Cymraeg 2050: Welsh language strategy action plan 2025 to 2026

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. The Programme for Government also underpins many of our plans until the next Senedd. 

Furthermore, 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 2025 to 2026 financial year.

Therefore, this year, in order to progress on our journey towards a million Welsh speakers, and double the percentage of those who use Welsh every day, we will continue to focus on:

• education through the Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill
• sustaining our Welsh-speaking communities
• increasing language use in all areas and contexts
• language technology

The ‘Cymraeg 2050’ strategy includes 2 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: the Welsh language 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 3 strategic themes:

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

We’ll 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 where there is a high density of Welsh speakers.
• 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 language education system.
• Improving the attainment of pupils studying the Welsh language in English-medium schools.
• Introducing a Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill.
• Creating bilingual citizens by offering opportunities for everyone of all ages to learn Welsh and use it regularly.
• Analysing a range of data sources to try to better understand the differences we are seeing in the numbers who identify as being able to speak Welsh.
• Supporting parents, wherever they are on their language journey, to understand the technology available to help their children use more of their Welsh.
• Continuing to develop and support technology for specific needs, for example bilingual synthetic voices to help Welsh speakers with Motor Neurone Disease communicate in Welsh after they lose their ability to speak.
• 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.
• Evaluating the 'Welsh Language Communities Housing Plan'.
• Expanding the Perthyn scheme across Wales.
• Continuing to support partners who host events and create opportunities to use the Welsh language unconditionally.
• Responding to the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities' report: Empowering communities, strengthening the Welsh language and the additional chapter on town and country planning.
• Supporting the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities with its second phase of work, which focuses on communities with a medium or lower density of Welsh speakers in Wales and beyond.
• Continuing to take steps to protect Welsh place names, including action based on the research report to be published before the summer of 2025.
• 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 and English 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) Bill 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.

The early years 

We’ll continue to work with our key partner, Mudiad Meithrin, 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.

Mudiad Meithrin continues 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 82 provisions, with a further 17 projects currently underway. 

During 2023 to 2024, nursery groups provided almost 9,000 weekly care hours, a record figure. During this period, over 11,000 children benefited from this care, this is an increase of 352 hours on the previous year. This care provides great opportunities for children and their families to engage with the Welsh language during the early years. 

Developing the early years workforce is essential in supporting this area through programmes such as Mudiad Meithrin's Cam wrth Gam scheme. The former Minister for Health and Social Services and former Deputy Minister for Social Services approved funding of £528,000 in 2024 to 2025 and £1,108,800 in 2025 to 2026 to continue the scheme to train practitioners in Welsh-medium childcare qualifications. The programme has been awarded 'Direct Claim Status', a quality assurance standard by City and Guilds and WJEC examination boards for providing these qualifications. We continue to work with officials across Government to explore options to ensure more practitioners are trained to respond to sector demands.

Work to expand and strengthen Welsh-medium early years provision through the Flying Start programme will continue during 2025 to 2026. 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 choose Welsh-medium childcare and education. 

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

Statutory education

The Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill 

The Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill was introduced in the Senedd in July 2024. The purpose of the Bill will be to facilitate the work of increasing the number of Welsh speakers to reach the target of a million by 2050. The Bill will introduce the concept of a Welsh language continuum and support all pupils to become independent and confident Welsh speakers by the end of their statutory education, by 2050. This includes laying solid foundations to increase Welsh-medium education, as well as planning for continued progress to improve the linguistic outcomes of pupils in all schools. 

The Government will continue to steer the Bill through its Senedd passage in early 2025 to 2026. Subject to the approval of the Senedd and Royal Assent, we will proceed to implement the Act during the year, beginning with consultation on a statutory Code to describe Welsh language ability.

Welsh in Education Strategic Plans 

The Welsh in Education Strategic Plans (WESPs) continue to be a 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 over the next decade. The first 2 annual review reports on the local authorities' WESPs show progress across the 7 outcomes of the scheme, with signs that the planning and operating foundations laid during the first year of existing schemes are beginning to take root. Since the new WESPs were implemented in 2022, 16 new schools have opened or been relocated to increase their capacity to take more learners. 31 projects to expand Welsh-medium provision have also been completed, including childcare, additional learning needs (ALN) and language centre projects.

