Dyfodol i’r Iaith has presented a petition to the National Assembly highlighting the work of the Mentrau Iaith and asking for a fair funding formula for the mentrau.

“We call on the Assembly to ask the Welsh Government:

to congratulate the Mentrau Iaith for their innovative work in promoting the use of the Welsh language across Wales; to confirm that the Mentrau are a key partner for the Government in the context of implementing its Welsh-language strategy; to provide a prompt response to Cardiff University’s survey of the Mentrau’r work, ensuring that the funding that is given to them is a fair reflection of the scale of the task that they face – while accepting that the amount of money that is available to them needs to be increased substantially; to accept that there is a need for consistency between the Mentrau in terms of funding and that the current inconsistency needs to be addressed; to fund Mentrau Iaith Cymru fairly, ensuring that it can play a full role in co-ordinating the work of the Mentrau and providing them with assistance and guidance; to ensure that the Welsh-language standards compel Welsh local authorities to support the work of the Mentrau and to ensure that the authorities work closely with the Mentrau; to play a full role in providing strategic guidance in the context of community planning.”

If you could sign the petition and pass on the information to your contacts we would be grateful

Petition on Mentrau Iaith

Dyfodol i’r Iaith has welcomed the postive response from the First Minister towards planning and the Welsh language after a meeting with Carwyn Jones today.

Emyr Lewis, Heini Gruffudd and Elin Wyn met the First Minister in his office to discuss including the Welsh language in the Planning Bill. Carwyn Jones said he understood and acknowledged that the Welsh language must be a strong community language and that he was open to considering including the Welsh language in the Planning Bill

The First Minitser has invited Dyfodol to undertake some further work on how this could be happen on a practical level. Carwyn Jones said detailed work needed to be done to define where the Welsh language should be considered in planning applications and whether different guidelines would be needed for different parts of Wales.

Dyfodol will now bring together a group of experts in planning and the law to prepare a comprehensive paper for the First Minister.

Dyfodol’s presentation to the First Minister can be read here (Welsh only) Cynllunio a’r Gymraeg

Implementing the Williams Commission recommendations on public services in Wales could be an opportunity to improve services in Welsh. That is the opinion of Welsh language organisation Dyfodol i’r Iaith which presented evidence to the Commission during the consultation period last year.

In its evidence Dyfodol i’r Iaith said that the linguistic makeup of Wales should be a significant consideration in any discussion on local government reorganisation. It appears that the Williams Commission has accepted this principle of respecting language boundaries in its recommendations on amalgamating county councils.

Dyfodol chair, Heini Gruffudd, said  “Here is an excellent opportunity for councils in Wales to come together to improve their service provision to their citizens in Welsh. By sharing resources and staff across the existing boundaries there is the potential to provide a better service in, for instance, social care and special educational needs.”

Heini Gruffudd added, “We also hope that amalgamating councils of a similar linguistic nature will lead to more internal administration in Welsh. The Welsh language needs to be the main language of administatration in all the local authorities in west Wales, thereby following the example set by Gwynedd Council.”

Dyfodol i’r Iaith’s presentation to the Williams Commission can be seen her (Welsh Language only) Cyflwyniad Comisiwn Gwasanaethau Cyhoeddus