Ofcom’s commitment to our Welsh-language audience

1 Mar 2023 12:05 PM

Today is Saint David’s Day, the feast day of the patron saint of Wales. To mark the occasion, here’s an insight into the work we do to make sure Welsh-language speakers can engage with Ofcom’s work in their chosen language, whether that's Welsh or English.

As the UK communications regulator with an office in Wales, we must comply with Welsh language legislation. So, since 2017 we’ve worked with the Welsh Language Commissioner on implementing our Welsh language standards. These standards set out how we provide and promote services in the Welsh language.

Our approach

We treat the Welsh and English languages equally in our work in Wales. When providing a service in Welsh, we aim to make sure the Welsh language is treated no less favourably than the English language. In deciding when to provide a Welsh language service, we apply a consistent decision-making process. Our aim is to promote the use of the Welsh language in a way that makes it easy for those wanting to engage with us in Welsh to do so effortlessly, whilst contributing positively to the Welsh Government’s target of a million Welsh speakers by 2050.

If the service in question relates to something that affects, or is relevant to people and businesses in Wales, we will provide a Welsh-language service as standard practice.

We believe our approach makes a positive contribution to the ability of Welsh speakers to engage with communications issues in their chosen language.

Our recent efforts in this area include launching our first Welsh-language podcast, translating over 796,000 words into Welsh, producing several Welsh-language videos, and landing an interactive learning module on the Welsh language for staff.

Find out more

For more information on our work for Welsh speakers, take a look at our video.