These developments were supported through the Welsh-medium capital grant funding and through wider Sustainable Communities for Learning Programme investment. A number of other capital developments are being fulfilled by local authorities in response to their commitments in the WESP. We will monitor the progress of at least 10 of these developments during 2025 to 2026. Our WESP officials will continue to work with the authorities throughout the year to offer guidance and support. 

Following the publication of new guidance for categorising schools by Welsh-medium provision in 2021, a number of local authorities have prioritised moving schools along a linguistic continuum by changing their language category to dual language or Welsh-medium, 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. Since 2022, there have been consultations to change the category of 8 schools across Wales. We will continue to work closely with local authorities to support schools to change their language category over the next year. 

During 2024, in collaboration with local authorities, we were able to assign a language category to all relevant schools in Wales, a total of 1,415. This will set in place important infrastructure for the Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill. 

Welsh-medium capital funding will continue to support the efforts of local authorities in implementing their WESPs. Welsh-medium capital funding is consistent with historic allocations of £15 million a year. An additional £5 million has been included in the 2025 to 2026 budget to support the current plans through to completion. A list of projects will be submitted and awarded in accordance with WESP priorities, and supported in accordance with affordability and cash flow over a three-year period. This will allow continued investment to build and renovate new Welsh-medium schools at a 100% intervention rate. Welsh-medium capital projects will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis to ensure they are aligned with WESP priorities, resulting in more learners becoming independent Welsh speakers. 

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. 

We have committed to investing £3m in the 2025 to 2026 financial year to support late immersion provision in all local authorities in Wales. The funding will continue to support provision already established (centres or units) or will lead to establishing new late immersion provision. Since the Government introduced a late immersion grant, it has supported over 40 late immersion provisions. These include centres or units serving the primary Welsh-medium education sector, and also the secondary. More than 4,000 learners have benefited from late immersion programmes since the grant started in 2021, almost half of whom were completely new to the language, and the rest have received intensive support in immersive learning methodologies to reinforce their Welsh language skills, particularly post-COVID-19. 

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. During 2025 to 2026, we will collaborate with our immersion research experts to run workshops with immersion practitioners in Wales and Québec.

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. e-sgol has been expanding annually since its launch in 2018. During 2024 to 2025, 80 courses (GCSE, AS and A-level) were offered across 55 schools to 813 pupils. The project is expected to expand further during 2025 to 2026.

In March 2021, 'Carlam Courses' were introduced as part of the e-sgol project, a series of free, virtual sessions through the medium of Welsh and English to support pupils in years 11, 12 and 13 across Wales. Carlam review sessions continue to be offered, and to date, the scheme has produced a total of 1,096 videos of sessions which have been viewed 100,177 times. The courses will continue in 2025 to 2026.

During 2023 to 2024, e-sgol expanded into the primary sector, with pupils across Wales taking advantage of the provision. A range of different projects and provision have developed since then, including offering international languages and creative writing sessions for more able pupils. Primary provision will continue to expand during 2025 to 2026. 

Learning Welsh post-16 

Welsh Ministers have designated the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol to provide advice to Medr on its statutory duties relating to the Welsh language. Medr has responsibility for funding and regulating the tertiary sector, and the Coleg will be expected to advise on the range of responsibilities. During 2025 to 2026, the Coleg will continue to advise Medr as it implements its first Strategic Plan.

The Coleg will continue to implement its latest Higher Education Academic Plan (2022), as well as collaborate with the providers to ensure that students studying for a degree have access to Welsh-medium learning experiences as part of their course. The Coleg will continue to award subject grants to maintain and expand Welsh-medium provision in the higher education sector, and award incentive grants to assist providers in creating new Welsh-medium provision. During 2025 to 2026, the Coleg will support pilot projects focused on expanding Welsh-medium higher education audiences. This includes 2 projects to fund 'language animateur' posts, and 2 project grants to fund language skills provision planning posts. The Coleg will also continue to offer undergraduate scholarships to students studying their entire course, or a portion of their course, through the medium of Welsh.

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, 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. Another priority for 2025 to 2026 is the digital area, and the Coleg will hold training sessions for staff on the use of artificial intelligence programmes to facilitate bilingual learning.

