Issue - meetings

To submit the report of the Council Leader, Councillor Dyfrig Siencyn.

To adopt the Language Strategy 2023-2033.

Submitted - the report of the Council Leader asking the Council to adopt a Language Strategy for 2023-2033 as the period of the current Language Strategy (Welsh Language Promotion Scheme in Gwynedd) was coming to an end.

In his presentation, the Leader referred to some successes that had derived from the previous strategy noting that he believed that the Welsh language should fly high in Gwynedd. He also noted that he refused the negativity often heard about the Welsh language in Gwynedd and that this would lead to the extinction of the language.  He noted that the challenge in front of us would have to be faced confidently and inclusively by strengthening the Welsh language, promoting its use and taking pride in the fact that we in Gwynedd, at least, stood strong in terms of the language's future.

Members were given an opportunity to make observations and ask questions.  The following matters were raised by individual members:-

Concern was expressed that only 159 people, and only 3 people under 34 years old, had responded to the consultation on the draft strategy.  In response, it was noted:-

·         It was agreed with the observation and that this was something that should be addressed further.

·         That focus groups had been held at the National Eisteddfod etc. and that the Service collaborated with the Youth Service.

·         There was an intention to improve the technology and that this was also part of the response to obtain the opinion of young people.

It was noted that the report included a lot of rhetoric, but it was easy to praise something without getting down to the nitty-gritty. In that sense, it was noted:-

·         That 34% of respondents to the consultation had noted that they did not know whether the scheme in its entirety would have a positive impact on the Welsh language in Gwynedd.  This in itself was damnable as well as the number of participants in the consultation.

·         There was a lot of aspiring for things that, potentially, could not be measured in the report.  For example, the Measuring Success column in the Actions for October 2023 to October 2024 included many gaps.

·         That Gwynedd was downsizing the immersion provision with the number of days that children were immersed in a language centre reduced from 5 to 4 with the number of specialist teachers who taught in immersion centres halved from 2 to 1 teacher in every centre.

·         That Gwynedd was scared to designate schools as predominantly Welsh-medium ones and that it was possible, in theory, for 40% of children in the county to avoid Welsh-medium education as the category definition we agreed on allowed this.

·         That Gwynedd, unlike other counties such as Anglesey, Denbighshire and Powys, had abstained from funding a transition scheme that gave prominence to the Welsh language in the cylchoedd meithrin.

·         That the strategy was weak in terms of robust measures and that no reference was made to what would happen should those targets not be achieved. 

·         That a reduction had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10