Language chief 'going too far with 20 trips'

Jan 29 2008 by Martin Shipton, Western Mail

THE chief executive of the Welsh Language Board has come under fire for making 20 work trips to foreign countries in the past two years, it has emerged.

Detailed information released to the Western Mail shows that since the beginning of 2006, Meirion Prys Jones has been to Brussels seven times, to Amsterdam three times, to Bolzano in Italy and Dublin twice each, as well as taking single trips to Barcelona, Helsinki, the Basque Country, Strasbourg, Brittany and Friesland.

Many of the trips are in relation to two international networks of minority language groups.

The cost to the Welsh Language Board was around £3,200. Some of the trips were paid for by other publicly-funded organisations.

Monmouth Conservative MP David Davies said, “I can understand why he would take the occasional trip abroad, but this seems way over the top.

“I would have thought his first priority was the Welsh language. Strangely, he has not visited the only place abroad where Welsh is spoken – Patagonia.”

Board chairwoman Meri Huws defended Mr Jones’s trips.

In a statement to the Western Mail, she said, “The board is responsible for two networks which operate at an international level. The WLB acts as both the chair and secretariat for the two networks. All these meetings are chaired by the chief executive of the WLB.

“The first network is a sub-committee of the British-Irish Council: the Indigenous, Minority and Lesser-Used Languages Group. This network includes representation from all the jurisdictions within the islands of Britain and Ireland. It has been set the task of providing advice and practical guidance on the promotion of the indigenous languages of Britain and Ireland.

“To date, this network has held one ministerial meeting in Galway where papers on language transmission, information and communication technology and the teaching of minority languages for adults were agreed.

“Running the network is the responsibility of the Welsh Assembly Government. They have delegated the responsibility for chairing and providing a secretariat for the network to the WLB. No additional funding was provided for this and the WLB provides the secretariat services from the funding it receives from the Assembly Government.”

Ms Huws said the WLB was involved in setting up another group called the Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity. “This group has the specific task of providing a dynamic network for minority, lesser-used and smaller state languages across Europe.

“Its membership is very diverse and includes national and regional governments and language planning agencies from such nations and regions as Estonia, Ireland, Catalonia and Slovenia.

“Over the next three years,” said Ms Huws, “it is estimated that this network will generate a minimum income of around 1.5m euros, some 650,000 euros of which will come as a grant from the European Commission.

“The WLB has been requested by the members of the network to chair it for the next three years.”

She added, “The remit letter of the Welsh Language Board states clearly that the WLB should concentrate its time and resources on eight priority areas.

“One of these is ‘Welsh in a European context’, where it states that the board should, ‘continue to raise the profile of Welsh at a European level, which will include working with European networks, the British-Irish Council, and to promote and to facilitate the use of Welsh at a European level’.

“There is recognition at a European level that Wales is at the forefront of development in terms of the practical issues of language planning. The Welsh Assembly Government and the WLB believe it is important that we share this expertise at a European level.”