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 2025 to 2026, the Centre will continue to increase 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 developed to meet the needs of specific schools and clusters, and also specific courses for school Headteachers and Senior Leaders. During 2025 to 2026, the Welsh Government's Sabbaticals Scheme will be transferred to be part of the Centre's Education Workforce programme.

The Centre will continue to prioritise Welsh language learning for 16 to 25 year olds which is funded through the Onwards with Welsh (Ymlaen gyda’r Dysgu) grant. During 2025 to 2026, 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 implement specific plans for different sectors, including a national health and care plan. During 2025 to 2026, the Centre will place Welsh language learning tutors in health authorities to carry out training, mentoring and aftercare schemes, and continue to expand the scheme to collaborate with specialist areas within the sector. 

During 2025 to 2026, the Centre will also prioritise working in partnership with police forces and sports sector bodies. A scheme will be developed to place a Welsh language learning tutor within the North Wales, South Wales and Gwent Police Forces, to ensure training, mentoring and aftercare schemes. In the area of sport, the Centre will continue to implement joint schemes with the Welsh Rugby Union, the Football Association of Wales and Wrexham Football Club, which will provide courses and resources tailored to the sector. The aim is to target central staff as well as grassroots workers and supporters.

As well as increasing the number of Welsh speakers and the use of the language, Cymraeg Gwaith also allows organisations to provide better Welsh language services to their users. The scheme will also contribute to our aim of increasing opportunities for people to use Welsh in the workplace. 

Educational resources 

In 2023, we established Adnodd, a company limited by guarantee to oversee and co-ordinate the provision of educational resources in Welsh and English, to support the teaching and learning of Curriculum for Wales. Our aim, through Adnodd, is to support practitioners, learners and their families throughout their educational experience, and to do so by commissioning high quality, bilingual resources that support and inspire their learning.

To ensure a more strategic approach to commissioning educational resources, Adnodd will work with content creators, educational practitioners, learners and their families to commission and co-create high quality bilingual resources that support the Curriculum for Wales. By working collaboratively and strategically across the educational sector and beyond, our aim through Adnodd is to ensure that all learners and educators have easy access to relevant, bilingual and inclusive materials.

During 2024 to 2025, Adnodd launched an initial commissioning programme rewarding a small number of contracts addressing priority areas such as literacy and numeracy. We have also funded Adnodd to collaborate with WJEC to create additional learning and teaching resources ready for the introduction of the new GCSEs. Work on these new resources is underway.

We will continue to support Adnodd during 2025 to 2026. 

Education workforce 

We will continue to implement the Welsh in education workforce plan published in May 2022 to correspond with the 10 year period of the Welsh in Education Strategic Plans. The ‘Welsh in education workforce plan’ includes many actions that involve working in collaboration with a number of key stakeholders to address the 4 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.

As part of the development of the Strategic Education Workforce Plan, we will consider what further steps could be taken to support the Welsh language education workforce as part of a holistic plan for the education workforce in schools. 

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 2025 to 2026, 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. 

Grant scheme to promote and facilitate the use of Welsh 

The contribution of our grant recipients to our work in increasing the use of Welsh is absolutely key as we implement 'Cymraeg 2050'. The network of Welsh language initiatives operate as local language planners, by actively responding to the circumstances and linguistic needs of their areas. In 2025 to 2026, all language initiatives (mentrau iaith) will receive a minimum of £100,000 of core funding. This additional funding will ensure that all language initiatives have the resources necessary to implement a wide range of schemes to support the Welsh language within the community.

Planning an Eisteddfod is a community project that continues for a period of 3 years. It brings valuable economic benefit to an area. It raises awareness of the Welsh language and increases opportunities to use the language for some years before the festival arrives, and then it offers a valuable legacy thereafter. We will continue to work with the National Eisteddfod this year as they prepare to host the festival in the county of Wrexham. The enthusiasm within the county is palpable, and we look forward to the special welcome and wide range of activities that will await us in the north-east. 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

In 2024 to 2025, we published a statistical analysis of Welsh language transmission rates by local authority: Census 2001, 2011, 2021. This data informs our interventions to increase Welsh language transmission and its use in families. 2025 to 2026 will be the final year of our research in this area, which uses behavioural science to look at Welsh language transmission between parents and their children. This research follows 3 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.

