We regulate to ensure an increase in the opportunities available to use the Welsh language. By doing so, we will also contribute to realising our vision of a Wales where people can use the Welsh language in their everyday lives.
The Commissioner regulates with a specific and strategic purpose. We will be very clear about what we are trying to achieve when making regulatory decisions.
Consistent with our commitment to implementing a co-regulatory approach, we have set and published regulatory outcomes.
Our intention in presenting these outcomes is to:
- set Welsh language standards and our regulatory work in the context of the national vision of increasing the number of Welsh speakers and increasing the use of the language
- provide transparent public statements of what we intend to achieve, and how we will be able to demonstrate when we have achieved it
- ensure that our regulatory activities focus on outcomes for Welsh language users and have the greatest impact on opportunities to use the Welsh language
- mitigate the risk that organisations focus on strict compliance rather than good results for Welsh speakers.
The Welsh Language Commissioner will consider the compliance of organisations in the context of future regulatory outcomes, assessing the extent to which current levels of compliance are likely to lead us to achieve these outcomes.
Our regulatory framework
The Commissioner has a regulatory framework that explains how we will implement our work programme of regulating Welsh language standards and Welsh language schemes. The purpose of the framework is to explain how the Commissioner regulates compliance with Welsh language duties in general. It also explains how the Commissioner will proceed to promote and facilitate the implementation of the standards where appropriate.