§ Mr. Ieuan Wyn JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) if he will make an order requiring British Gas, British Telecom, MANWEB, SWALEC, Dwr Cymru and other major privatised utilities to prepare schemes for the implementation of the Welsh language Act 1993, and if he will make a statement; [26552]
257W(2) what assessment he has made of the judgments of the House of Lords and European Court of Justice in respect of the cases of Foster and ORS v. British Gas (1994) ICR 84, and ORS v. South West Water Services Ltd. (1994) with regard to the operation of the Welsh Language Act 1993, and if he will make a statement. [26553]
§ Mr. RichardsIt was not intended that the provisions of part II of the Welsh Language Act should be applied to the private sector. The Government remain of the view that, despite recent legal judgments, even if it is within the Secretary of State's power to specify some or all of the privatised utilities under section 6(1)(o) of the Act, those bodies should not be so specified.
However, many private companies, including privatised utilities, have produced Welsh language schemes voluntarily and in response to customer demand. The privatised utilities have, I believe, a particularly good record of operating bilingual policies successfully.