Youth sector 

We will continue to develop a new policy to support children and young people's use of Welsh, with a view to publishing it before the end of the year. Our focus will be on bridging between education, community and family. We will work together extensively across Government and with external stakeholders, including young people, to shape this work. 

The Siarter Iaith and Welsh Language Charter continues to be a key intervention in increasing children and young people's use of Welsh. Since expanding the Charter to a national programme, the world around us has changed. The growth of technology and the digital sphere continues to affect the linguistic habits of our children and young people and the way that they socialise. Following the introduction of the Curriculum for Wales, the Charter was further developed by introducing a new national framework. To accompany the framework, new guidance has been published for the Charter's 4 programmes along with new resources to increase the informal and social use of Welsh amongst children and young people in primary and secondary schools of all language mediums. We will be launching a further new digital resource during the Urdd Eisteddfod in Margam in May 2025. The comic strip will be available on the Hwb platform for teachers and learners to use free of charge, in order to increase language use and boost the literacy of learners.

As one of our partners, 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. 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 Margam in May. 

We will also continue to fund the Young Farmers' Clubs, amongst other partners, 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 these partners, and others in the youth sector, in developing our new policy to support children and young people's use of Welsh during this year.

Leading in a bilingual country 

This is a joint programme between the Cymraeg 2050 Division and Academi Wales. It provides an opportunity for organisation leaders to discuss how the spirit of ‘Cymraeg 2050’ can be embodied within their organisations. During 2024 to 2025, we ran several Leading in a Bilingual Country workshops, including at the Academi Wales Summer School. We also created a series of case studies of those who have taken part in the programme and the impact it has had on them personally, and on the Welsh language in their organisations. We will be inviting new cohorts to take part in the programme in the coming year, and using these case studies to ensure that more public and voluntary sector leaders can benefit from attending.

Use of Welsh within the Welsh Government 

During 2025 to 2026, we will publish 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.

As we draw towards the end of the first phase of the internal use strategy, we will publish new objectives for 2025 to 2030 during the next year. We have now developed a better understanding of the context and statistical change required. This 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 will therefore be to:

• map the necessary trajectory 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)
• draft initial recommendations for the second phase of the internal use strategy, 2025 to 2030

Welsh Language Standards

We will continue with work to prepare standards to bring new bodies and sectors under the standards regime during 2025 to 2026, in line with the priorities set out in the Programme for Government. We will consult on draft standards for Housing Associations, before proceeding to lay regulations before the Senedd later in 2025 to 2026. We will also continue with the development of standards for public transport providers. 

During 2025 to 2026, we will work with the Welsh Language Commissioner to consider which bodies and sectors within the scope of the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 should be prioritised in terms of preparing standards for them following completion of the current work programme. 

Welsh Language Music Day

We will continue to build on the annual Welsh Language Music Day (Dydd Miwisg Cymru) campaign in the coming year, taking advantage of the success of the 2025 activities to celebrate the 10 year mark, to reach new audiences and by working with new partners. 

We will use the campaign to try to encourage individuals and organisations to organise more musical events across Wales throughout the year by working with the sector to plan ahead. 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’ll 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 be implemented during 2025 to 2026. These interventions are an integral part of the 'Welsh Language Communities Housing Plan'.

Under the umbrella of the 'Welsh Language Communities Housing Plan', we will continue to collaborate with key partners and the Second Homes and Affordability Pilot scheme in the Dwyfor area. Dwyfor is a Welsh language stronghold and an area suffering from the impacts of a high number of second homes.

The Fair Chance package provides information on how homeowners can take practical steps when selling their houses to provide opportunities for local people to live in the area. The package will be trialled in the Dwyfor area during 2025 to 2026. 

The Perthyn project will continue during 2025 to 2026, with the main aim of providing specialist support for community groups to develop ideas in becoming social enterprises or community-led housing schemes. A grant fund will be available 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. We will continue to work with Cwmpas to build capacity and empower communities. We will expand it as a national plan for the first time during 2025 to 2026.

