Issue - meetings

To consider the report.

To accept the report, noting the observations received during the discussion.

The report was presented by the Assistant Head of Finance - Accountancy and Pensions, and the Assistant Head of Information Technology. They referred briefly to the following main points:

Members were reminded that the Department implemented the Cyngor Gwynedd Digital Plan 2023/2028 by encompassing 29 projects in order to be a 'Digital Council'. Specific attention was drawn to the Organisational Management System, which assisted the payroll and human resources systems, which had now reached the procurement system. Pride was expressed that the Department had gone beyond the expectations of linguistic measures when undertaking the procurement procedure for this system. It was explained that 26 questions relating to the Welsh language were included within the process, which was substantially higher than the Gwynedd and national standard procurement arrangements.

It was highlighted that artificial intelligence was a major technical development at present. It was explained that a pilot was currently being held to assess the strength and accuracy of the Microsoft 'Copilot' software, which was an artificial intelligence resource. Attention was drawn to the fact that this could not be done in the past as it was not available in Welsh.

An update was given that the Council's phone systems had now been updated. It was explained that the phone systems had now been installed on the computers of staff members and the default had been set as Welsh, in the software that allowed this, on all of the Council's corporate computers, as well as all computers in Gwynedd schools. Pride was expressed that this system was innovative, and that the Council had been able to sell this software for external use.

It was reported that Audit Wales was auditing the accounts of Cyngor Gwynedd, North Wales Economic Ambition Board, Gwynedd Harbours, Pensions and GwE, with the cooperation of the Finance Department which had developed and administrated those accounts. Pride was expressed that meetings with Audit Wales officers were still being conducted through the medium of Welsh. Members were reminded that challenges had arisen when trying to hold discussions with them in Welsh in the past; however, pride was expressed that those difficulties had led to the development of training plans within the organisation in order to ensure that more Welsh speakers were available to carry out audits.

Attention was drawn to the Council's Trainee and Apprenticeships plan, confirming that the department had taken advantage of this plan this year by appointing two professional trainees as well as four new apprentices. It was detailed that those individuals worked in the field of pensions, taxation and benefits, and were an important recruitment source to meet the needs of the department by offering a strong career pathway. Pride was expressed that Tomos Pritchard, who was an apprentice in the accountancy service, had received an invitation to represent the Council on a panel at the Welsh Language Commissioner's conference in Cardiff, which would be discussing the use of Welsh in the workplace. Pride was also expressed that this opportunity had emerged to share his experiences  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6