<div dir="ltr"><br clear="all"><h1 class="gmail-story-body__h1">Complaints about Welsh language will not be handled by Ombudsman</h1>
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<ul class="gmail-mini-info-list"><li class="gmail-mini-info-list__item"><div class="gmail-date gmail-date--v2">18 January 2018</div></li></ul>
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</span></figure></div><p class="gmail-story-body__introduction">A bid by the Public Services Ombudsman to add complaints about Welsh language provision to his duties has been rejected.</p><p>Nick Bennett made the offer saying he could investigate matters more quickly than the Welsh Language Commissioner.</p><p>Eluned Morgan, minister for the Welsh language, said the "difficulties outweigh the benefits" of the idea.</p><p>She said it would need an extension of the Ombudsman's powers to cover private firms and UK government departments.</p><ul class="gmail-story-body__unordered-list"><li class="gmail-story-body__list-item"><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-42059930" class="gmail-story-body__link">Ombudsman could take Welsh language role</a></li><li class="gmail-story-body__list-item"><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-40865834" class="gmail-story-body__link">Welsh commissioner role to be scrapped</a></li><li class="gmail-story-body__list-item"><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-41581470" class="gmail-story-body__link">Ombudsman's Facebook spat sparks row</a></li><li class="gmail-story-body__list-item"><a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-36924562" class="gmail-story-body__link">'Ambitious' Welsh speakers target </a></li></ul><p>Ms Morgan's predecessor Alun Davies announced in August that the Welsh language commissioner role was being scrapped.</p><p>During
a consultation on the idea, Mr Bennett suggested he take over
investigations, claiming the current system was "over-bureaucratic" and
"wasteful". </p><p>While she saw "merit" in the Ombudsman's proposal, Ms Morgan said "a number of difficulties emerge".</p><p>"If we were to act on the Ombudsman's proposal, we would need to extend the scope of the Ombudsman's powers significantly.</p><p>"At
present, the Ombudsman's jurisdiction only extends to devolved public
services. This would need to be extended in order to include UK
government departments and, potentially, any private sector body."</p><figure class="gmail-media-landscape gmail-has-caption gmail-full-width">
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Nick Bennett's proposal led to a social media spat with Plaid Cymru AM Adam Price
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</figure><p>Ms Morgan said the Ombudsman's suggestion "would
have implications much wider than Welsh language policy alone", and she
felt "the difficulties outweigh the benefits".</p><p>"I shall not be pursuing it further and I will not be conducting a consultation on the proposal," she added.</p><p>"It
has, nevertheless, given us food for thought and I thank the Ombudsman
for his valuable and stimulating contribution to the debate on Welsh
language legislation."</p><p>Welsh Language pressure group Cymdeithas yr Iaith had objected to the Ombudsman's proposal.</p><p>It also sparked a heated social media exchange between Mr Bennett and Plaid Cymru AM Adam Price.</p><p>The AM had accused the Ombudsman of "tacitly supporting" the abolition of the Welsh Language Commissioner's post.</p><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature">=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<br><br> Harold F. Schiffman<br><br>Professor Emeritus of <br> Dravidian Linguistics and Culture <br>Dept. of South Asia Studies <br>University of Pennsylvania<br>Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305<br><br>Phone: (215) 898-7475<br>Fax: (215) 573-2138 <br><br>Email: <a href="mailto:haroldfs@gmail.com" target="_blank">haroldfs@gmail.com</a><br><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/</a> <br><br>-------------------------------------------------</div>
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