make provision about the conduct of Senedd elections and introduces a duty upon Welsh Ministers to make provision prohibiting the making or publishing of false statements of fact.

Impact on the Welsh language and measures to improve outcomes for the Welsh language

The Welsh Government’s Cymraeg 2050 strategy sets out a vision to reach a million Welsh speakers and double daily language use by 2050 and in doing so, normalise the Welsh language in as many aspects of life as possible. It aims to sustain and grow communities with high numbers of Welsh speakers and to promote and facilitate provision of bilingual services in order to increase the range of services offered to Welsh speakers, and to see an increase in use of Welsh-language services.

The overall aims of the Senedd Cymru (Member Accountability and Elections) Bill are not directly related to promoting the Welsh language however, the paragraphs below illustrate how the Welsh language was considered in the development of relevant aspects of the legislation.

Recall System

The establishment of a recall process will not directly impact on the Welsh language but measures will be put in place to ensure that the electorate and Members of the Senedd are able to engage in the process through the medium of Welsh. This supports the vision of the Welsh Government’s Cymraeg 2050 strategy of normalising the use of Welsh language in as many aspects of life as possible.

The policy intention is that the conduct of a Recall Poll will be similar to the delivery of a Senedd general election in a constituency. The Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act, will bring in a new system for Senedd general elections ahead of the 2026 Senedd election. A full Welsh Language Impact Assessment was completed and published in relation to the provisions in the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act.

The Bill specifies that each ballot paper must be written in Welsh and English. The questions and answers that must appear on a ballot paper for a recall poll are provided bilingually on the face of the Bill.
The Bill confers a power on Welsh Ministers to make regulations relating to the conduct of recall polls – in effect the detailed “rules” in respect of a recall poll. As part of the development of these Regulations their impact on the Welsh language will be considered.

The Bill places a general duty on constituency returning officers (CRO ) in relation to the conduct of a recall poll in a Senedd constituency in accordance with the Bill and regulations made under it.

It is currently envisaged, but not determined, that the CRO’s role for recall polls will be similar to their role in Senedd elections. These are set out in the existing Electoral Commission guidance for Returning Officers as comprising:

• publication of the notice of election for the constituency contest
• administration of the nomination process for the constituency contest
• encouraging participation
• publication of the statement of persons nominated and the notice of poll or the constituency contest
• provision and equipment of polling stations
• appointment of polling station staff
• conduct of the poll
• management of the postal vote process
• verification and counting of the votes for both the constituency contest and that part of the regional contest that falls within the constituency
• declaration of the constituency result.

The Electoral Commission guidance (Part A – Returning Officer role and responsibilities Senedd and Police and Crime Commissioner elections: guidance for Returning Officers October 2020 – para 1.12) for Returning Officers requires that Returning Officers must have regard to the Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011. Electoral services are therefore delivered in Welsh, as far as reasonable and proportionate, so as to treat the Welsh language no less favourably than the English language. Furthermore, the practical utilisation of the infrastructure and staff of local authorities to deliver a recall poll will therefore integrate the use of Welsh in their delivery.

Measures to strengthen the Senedd’s standards process

Provisions in the Bill relate to actions to be undertaken by the Senedd – in particular the appointment of “lay members” to the Standards of Conduct Committee, and amendments to the National Assembly for Wales Commissioner for Standards Measure 2009. The Senedd is subject to the National Assembly for Wales (Official Languages) Act 2012 (the 2012 Act), which makes provision about the use of the English and Welsh languages in Senedd proceedings and in the way the Senedd Commission discharges its functions. The 2012 Act provides that:

• English and Welsh are the official languages of the Senedd
• both languages must be treated on the basis of equality
• the use of either official language is permitted in Senedd proceedings
• the record of proceedings must contain a transcript in the original language together with a translation into the other language
• each Senedd must publish an Official Languages Scheme which makes provision about matters such as:
  • simultaneous translation
  • the publication of documents bilingually
  • public engagement
  • measuring progress
  • a language skills strategy for staff
• the Senedd must report annually on the way it discharges its duties under the Scheme, and any breaches of the Scheme.

The Official Languages Scheme for the Sixth Senedd was formally adopted by the Senedd on 28 September 2022. As a result of these provisions, the Senedd will be required to take account of the Welsh language in their recruitment process, and the provisions will apply to proceedings of the SoCC that any lay members take part in.