Conducting an investigation is a statutory process conducted in accordance with Section 17 of the Welsh Language Act 1993. If we conduct a statutory investigation having received your complaint, these are the steps we will take:

• inform the organisation of our intention to conduct an investigation

• gather information and evidence regarding the problem in question, and do so by a specific date

• draw conclusions

• write an evidence-based report

• make recommendations to the organisation to improve the Welsh language service in question, if necessary.

What will happen following an investigation?

• We will send our report to you, to the government Minister responsible for matters relating to the Welsh language, and to the organisation in question.

• We will publish the investigation report on our website (with the exception of special cases, for example where confidentiality is required).

What must an organisation do when it has received the Board’s investigation report?

• We may offer recommendations to the organisation within the report and this should ensure change or improve the Welsh language service in question.

• If an organisation fails or refuses to act in accordance with our recommendations, we can refer the matter to the government Minister responsible for matters relating to the Welsh language.

• If we conclude the organisation has no case to answer we will inform you that we have closed your case.

If we investigate a Crown body, we cannot refer the matter to the government Minister responsible for matters relating to the Welsh language. A Crown body is a department of the central UK government or Welsh government, or other specific bodies.

When conducting an investigation the Board cannot:

• order an organisation to cooperate with our investigation

• order an organisation to follow recommendations provided to it within an investigation report

• take legal action against an organisation. The government Minister responsible for matters relating to the Welsh language can choose to do so if we refer to him matters of failure to act in accordance with recommendations

• conduct an investigation where the organisation itself has not been given reasonable time to respond

• conduct an investigation into an incident that happened over 12 months ago

• use our powers under the Welsh Language Act 1993 to conduct an investigation into complaints about services in Welsh provided by organisations which do not have statutory language schemes

• investigate the standard of service, unless that also breaches the requirements of the language scheme e.g. if a doctor in a hospital gives a wrong diagnosis to a patient in Welsh, it is not a matter for the Board.