§ Mr. D. E. Thomasasked the Secretary of State for Wales what is the total identifiable public expenditure within his Department's control diverted to extending the use of the Welsh language in each year since 1964; and if he will indicate projected expenditure for this purpose for the current financial year and for 1979–80.
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§ Mr. John MorrisExpenditure incurred by my Department in support of the Welsh language is set out below. In addition, the extra cost of providing bilingual road signs since 1974 is about £440,000. It is not possible to identify separately the further expenditure by my Department and other Government Departments in Wales in providing bilingual facilities, including forms and publications, or the expenditure which local authorities incur on the teaching of Welsh in schools which attracts rate support grant.
£ 1964–65 NIL 1965–66 5,000 1966–67 7,500 1967–68 7,500 1968–69 7,500 1969–70 7,500 1970–71 12,500 1971–72 12,500 1972–73 12,500 1973–74 24,250 1974–75 35,759 1975–76 67,416 1976–77 96,606 1977–78 170,506 1978–79 576,000 (estimated)* *Includes grant in aid of £275,000 to the National Eisteddfod. It is not yet possible to forecast expenditure in 1979–80.