A REVISED Welsh Language Act was needed to cover private companies a leading academic said yesterday. Senior Welsh Language Board member Prof Colin Williams said the public sector already had to provide a bilingual service under the 1993 act. He wants to see the same rules applied to private companies. An expert in the field of language planning, Mr Williams called for a new parliamentary act in a speech at the National Eisteddfod at Faenol, near Bangor. He also called for powers on the language to be transferred from Westminster to the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff. Language activists have repeatedly called for a new act. But critics of further measures claim extending language legislation to the private sector would be "impractical". Mr Williams said: "I feel very strongly that the Assembly should be responsible for providing strategic leadership with regard to policy decisions relating to the Welsh language and that it should have the appropriate powers to do so." Mr Williams' call was welcomed by Cymdeithas yr Iaith (Welsh Language Society). Spokesman Ffred Ffransis said: "Unless Welsh becomes essential to every aspect of public life, Welsh-speaking communities will not survive. "We have to get past the stage where English is the norm of life throughout Wales and Welsh is tolerated where it is considered reasonable." But a Conservative Party spokesman said: "If everyone is given the right to speak Welsh wherever they want it would shut down all sorts of businesses." | 
