<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="">Further £1m for Welsh language centres announced</h1>
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<img src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/78761000/jpg/_78761719_img_7609.jpg" alt="Musicians Mei Gwynedd and Gwenan Gibbard at the 2014 National Eisteddfod" height="351" width="624">
<span style="width:624px">The new centres aim to boost the use of Welsh outside of events such as the National Eisteddfod</span>
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<a class="" href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-29903419#story_continues_1">Continue reading the main story</a> <h2>Related Stories</h2>
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<p class="" id="story_continues_1">A
further £1m to open new centres to encourage more people to learn and
use the Welsh language has been announced by First Minister Carwyn
Jones.</p>
<p>He also defended his role as Welsh language minister, after a suggestion the job should go to someone else.</p>
<p>The funding for the language centres next year follows the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-28662015"> £1.25m already announced for 2014-15</a>.</p>
<p>Councils, colleges and universities can bid to use the cash to encourage Welsh use at "grassroots level".</p>
<p>It is the latest in a series of measures aimed at supporting the Welsh language, and comes after the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21259079">2011 Census showed a decline in the number of Welsh speakers in some of its strongholds in mid and west Wales</a>. </p>
<p>First Minister Carwyn Jones said: "Successful bids for this
year's funding will be announced shortly, but as the response has been
so good, I'm pleased to announce this further £1 million today.</p>
<p>"I've always said the key to encouraging use of the Welsh
language is for people to be able to use it socially at grassroots,
community level." </p>
<p>"This significant boost in capital funding will go a long way
in providing the buildings and centres for this to happen, helping us
meet our commitments in <a href="http://wales.gov.uk/topics/welshlanguage/policy/living/moving-forward/?lang=en">'Moving Forward'</a>, our vision for promoting use of the language in Wales," Mr Jones added.</p>
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<img src="http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/78216000/jpg/_78216970_merihuws.jpg" alt="Welsh Language Commissioner Meri Huws " height="351" width="624">
<span style="width:624px">Meri Huws said it might be better to have a minister with fewer responsibilities dealing with the language </span>
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<p>Last week, Welsh Language Commissioner Meri Huws said that
having the first minister responsible for the Welsh language gave it
"status" but she added that "maybe, there's a chance now to have
someone dedicated to the Welsh language with fewer responsibilities from
day-to-day".</p>
<p>But on Tuesday, in an interview with BBC Wales, Mr Jones
insisted he was the right person to shoulder responsibility for Welsh
language policy in the Welsh government.</p>
<p>"As someone who has always spoken Welsh, someone who comes
from a Welsh background, I think it's important to have someone from
that background at the moment looking after the language," he said.</p>
<p>He also responded to concern about funding cuts at the
commissioner's office, where the budget fell 10% this year, with another
8% cut planned by the Welsh government next year.</p>
<p>Money was short, Mr Jones said, following cuts to spending in
Westminster "so it isn't possible to keep money exactly where it was".</p><p><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-29903419">http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-29903419</a><br></p><p><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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