Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor Eirwyn Williams.

To receive any declaration of personal interest

No declarations of personal interest were received.

To note any items that are a matter of urgency in the view of the Chairman for consideration

No urgent items were received.

The Chairman shall propose that the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee held on 20.06.2022 be signed as a true record  (attached)

The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee held on 20 June 2022, as a true record.

Information item only (This item has been translated by the Council).

This letter was submitted for information to Committee members from the Senior Language and Scrutiny Adviser with the main points noted below:

-      It was explained that prior to the election in May 2022, former committee members had written to the Minister for Welsh Language and Education to express concern that Microsoft Teams did not provide a simultaneous translation facility and meetings had to be held in English.

-      It was expanded that the letter sent by the former members requested a default simultaneous translation facility in every meeting for the meetings to be held through the medium of Welsh.

Committee members were given an opportunity to discuss and ask questions:

-      Disappointment was expressed in the Government's decision to wait two and a half years before holding their meetings via Zoom. Microsoft Teams had not coped well with simultaneous translation systems during this period and in the meantime a second rate interpretation standard was provided over the phone as attendees joined the meeting on their computers.  It was added that contributors had to inform the organisers if they wished to talk in Welsh. It was noted that if 10% of the meeting attendees did this, then this is when the simultaneous translation was provided. It was explained if there was not a sufficient number of requests to participate in Welsh, then there was no choice but to contribute in English.

-      In response to these points, the Democracy and Language Services Manager confirmed that the new Microsoft Teams had updated their interpretation systems. It was expanded that the Council was currently trialling this prior to use in meetings. It was confirmed that the user's experience was very important and therefore Microsoft Teams would not be used for Council meetings until the quality of the service corresponded to what is provided by Zoom.

-      In response to these points, the Language Adviser emphasised that it was not the Government's choice to set a requirement for 10% of attendees to make a request to speak in Welsh in meetings before getting a simultaneous translation service.   It was confirmed that this was part of the language standards and the Welsh Government and local authorities must follow these. As a result, it was stated that the Government was in compliance with the standards.

-      Disappointment was expressed that the Government did not feel that they needed to go a step further than the standards to encourage more Welsh speakers.  It was asked how proactive was the Government in promoting the Welsh language and to ensure a translation provision. 

-      In response to the question, the Language Adviser noted that there were varied aspects to promoting the language within the Government.  It was elaborated that the Government was very reliant on officers to promote the language, however, they still did not have the provision to make this effectively.

-      It was agreed that the Government needed to support Officers and Ministers to speak Welsh in the workplace. It was confirmed that a  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To present information about the Department’s contribution to the Language Policy.

To accept the report and note the observations received.

The report was presented by the Head of the Environment Department, Assistant Head of the Environment Department and the Senior Executive Officer, Environment Department and attention was drawn briefly to the following main points:

-      It was reported that 91.7% of the department's officers meet the language designations of their posts and pride was expressed that this was higher than the Council average.  It was confirmed that 78.5% of all the department's staff had completed a language skills self-assessment and the department encouraged the remaining staff to complete this as soon as possible.

-      It was confirmed that 14 officers in the department did not reach the language designations of their post, however, they were encouraged to attend various courses and training.  The department encourages staff to take advantage of the language refresher course. The website was praised as it was a good resource that assisted officers as well as the language forum.  It was emphasised that talks always commenced in Welsh and every effort was being made to ensure that everyone feels comfortable to foster their language skills and confidence. 

-      It was emphasised that these figures did not include the waste service officers who had transferred recently from the Highways and Municipal Department.

-      Pride was expressed that the building control service had managed to encourage people to ensure that the names of their houses remained as Welsh names, or to encourage owners to change the names of their houses back into Welsh by demonstrating the importance of traditional names. The Planning service also promoted the Welsh language by following policy PS1 that gives detailed consideration to the language when dealing with planning applications. 

-      It was explained that a proportion of the department' work was externalised to contractors. Assurance was given that every effort was made to safeguard the language.  It was emphasised that invitations to tender as well as the guidelines were bilingual. It was noted that difficulties could arise when trying to translate standard national contracts as the meaning of the contracts could easily change.  However, it was reported that the department had managed to get Welsh language contracts with bus companies by tailoring their own contracts.

-      Details were given that one of the main barriers facing the department recently was the lack of recruitment. It was confirmed that it was generally difficult to recruit qualified officers across the department's services and the challenge had intensified by striving to recruit qualified officers who also possessed sufficient Welsh language skills.

-      It was elaborated that the department had managed to recruit a professional trainee in the traffic service with strong language skills.  The department continues to invest in the trainee to ensure that he is qualified to deliver the role confidently.  Concern was expressed that situations arose where the department invests in people and ultimately they are lost to the private sector or other local authorities as the salary was higher in these settings.  Unfortunately, several officers from the department had changed  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To present information about the Department’s contribution to the Language Policy.

To accept the report and note the observations received.

The report was submitted by the Assistant Head of the Highways and Municipal Department, and in brief attention was given to the following main points:

-      It was reported that 94.5% of the department's staff meet the language designations of their job.  Unfortunately, only 39% of the department had completed the survey.  While this was the lowest response rate of all the Council's departments, it was difficult to say how many people reached their language designation. 

-      It was expanded that consideration had been given to access to the survey and many front-line staff in the department had failed to complete the survey as they had no access to a computer.  It was discussed with the Welsh Language Learning and Development Officer to try and simplify the on-line survey as well as sending a hard copy of the survey with a letter of explanation from the head of department, but unfortunately the majority of officers had not completed this, as an increase of 14% can be seen in the number of responses last year.

