Statistics published by the Welsh Government. Each chart covers the years since the 2016 Senedd election, or as far back as the figures go, and marks each election since.
People who say they can speak Welsh
27.4%
The year to 30 June 2026
A year earlier
27.2%(the year to 30 June 2025)
The share of people aged 3 or older who say they can speak Welsh, over the twelve months to each date.
The survey gives higher figures than the Census, which the Welsh Government uses to measure progress towards a million speakers: 17.8% in 2021. Interviews were held by telephone from March 2020 to autumn 2023, which slightly raised the share saying they can speak Welsh, so the publisher advises caution when reading the trend. The figures are no longer accredited official statistics because the survey's sample has fallen.
7 commitments in the Welsh Government's Programme for Government 2026 to 2030 fall under this brief, in the Programme's own words. Under each is how often it has been raised in the Seventh Senedd.
A new Childcare Offer
Expand Welsh‑medium early years provision through our new Childcare Offer.
Raised in 5 speeches. Most recently on 28 September 2026, by Mike Hedges. Matched on: “Mudiad Meithrin”.
Grow the proportion of children and young people receiving Welsh‑medium education, and improve accessibility to Welsh‑medium education, setting local targets to ensure the steady growth of Welsh‑medium provision in all schools.
Increase the number of students able to access tertiary pathways in Welsh, supporting and developing the work of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol and working with the Coleg and Medr to increase opportunities to study Welsh as a subject.
Raised in 2 speeches. Most recently on 28 September 2026, by Anna Brychan. Matched on: “Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol”.
Support an increase in the number of teachers able to teach through the medium of Welsh, promoting and developing the Welsh‑language skills of practitioners and developing new sabbatical opportunities.
Raised in 5 speeches. Most recently on 30 September 2026, by Lis McLean. Matched on: “teach through the medium of Welsh”.
Publish and implement a new strategy for Cymraeg with a renewed focus on increasing the number of speakers to a million and more by 2050, doubling the daily use of the language, and ensuring that the language belongs to us all in Wales.
Work to strengthen the resilience of Cymraeg as a community language and in workplaces, implementing the recommendations of the commission for Welsh‑speaking communities, and work towards designating areas of higher linguistic sensitivity and protecting Welsh place names.
Raised in 4 speeches and 1 written question. Most recently on 28 September 2026, by Mair Rowlands. Matched on: “Commission for Welsh-Speaking Communities”.
Work towards extending Welsh Language Standards to UK government bodies and to services operating in Wales, and ensure that Cymraeg is at the heart of all public policy, including health, housing, planning, transport, education, culture and the economy.
Raised in 3 speeches and 2 written questions. Most recently on 13 October 2026, in a written question from Jane Dodds. Matched on: “Welsh Language Standards”.
Source: Welsh Government, Programme for government 2026 to 2030: New ambition for Wales, first published on 10 September 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Mentions are found by matching the names of plans, bodies and schemes; a mention says nothing about progress.
Key moments in the Senedd
No Plenary statements or debates on this brief in the Seventh Senedd yet.
Related votes
No votes in the Seventh Senedd have been tagged with this.
Votes are tagged from their own titles and the agenda item they were held under.
Who raises it
Answering for the government
Ministers in post who have spoken most on this brief in the Seventh Senedd.
Each bar is the share of that party's speeches and questions in the Seventh Senedd that touched this brief, so large and small parties can be compared. The upright line marks the chamber as a whole: 0.35%.
The previous Welsh Government’s flagship Welsh language policy, ‘Cymraeg 2050: a million Welsh speakers’, shifted the approach to Welsh language planning and policy in Wales, setting a target and a pathway to turn a century of Welsh language decline on its head.
Cymraeg 2050, the Welsh Government’s Welsh language strategy, aims to increase the number of Welsh speakers to one million, and double daily use of Welsh from 10% to 20% by 2050.
Tagged for: “Welsh speakers”, “learning Welsh”Translated from WelshOfficial Record
Month by month
0
0
0
20
1
May 2026JunJulAugSeptOct
Contributions tagged in each month of the Seventh Senedd. No sittings were held in August 2026.Show the numbers
Month
Contributions
May 2026
0
June 2026
0
July 2026
0
August 2026
No sittings
September 2026
20
October 2026
1
How this brief is put together
This brief follows the Programme commitments listed above and tags the record with the phrases below. Keyword matching can miss business that discusses the issue in other words, and can tag a passing mention.
Show the phrases it uses
A contribution is tagged when its English text contains one of these phrases. Capital letters don't matter, except in abbreviations, which must match exactly. It is also tagged when the title of the agenda item or question it was part of contains one, as long as the contribution is at least 30 words long. The brief is also tagged whenever one of its themes is.