Since 1 March 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; and promoting the use of Welsh amongst visitors and people new to the area. The course is part of the Ambassador Wales platform, and we will continue to collaborate with key partners and wider Ambassador Wales programmes to create opportunities to develop and support the network. In the coming year, we will be looking at developing a Youth Cultural Ambassadors course to empower and support young people to promote the Welsh language amongst their social networks.

In October 2022, the Minister for Economy announced an £11m budget for the second instalment of the ARFOR Programme, as part of the Co-operation Agreement with Plaid Cymru. The ARFOR 2 Programme funding period will end in March 2025. Discussions with key stakeholders are underway to consider the way forward for the future. An independent evaluation of the Programme is expected early in the new financial year. This report will be key as we consider the future direction and structures.

The work of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities is split into 2 phases. Phase 1 looked at communities with a higher density of Welsh speakers. During 2025 to 2026, we will respond to the findings and recommendations of the Commission's first report, 'Empowering communities, strengthening the Welsh language' and the newly published report on town and country planning. Phase 2 of the Commission was established in August 2024 to look at the situation of the Welsh language in communities with medium or lower density of Welsh speakers in Wales and beyond. The Commission intends to publish its final report in early 2026.

Technology and the Welsh language 

Based on the call for information on Welsh language technology in 2024, we announced 3 new priorities in January 2025: 

• 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 be working with the Welsh Language Commissioner for example to make the Iaith Gwaith (Working Welsh) logo more prominent still in the digital world, so that people feel more confident to start more conversations and use more services in Welsh. This will be 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 also work with the National Centre for Learning Welsh to develop the technology behind their resources, to make it easier still for people to use their Welsh every day.

An important part of our next steps will be technology to support people with specific needs. This might include:

• disabled people
• people with additional learning needs (ALN)
• people with needs because of medical treatment
• people with a cognitive or physical impairment

We will identify gaps and offer data and resources to convince companies to support the Welsh language. This includes screen readers and pen-readers for school assessments, and better incorporation of bilingual synthetic voices for the visually impaired.

In September 2024, Microsoft announced that they now support Welsh and Catalan in Copilot. This means that Welsh prompts and questions can be used, and that Copilot learns how to respond in Welsh. As part of our partnership with Microsoft, we have already collaborated to create a simultaneous translation facility in Teams, for example. Work with Microsoft continues in order to further develop this, and we will be working with them in the coming year to improve how Copilot processes Welsh.

Also in September 2024, as part of our partnership with OpenAI to improve how ChatGPT processes Welsh, we ran a joint project with the National Library of Wales where OpenAI used AI technologies to transcribe Welsh handwriting. Discussions are ongoing with OpenAI about the next projects, for example working with Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru to use their materials to improve how AI processes the Welsh language.

Our main message is 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.

After launching new pages to help different users identify the resources that are best for them, we will continue the promotion and marketing of those resources. We will continue to hold meetings of the Welsh Language Standardisation Panel, with the aim of announcing the Panel's decisions in relation to orthographic matters.

Welsh place names 

We will continue to collaborate extensively to put steps in place to protect Welsh place names, in line with our commitment in the Programme for Government. We will continue to implement the steps set out in the 'Welsh Language Communities Housing Plan' and that are supported by our 'Welsh linguistic infrastructure policy'. Based on the data and findings included in the research report commissioned to learn more about how, where and why place names change, we will develop targeted policy interventions.

We will continue to develop the links established through the Local Authority Place Names Forum, attended by officers from Ynys Môn, Gwynedd, Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire local authorities, as well as a representative from Eryri National Park, with the aim of sharing information and good practice, supporting each other and identifying gaps in the way place names are dealt with.

We will continue the work of disseminating and raising awareness of the guidance we have developed to provide direction to organisations on how to deal with Welsh place names on social media and in web publications. The intention is to encourage organisations and bodies of all kinds to make greater use of our Welsh names, particularly in English language materials.

We will also be launching a new tool to allow anyone to record a Welsh or historical name that does not already appear on a map. This will ensure that the name is not lost, and that it is included on maps and other geographical materials. This tool will also be compatible with the Cultural Ambassadors module on place names. 

