Welsh Language (Hansard, 5 March 1984)

§ 11. Mr. Hooson
asked the Secretary of State for Wales what financial provisions were made by the Welsh Office for support of the Welsh language in (a) 1979 and (b) 1983; and whether this represents an increase after taking into account pay and price factors.

§ Mr. Wyn Roberts
Welsh Office support for the Welsh language has increased substantially in real terms since 1979. Grants totalling £709,071 were approved in 1979–80, and £2,666,236 will have been allocated in 1983–84.

§ Mr. Hooson
Do not those figures demonstrate the absurdity of current allegations about cuts in financial support for the Welsh language? Can my hon. Friend estimate how much of the budget for the coming year will be applied to computer-related studies?

§ Mr. Roberts
On the latter point, I assure my hon. Friend that some of the grants offered in the education sector reflect the growing importance of computer-related studies. Authorities will be able to purchase equipment and to prepare and translate a variety of programmes in Welsh. I cannot quantify the exact figures, but my hon. Friend is right when he says that this support makes nonesense of any talk of cuts. Moreover, it makes nonsense of the exhortation that we had recently from the hon. Member for Caernarfon (Mr. Wigley), the president of Plaid Cymru, on St. David's day, to his followers to take action outside the law.

§ Dr. Roger Thomas
Is the Minister prepared to give financial support to those local education authorities in Wales which are now prepared to start teaching certain subjects through the medium of the Welsh language in schools which are not designated as bilingual but are regarded as the counterpart of bilingual schools, the so-called English comprehensive schools, and for more Welsh teaching in those schools which have not been segregated into bilingual and English?

§ Mr. Roberts
Local authorities are at liberty, and are in fact encouraged, as are other bodies, to apply for section 21 grants; and we give every application the requisite consideration.

§ Sir Anthony Meyer
Is my hon. Friend aware that the promotion of the Welsh language relies largely on the enforcement of the law in this respect? Does he accept that those who call for breaches of the law, like those hooligans who demonstrated against my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales the other day, do much to damage the cause that they seek to serve?

§ Mr. Roberts
I agree with my hon. Friend. Those who try to advance the cause of the language by denying free speech, as some did to my right hon. Friend at the weekend, do great harm to the cause that they seek to serve and undermine much of the good will that exists towards the language.

§ Mr. Wigley
Does the Minister accept that, after the Conservative Government broke their election pledge on the fourth channel in 1979, the only way to remind them of that pledge was for people to break the law by refusing to pay their television licence fees? Will the hon. Gentleman now take the opportunity to repudiate what was said by two of his hon. Friends this morning—that the mere £2 million that has been spent on the Welsh language is a waste of money? Is that the attitude of Conservative Back Benchers in England?

§ Mr. Roberts
We are giving over £2 million towards the Welsh language, which is four times as much as was given by our predecessors, whom the hon. Gentleman supported.
The hon. Gentleman's other points simply confirm our opinion that, in supporting those who attacked my right hon. Friend, he has proved himself a bad egg and as rotten to the core as much of the stuff that was thrown at my right hon. Friend.