§ Mr. LlwydTo ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether the Department has adopted a Welsh language policy. [189085]
§ Mr. LammyMy Department is committed to meeting the requirements of the Welsh Language Act. The Court Service, the Magistrates Court Committees in Wales and the Office of the Information Commissioner have schemes in place approved by the Welsh Language Board. The Legal Services Commission is in the process of finalising their draft scheme.
Documents produced by my Department are already published in Welsh. as well English whenever there is a clear need to do so.
After extensive discussion between the former LCD (and then the DCA) and the Welsh Language Board a draft Welsh Language Scheme for the remainder of the DCA was sent to the Board in September 2003 for final approval. The Beard replied to my officials last December raising a number of new and unexpected issues.
A resolution to these issues was reached with the Board in August 2004, and my staff are currently making a few minor amendments to our draft scheme. I hope that we can now move forward to approval of the final scheme very soon.