Wales and the wider world 

We’ll 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 2022-32. The work of the British-Irish Council will 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 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 be involved in organising the Welsh Government's year of Wales in Japan during 2025 to ensure that the Welsh language is an integral part of the campaign and to encourage connections with the country's minority languages. 

We’ll also continue to work with the Urdd on its Message of Peace and Goodwill for 2025, this year's theme will be child poverty.

The Welsh language and equality

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

Our 'Anti Racist Wales Action Plan' was updated in 2024 and now includes new and additional actions for the Welsh language. During 2025 to 2026, there will be a stronger focus on Welsh-medium education and implementing changes to the way Welsh is taught in all schools. 

Proceeding with the Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill will mean that, by 2050, more pupils will become independent and confident Welsh users by the time they reach the end of compulsory school age. This will have a significant positive impact on Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority pupils and their access to Welsh.

There are also plans 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 also fund research to migrants' experiences in accessing Welsh-medium education, which will contribute to the Nation of Sanctuary scheme. We also aim to: ensure that the teaching workforce is diverse; improve early years education; and support post-16 learning through tailored programmes, in order to teach Welsh in a comprehensive and sustainable way.

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.

The 'LGBTQ+ Action Plan for Wales' was published in early February 2023. The Plan includes several actions relating to the Welsh language, we are committed to embedding the ethos of the Plan throughout our work. Similarly, we will be ready to respond to other social justice policy developments throughout the year.

Broadcasting 

During 2025 to 2026, 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 Pren ar y Bryn, Y Golau and Hafiach. We will also continue our focus on supporting Welsh language feature film, with the launch of the second round of development funding and moving at least one of the initial 4 projects supported through the Sinema Cymru scheme into production in partnership with S4C. The Welsh language feature film, Effie, will also deliver in 2025 with the intention of supporting a festival run in late 2025 to 2026 and a potential theatrical release in 2026.

In addition, as the shift in the broadcasting landscape from traditional broadcast to more online content continues, we will work to ensure the rights of Welsh language speakers are promoted and protected on digital and online channels as the regulatory framework evolves through the implementation of the Media Act and Ofcom’s review of Public Service Media.

Culture

During 2024, draft priorities for the area of culture were published and a consultation process was undertaken. The draft priorities include a clear ambition in relation to supporting and promoting the Welsh language within the sector. The final priorities are due to be published in spring 2025, and we will work with all culture sector stakeholders to implement them.

The cultural arm's-length bodies, including the Arts Council of Wales, Amgueddfa Cymru (National Museum Wales), 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 2025 to 2026.

The Welsh language will continue to benefit from our financial support for the libraries, museums and archives sector in Wales. Similarly, the significant capital funding that is earmarked to implement high-profile Programme for Government commitments, including Theatr Clwyd and the National Football Museum. 

Research and statistics 

We will continue to expand our evidence base as a foundation for implementing 'Cymraeg 2050' in the coming year. We will publish an Areas of Research Interest document that will communicate to the research community outside the Welsh Government the types of evidence that will be most useful in informing our decisions. We will organise a series of events to liaise with other bodies and organisations conducting or funding research. 

We will continue to work with the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Christ's College University of Oxford, and the University of the Highlands and Islands to carry out the Bro Project, which is a comprehensive socio-linguistic study of the Welsh language in its heartlands. The first output of the project, a compendium analysing Census statistics at local authority and LSOA level, was published as part of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities' report in August 2024. The Bro Project aims to support our understanding of the policy interventions needed to protect those communities by providing a detailed analysis of the use of Welsh in its heartlands, something the Census figures are unable to do. The project will also develop recommendations for improving the social presence of Welsh in our higher density Welsh-speaking communities. 

We will commission an evaluation of the 'Welsh Language Communities Housing Plan' to try 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. 

Subject to the approval of the Senedd and Royal Assent for the Welsh Language and Education (Wales) Bill, we will prepare to undertake an evaluation of the Act.

During 2025 to 2026, 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. As part of this work, we will consult data users about the case for collecting data about Welsh speakers living outside Wales. We will also update the statistical trajectory towards the million, using 2021 Census data and the latest Welsh population data.

We will continue to work closely with the Office for National Statistics as they transform population statistics to ensure a robust future for statistics about the Welsh language.