Impact case study database

Based on their research, Lewis, Royles and Edwards were well placed to inform the policy discussion that fed into the preparation of the Cymraeg 2050 strategy and, as such, to influence key aspects of the strategy document itself as well as aspects of its implementation.

The impact was generated through close engagement with officials from the Welsh Government’s Welsh Language Division, running from the initial discussion phase (between October 2015 and July 2016), through the public consultation (between August and October 2016) and into the final drafting period (January to July 2017). During this period Lewis, Royles and Edwards delivered two days of CPD training to twenty-three officials from the Welsh Language Division (11 to 12 February 2016); prepared three briefing papers for staff from the Welsh Language Division that highlighted key findings arising from earlier research (September 2016, October 2016, April 2017); hosted a closed research briefing seminar in Cardiff for five members of the Welsh Language Division (19 October 2016); prepared a detailed submission to the official public consultation exercise (October 2016); and attended three meetings with officials from the Welsh Language Division responsible for drafting strategy (17 March 2016, 31 January 2017, 4 May 2017).

A Senior Policy Officer from the Welsh Government’s Welsh Language Division, and one of the authors of the final strategy, testifies to the importance of this engagement:

Officials from the Welsh Language Division had regular contact with Elin, Huw and Catrin during the process of developing the Cymraeg 2050 strategy, and this included meetings and conversations, a seminar that they organised during the consultation period and also workshops at the National Eisteddfod. We benefited greatly from these discussions and they gave us food for thought as we developed and refined the policy. [5.1]

Eluned Morgan AM, Minister for International Relations and the Welsh Language, also publicly acknowledged the contribution of Lewis, Royles and Edwards to the work of developing the Cymraeg 2050 strategy in a speech delivered in Aberystwyth on 10 May 2019 [5.2].

Representatives from key stakeholder organisations also confirmed that this activity helped to shape their responses to the draft version of the strategy. For example, a Research Officer from the Office of the Welsh Language Commissioner confirmed that one of the briefing papers informed their written response to the consultation exercise [5.3]. In addition, the coordinator of Language Planners Wales (LPW), an umbrella organisation representing individuals working in the field of language policy throughout Wales, confirmed that input from Lewis and Royles helped to shape LPW’s response to the draft strategy [5.4].

Upon publication in July 2017, the final draft of Cymraeg 2050 incorporated input by Lewis, Royles and Edwards in four areas:

1) Structure of strategy: The final draft was substantially restructured and its main sections (previously called ‘development areas’, but now called ‘strategic themes’) had been reworked to align better with the twin challenges of increasing the number of Welsh speakers and increasing use of the language. This was in line with the advice offered by Lewis, Royles and Edwards during the consultation period, and their influence is evident in the summary of evidence document published by the Welsh Government at the end of its public consultation exercise. When acknowledging the need to rethink elements of the strategy’s structure and the nature of its main ‘development areas’, this document quotes directly from the paper submitted to the public consultation by Lewis, Royles and Edwards [5.5].

2) Reflection on the implications of social and political change: A new section, ‘Principles and Conceptual Grounding’, was included that argues that ‘language planning and policy methods’ need ‘to reflect the social, economic and political changes that characterise contemporary Wales’, and that the strategy therefore requires ‘an understanding of how speakers use and engage with language today, as well as consideration of how they are likely to do so in the future’. This reflected advice provided by Lewis, Royles and Edwards during the consultation period regarding the need for language revitalisation strategy documents to take greater account of the implications of important social and political changes. Passages on pages 14, 15 and 16 of the strategy are extremely close in terms of wording to points made in material shared with civil servants by Lewis and Royles and Edwards [5.6].

3) Regional level planning: The final draft of Cymraeg 2050 included a new section that discussed the need for a stronger regional focus for language planning initiatives aimed at promoting the Welsh language. The strategy acknowledged that the Government is already ‘planning on a national level and targeting specific local areas’ but then went on to argue that ‘there is scope to plan linguistically at the regional level’ as well. This was in line with recommendation included in a briefing paper by Lewis and Royles shared with civil servants in October 2016 [5.7].

4) Responding to immigration: The final draft of Cymraeg 2050 included a new section entitled ‘Welcoming and integrating people who move into Wales’. This included passages that stressed the importance of developing a partnership between in-migrants and fluent Welsh speakers. This was in line with the advice offered by Lewis, Royles and Edwards during the public consultation period. Of particular note is a passage that specifically mentions the Voluntariat per la Llengua programme identified by Edwards as an example of international good practice during the briefing seminar for officials of the Welsh Language Division held on 19 October 2016, and which she discussed informally with the civil servants working on the strategy between June 2016 and June 2017 [5.8].

Later developments point to how impact by Lewis, Royles and Edwards on the conceptual grounding of Cymraeg 2050 also influenced how Welsh Government officials have approached the process of implementing the strategy, specifically the task of developing policy interventions aimed at achieving some of its key targets.

5) Implementation of Cymraeg 2050: A research commissioning document published by the Welsh Government on August 2019 inviting tenders to conduct a review of its GBP4,300,000 grant scheme for promoting and facilitating the social use of Welsh specified that such a scheme needs to be responsive to contemporary social changes (e.g., information technology, personal mobility, new forms of community) [5.9], quoting two passages from the Cymraeg 2050 strategy that stress the implications of contemporary social and political changes for language use habits – the same passages that were originally influenced by advice given to civil servants by Lewis, Royles and Edwards.

As the significance of language policy questions for Welsh political actors and policy makers continues to increase in the context of Wales’ broader development as a devolved political community, Lewis, Royles and Edwards have continued to inform the work of various governmental and non-governmental bodies in Wales. Recent examples include:

• Welsh Government: policy briefing reports, authored by Lewis and Royles were cited in two recent Welsh Government publications [5.10].

• Welsh Parliament, Culture Welsh Language and Communications Committee : evidence submitted to its 2018 - 2019 inquiry, ‘Supporting and Promoting the Welsh Language’, was cited several times in the final report published July 2019 [5.11].

• The Welsh Language Commissioner: a research briefing session held with the new Commissioner 16 May 2019, and a subsequent session arranged with staff from the office’s research and policy team on 3 February 2020 to inform their work on the Commissioner’s next five-year report on the position of the Welsh language.