-      There was a discussion with officers to receive feedback regarding why staff did not want to complete the survey and several reasons of explanation were given.

§  Some believed that it was a pointless process.

§  Some were worried about their employment future if they did not reach the language designation.

-      An intention to work jointly with the Environment Department was expressed to try and get more feedback to this survey, and it was confirmed that the waste collection workers had transferred to that department. 

-      It was explained that the recruitment of professional and front-line officers had been an obstacle during the last period. This has been a specific problem with litter collection service workers and street cleansing in the Meirionnydd area.  Although the language designation for these roles was basic, the department had to weigh-up and measure the importance of employing workers with Welsh language skills, with providing a quality service.

-      It was reported that the department had managed to appoint an officer who had developed his confidence and language skills. The applicant submitted his application in Welsh, and since then had been appointed on condition that he attends a language course at Nant Gwrtheyrn.  The officer was very keen to attend and was now communicating both verbally and in writing in Welsh to a very good standard and was confident.

Members of the committee were given an opportunity to ask questions:

-      Concern was expressed that some of the department's technical terms were not translated from English into Welsh. Translation processes were very effective in Wales and it was asked if it was possible to re-visit this matter.

o   In response to the query, the Assistant Head of the Highways and Municipal Department noted that many steps to externalise the work occurred bilingually but very often conditions were included in English only as the meaning can easily vary when translated.  This means that the majority of documents include  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To present information about the Department’s contribution to the Language Policy.

To accept the report and note the observations received.

The report was presented by the Head of the Finance Department, and in brief he drew attention to the following main points:

-      It was reported that the vast majority of staff in the department had completed the recent language skills self-assessment.  The results indicated that 216 of the workforce reached the language designation of their post, with 2 members of staff failing to reach this.  It was noted that 96% of staff had completed their self-assessment and 4% had not completed this, they had not done so as they were new to their role.  It was confirmed that this 4% was equivalent to 11 members of staff.

-      It was elaborated that every effort had been made to ensure that the 2 members of staff, who had not reached the language designation for their post, would be encouraged and supported to attend training courses to gain confidence. It was confirmed that the officers in these cases had attended courses but continued to lack a little confidence in their language skills and had marked themselves harshly when completing the assessment. 

-      Details were given that the department had not been successful to promote the Welsh language in all aspects of the work. The department contacts specialist technical companies regularly as well as information technology providers.  Many of these companies usually come from the USA and despite every effort to start a discussion in Welsh, the department had to be realistic when sending Welsh language documents to consider whether they can be effective or obstructive.  However, it was ensured that the fact that contact with a few of these companies occurred in English, did not prevent the department from providing a Welsh language service of the highest degree to staff and Gwynedd residents.  

-      It was emphasised that the majority of documents were bilingual or in Welsh. Essential work had been undertaken to ensure that all the technical terms in the department had been translated and therefore the people of Gwynedd have the option to complete any form such as tax forms or applications for benefits as well as reading reports, in Welsh if they wished.

-      An update was given that the IT service had by now updated Windows software on all the Council's computers to use the Welsh language as the default language rather than English.  This had been encouraged in the past, however, recently this change had been mandatory on all Council devices.

-      It was explained that the department had developed a Digital Learning provision since April this year.  This had taken place following the process of winding-up the Cynnal company and internalising the support they used to provide. As part of this support the department is responsible for providing a laptop to all the county's teachers and is in the process of providing laptops to all year 7 to 11 pupils in Gwynedd schools.  It was confirmed that these would also use the Welsh language as the computer language.

-      It was explained that there had  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To give an update on the progress of the project to the Members.

To accept the report and note the observations received.

The report was presented by the Welsh Language Learning and Development Officer, and she briefly drew attention to the following main points:

-          The background of the language designations project was reported upon, confirming that it derived from the discussions of the Language Committee in 2015, before the new language standards came into effect in 2016. As a result of this project, the Council has a better understanding of the different language skills the workforce has and can offer more suitable support to foster the language skills of staff. 

-          It was confirmed that the project had also been developed to place language designations for the Council's various posts. As a result of this, officers would have more awareness of the required skill level to be able to deliver the work effectively.

-          It was explained that the project had been pivotal to establish an internal language system that retains information about staff language skills and to establish a process to share information about courses, share feedback and successes with the different departments. Also, as part of the project, an internal language site was developed.  Different sections of this language site were shown to members. 

-          Attention was given to the questions that arose during the previous discussions and the following information was noted:

o   It was explained that the process of gathering information via a self-assessment survey was varied. It was reported that some people were happy to complete this on-line and others wanted to receive a hard copy. It was explained that the manager provided information for the project in situations when workers did not have easy access to a computer, or they are front-line workers. The intention was for the information to be gathered in the simplest way possible for everyone to have an opportunity to complete this.  It was also explained that project officers understood that some people were suspicious of completing questionnaires and language skills were a sensitive issue for many.

o   It was thought that the number of people who speak Welsh was higher in some departments than what had been noted in the findings.  It was noted that some people could speak Welsh but did not reach the language designation and therefore had not been included in some figures.  It was confirmed that this was the main aim of the survey to ensure an understanding of the different skill levels that exist in different teams in order to ensure that the relevant support was available for officers.

-          A copy of the survey was shown as an example to the members.

-          It was noted that the formal project would come to an end in the next few months. It was confirmed that the process of gathering information about staff language skills was on-going, however, the main focus of the officers had moved to ensure that staff received support to develop their language skills.

-          The formal project would come to an end in the next few months.  Staff support and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.