Caerphilly Wins WSA Innovation Award

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The Welsh Language Commissioner has published a manifesto with clear priorities which she hopes all parties will be willing to adopt ahead of the Senedd Cymru election in 2026. While recognising the financial challenges that organisations are facing, Efa Gruffudd Jones has outlined five priority areas that could make a real difference to strengthening the position of the Welsh language in the first term of the new look Senedd.

Caerphilly Sport and Leisure Services has won the Best Innovation Award at the 2025 Welsh Sports Association (WSA) Sports Industry Awards, held on Thursday 12^th June at the Parkgate Hotel in Cardiff.

The winning project, SWIMTAG: Transforming Swimming in Caerphilly Through Innovation and Community Impact, impressed judges for its cutting-edge approach to enhancing the swimming experience across local leisure centres. The initiative introduced wearable technology to pools in Caerphilly, Heolddu, Newbridge, and Risca, allowing swimmers to track performance, set goals, and enjoy gamified challenges that support long-term participation.

The award recognises Caerphilly’s position as the first and only provider of SWIMTAG in Wales and celebrates the service’s commitment to combining innovation with community wellbeing. The technology has already had a transformative effect, encouraging more people to engage with swimming regularly and supporting health and fitness through accessible, data-driven insights.

This accolade follows recent recognition at the Swim Wales Annual Awards, where Caerphilly Sport and Leisure Services received the Health Impact Award for the same project.

For more information about the awards and to view all winners, visit the WSA website.

According to Efa Gruffudd Jones, Welsh Language Commissioner, the next Senedd term could be crucial in relation to the Welsh language,

“My ambition as Commissioner goes beyond a narrow interpretation of what is expected of me and set out in the Welsh Language Measure, and I am keen to lead a body that does more and contributes more significantly to wider language planning work. As a result this manifesto calls for action and guidance from the Welsh Government, whatever its political makeup, and support to facilitate the work of other key partners, including the Welsh Language Commissioner.

“The next few years are extremely important for the Welsh language as the Welsh Language and Education Bill is delivered and as the recommendations of the Commission for Welsh-speaking Communities are implemented.

“I am fully aware of the pressures on our public bodies and that is the reason for setting out five specific priorities in this manifesto. They follow the path outlined in our strategic plan and I am convinced that these are areas where difference can be made in the use of the language.

“We will now look to have discussions with the parties in order to present our manifesto and our rationale for setting out our priorities. The hope is that the parties will be ready to adopt our proposals and for those to be adopted before the election next year.” 

The five priorities outlined in the manifesto are as follows:

• Language duties – increase the number of Welsh language services available to the public by extending Welsh language standards to priority areas
• Community language planning – extend the Commissioner’s influence by strengthening the promotion standards as a framework for the co-ordination of intensive community language planning
• Workplaces – establish a specialist unit in the Welsh Language Commissioner’s office to increase the use of Welsh in workplaces
• Health and clinical care service – transform clinical care in Welsh through intensive investment and action in priority areas
• The education workforce – establish a five-year Welsh language training framework as a mandatory element of training as a teacher in Wales

You can read the manifesto in full in the attachment – please note the embargo.