Business Wales future provision: 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. 

The Welsh Government has 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 three interrelated themes: 

Theme 1: Increase 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: Increase 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 the wider world
• Digital technology
• Linguistic infrastructure
• Language planning
• Evaluation research

The headings under each theme outline the scope of activities that can affect the language. 

As a general rule, if your policy has the potential to impact on people, it will impact in some way on Welsh speakers and therefore on the Welsh language.

Completed by the Welsh Language Standards Team, email: Safonau.Standards@gov.wales

Welsh Language Impact Assessment reference number: 03/06/2022.

This proposal demonstrates a link to theme 2 “increasing the use of Welsh”, the Business Wales service will be a bilingual service offering Business support service through the medium of Welsh. All marketing / website / helpline is and will continue to be bilingual. This will encourage the use of Welsh by businesses/ individuals using the service.

How will the proposal affect Welsh speakers of all ages (both positive and/or adverse effects)? You should note your responses to the following in your answer to this question, along with any other relevant information:

The Business Wales service will deliver a bilingual service and continue to offer 1:1 support and workshops through the medium of Welsh. Officials will continue to work with the Welsh Language Unit to ensure that Business Wales promotes the Welsh language through its services. 

As stated in Cymraeg 2050: A million Welsh speakers, individuals living in Wales deal with businesses on a regular basis, both professionally and in their personal lives, it is recognised that businesses have an increasing role to play in providing opportunities for people to learn and use Welsh. From a business perspective, increasing the bilingual customer service it offers can reflect a local service that shows respect for the community and its citizens and supports facilitation of the Welsh language by providing the platform by which people can use the language. 

It is recognised that more needs to be done to raise awareness within the business community of the potential benefits and opportunities that a Welsh language offer will provide to them, and in turn their customers.  

Welsh Government procured Business Wales will, therefore, be required to:  

• Business Wales’ website and channels will be fully bilingual 
• Business Wales delivery will be available in Welsh, English and bilingually.  
• create demand for Welsh language provision by actively creating an environment where individuals can participate in their language of choice.   
• adhere to relevant Welsh Government’s Welsh Language Standards.   
• have an up-to-date Welsh language policy in place.  

Therefore, Business Wales will proactively seek opportunities to advance the use of the Welsh language within the business support provided. For example, Business Wales will provide advice on marketing the business and its services through the medium of Welsh and/or at the point when the business is looking to recruit 

The Welsh Government’s ambition is to reach a million Welsh speakers and to double the daily use of our language by 2050. We firmly believe that Cymraeg belongs to us all, and that whether we speak Welsh or not, we have all got our part to play in this journey. 

Business Wales will develop a “Welsh Language for Your Business” BOSS (Business Online Support Service) workshop that businesses can access through the Business Wales website, this workshop will highlight the opportunities of using the Welsh Language in their business. 

Business Wales advisors will be required, through this contract, to proactively seek opportunities to advance the use of the Welsh language within the business support provided. As a minimum, this could be through providing advice on marketing the business and its services through the medium of Welsh and/or at the point when the business is looking to recruit. 

For example, businesses that access marketing support through the Business Wales service will either attend a marketing workshop or receive support from an advisor. The marketing workshop will emphasise the possibility of marketing their business through the medium of Welsh and be made aware of the “Welsh Language for Your Business” BOSS workshop and the ‘Helo Blod’ service that is available. 

This proposal will have an impact on the following policy objectives outlined in Cymraeg 2050 by: 

• consumption of services in the language  
• perception of usefulness of the language by businesses accessing the service 
• enabling more Welsh speakers to access their business support through the medium of Welsh
• increased learning materials and resources produced in the Welsh language  
• ensuring that future contractors are able to deliver the programme through the medium of Welsh through tendering procedures
• monitoring the future contractors of a bilingual provision through quarterly contract management meetings.

Business Wales will continue to connect businesses to services like Helo Blod and Arfon to allow businesses to advertise their business and services through the medium of Welsh and therefore increasing the visual presence and use of the language in the business community. 

Business Wales will continue to collect and monitor the use of the Welsh language through its service.  

In addition to the above Business Wales service will adhere to the Welsh Language Standards.