Question

To ask the hon. Member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross representing the House of Commons Commission, if the House of Commons Commission will make available to the Welsh Affairs Committee funds to allow the hiring of Welsh translators to allow submissions to be provided without English translation.

The general practice of the Welsh Affairs Committee has been to ask those submitting written evidence in Welsh to provide an English translation. It appears that in the 1990s when written evidence was submitted to the Welsh Affairs Committee in the Welsh language only, translation was provided by the Welsh Office free of charge. The Clerk of the House has asked me to say that, in view of the representations by the hon. Member and others, he is happy to accept the point of principle that submissions should be accepted without an English translation, and that he has asked the Committee Office to work on the details.