English: Legislation has to accomplish something. It has to do something. There was a debate at the time, you may remember, that the only thing that we needed to do was say that Welsh had equal status with English, and then that you had the right to use the Welsh language. You would then as an individual, if you wished to use the Welsh language with the county council or a public body and you didn't receive that service, you could challenge that in court. My view is that most people aren't going to go to law to do such a thing, and then it would be the courts that would decide on what the norm should be, and you could have very serious outcomes to that. So, the intention of the standards was to create some kind of a structure that would place or impose requirements on these organisations, within the public sector primarily, to offer services through the medium of Welsh - that is, it was a duty placed on the organisation, and by doing that you created the right for the individual to use that service, so the onus was on the organisation rather than on the individual. Generally, the evidence that I've seen suggests that that has succeeded, to some degree anyway, because this argument about the status of the language - . If I could refer back to my experience in Gwynedd Council - having adopted a bilingual policy since 1974 - in 1995-6, when I was leader of the council, we had suggested that we would make the Welsh language the council's official language. Of course, the challenge levelled at us was, 'It is already the council's official language, but what do you want to do?' What we did was try to make it the council's language of administration - to make it operational, and that is how you give status to a language; it's not something that exists in the ether - it has to exist in reality on the ground. And so that was the whole mindset behind the creation of standards - that you should place requirements on organisations to deliver services through the medium of Welsh if that individual wanted them - whether that be in Welsh or in English, of course, in Wales. I think the evidence the commissioner herself has included in her evidence to you - she says in 1.24: 'there is evidence that the quality and availability of Welsh language services has improved dramatically since the introduction of the standards.' Well, the standards haven't existed for very long - they came in in 2016, which is a comparatively short period of time - and of course you can question her on this evidence, namely that there's been an improvement. Legislation has been passed in this place that would be very difficult to measure in terms of its success, or its lack of success, but here she says that there is evidence that it is, at least, working partially. I'm sure it's not perfect, but I hope that I've answered your question - I'm not sure.
Welsh: Mae rhaid i Ddeddf gyflawni pethau. Mae rhaid i Ddeddf wneud rhywbeth. Mi oedd yna ddadl ar y pryd, efallai y byddwch chi'n cofio, mai'r unig beth oedd angen ei wneud oedd dweud bod gan y Gymraeg statws cyfartal efo'r Saesneg, a bod gennych chi hawl i ddefnyddio'r Gymraeg. Fe fyddech chi wedyn fel unigolyn, os oeddech chi eisiau defnyddio'r Gymraeg gyda chyngor sir neu gyda chorff cyhoeddus a'ch bod chi ddim yn ei dderbyn o, yn gallu herio hynny yn y llys. Fy marn i ydy nad ydy'r rhan fwyaf o bobl ddim yn mynd i fynd i lys i wneud y ffasiwn beth, a beth bynnag, y llysoedd a fyddai'n pennu wedyn beth oedd y norm i fod, ac fe allech chi gael canlyniadau difrifol i hynny. Felly, bwriad y safonau oedd creu rhyw fath o strwythur o osod gofynion ar y cyrff yma, o fewn y sector cyhoeddus yn bennaf, i gynnig gwasanaethau drwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg - hynny ydy, dyletswydd ar y corff oedd hi, ac wrth roi dyletswydd ar y corff roeddech chi'n creu hawl i'r unigolyn wedyn i ddefnyddio'r gwasanaeth hwnnw, ac felly bod yr onus yn mynd ar y corff yn hytrach na'r unigolyn. At ei gilydd, mae'r dystiolaeth o'r hyn rydw i wedi'i weld yn awgrymu bod hynny wedi llwyddo, i raddau beth bynnag, achos mae'r ddadl yma ynglŷn â statws yr iaith - . Os caf i gyfeirio nôl at fy mhrofiad i yng Nghyngor Gwynedd - a oedd wedi mabwysiadu polisi dwyieithog ers 1974 - yn 1995-6, pan oeddwn i'n arweinydd y cyngor, mi oeddem ni wedi awgrymu ein bod ni'n gwneud y Gymraeg yn iaith swyddogol y cyngor. Wrth gwrs, yr her a roddwyd i ni oedd, 'Mae hi yn iaith swyddogol y cyngor, ond beth ydych chi eisiau wneud?' Beth wnaethom ni wedyn oedd trio ei gwneud hi yn iaith weinyddol y cyngor, hynny ydy rhoi'r holl beth ar weithrediad. Hynny ydy, trwy weithredu rydych chi'n creu statws i iaith; nid yw'n bodoli i fyny fanna - mae'n rhaid iddo fodoli mewn gwirionedd. Ac felly dyna oedd yr holl feddylfryd tu ôl i greu'r safonau - eich bod chi'n rhoi gofynion ar gyrff i gyflawni gwasanaethau drwy gyfrwng y Gymraeg oes oedd yr unigolyn eu heisiau nhw - yn Gymraeg neu'n Saesneg, wrth gwrs, yng Nghymru. Rydw i'n meddwl bod y dystiolaeth mae'r comisiynydd ei hun yn ei rhoi yn ei thystiolaeth i chi - mae'n dweud yn 1.24: 'mae tystiolaeth fod ansawdd ac argaeledd gwasanaethau Cymraeg wedi gwella'n aruthrol ers cyflwyno'r safonau.' Wel, nid ydy'r safonau wedi bod mewn bodolaeth ond ers 2016, cyfnod cymharol fyr, ac mae hi'n dweud - ac fe gewch chi ei holi hi ynglŷn â'r dystiolaeth, wrth gwrs - bod yna welliant wedi bod. Mae yna ddeddfwriaeth wedi ei phasio yn y lle yma y byddai hi'n anodd iawn i chi fesur ei llwyddiant neu ei diffyg llwyddiant, ond yn fan hyn mae yna dystiolaeth, o leiaf, ei fod yn gweithio'n rhannol. Rydw i'n siŵr nad ydy o'n berffaith, ond gobeithio fy mod i wedi ateb eich cwestiwn chi - nid wyf yn siŵr.