Agenda, decisions and minutes

To elect Chair for 2024-2025.

Resolved to elect Councillor Menna Baines as chair of the Welsh Language Committee for the year 2024/25.

Resolved to elect Councillor Menna Baines as chair of the Welsh Language Committee for the year 2024/25.

To elect Vice-Chair for 2024-2025.

Resolved to elect Councillor Meryl Roberts as Vice-chair of the Welsh Language Committee for the year 2024/25.

Resolved to elect Councillor Meryl Roberts as Vice-chair of the Welsh Language Committee for the year 2024/25.

To receive apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor Gwynfor Owen and Nia Haf Lewis (Language Consultant).

To receive any declaration of personal interest

There were no declarations of personal interest.

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 23 April, 2024 be signed as a true record  (attached)

The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee which took place on 23 April 2024, as a true record.

To present information about the Social Services’ contribution to promoting the Welsh Language.

To accept the report and note the observations received.

The report was submitted by the Senior Business Manager and the Assistant Head of Resources. Attention was drawn briefly to the following main points, noting that the Report scoped the work of the Children and Supporting Families Department, as well as the Adults, Health and Well-being Department.

It was explained that the Report scoped the work of both departments for the first time because the Public Services Corporate Director led on a 'More than words' project within the Care field.

The development of the Care Academy to try and cope with recruitment challenges that the Care field had recently faced was reported on. Details were given on the recruitment struggles impacting Local Authorities across the country, with specific challenges in some fields and geographical areas. It was emphasised that the aim of the Academy was to help individuals to develop themselves and highlight clear career pathways within the care field. It was explained that they hoped to meet these targets by offering support and training to ensure that individuals qualify to become carers through the medium of Welsh whether for the positions of Occupational Therapists, Home Manager or any other aspect of the field of care. Pride was expressed on the development of this plan because Welsh language training was not currently available on all aspects of the field, such as apprenticeships. It was explained that the academy currently existed virtually but it was hoped to have a specific location in the future.

It was acknowledged that both departments had faced recruitment challenges, noting that the problem intensified when attempting to appoint more specialist posts who had the necessary language skills. Attention was drawn to the fact that there was a specific challenge in the nursing home and residential care field as it was not possible to recruit quickly enough to meet the demand for the services. It was emphasised that departments ensured that they continued to offer training and support for all workers who needed help with the Welsh language and noted that filling vacant posts and resolving the recruitment challenges was a priority for them. Assurance was given that care providers received the Council's support to ensure that workers had specific time within working hours to nurture their Welsh language skills. However, it was acknowledged that this procedure depended on those providers acting as required.

It was elaborated that the Children and Supporting Families Department had had some success with recruitment campaigns recently, but it was acknowledged that challenges were still seen in the Meirionnydd area. It was noted that another challenge was to ensure Welsh language residential placements for children who wished this as all the residential placements were currently owned by the private sector. It was emphasised that the Council had plans to develop internal residential placements. It was acknowledged that the department had followed the Council's recruitment processes and considered applicants with lower language skills if the post was advertised for the third time. If someone with lower language skills was offered the job, it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To submit the draft Annual Report to the members for them to recommend that the Cabinet Member approves publishing the Report.

Resolved:

·       To accept the report and note the observations received.

·       Recommend that the Cabinet Member publishes the report before the 30 June 2024 deadline.

The report was presented by the Senior Language and Scrutiny Adviser, and she briefly drew attention to the following main points:

It was reported that the report provided factual information required to be published by the Council in accordance with the requirements of the Language Standards under Section 44 of the Welsh Language Measure (Wales) 2011.

It was noted that the Standards set out some specific requirements for annual reporting, emphasising the expectation to confirm:

·       Number of complaints received during the year

·       Number of staff who possessed Welsh language skills at the end of the year

·       Number of staff who attended training courses offered by the Council through the medium of Welsh during the year

·       Number of new posts and vacant posts advertised by the Council, where Welsh language skills were noted as an essential skill for the role.

A summary of the report was provided, confirming that 98.9% of Council staff had some degree of Welsh language skills. In response to an enquiry, the Welsh Language Learning and Development Officer confirmed that the minimum job designation level in Welsh stated that it was a requirement for individuals to be able to greet and answer simple questions verbally, confirming that this was what this figure reflected. It was also noted that 92% of Council staff reached the language designation of their post.

They went on to confirm that 850 job advertisements had been published during the year, with Welsh language skills being essential to the role.

Attention was drawn to the fact that 22 staff members had completed access training, which was the initial language level training. It was noted that six individuals went on to complete foundation training as well as six individuals who completed the intermediate level. It was emphasised that this was not an indication that individuals did not continue with their training, but instead, it reflected the fact that job designations varied and not everyone who attended access training was required to continue to the higher levels. However, it was noted that they were welcomed to do so if they had an interest in improving their linguistic skills. In the same manner, pride was expressed that the number of individuals who had shown interest in receiving language refresher training was on the rise.

Reference was made to additional information seen in the report on developments during the year to improve compliance with the Language Standards, including:

·       Specific steps to promote the new Language Policy adopted in 2022.

·       Information on the new Language Strategy published at the end of 2023 which set out the Council's vision of increasing the use of the Welsh language across the county.

·       Information about the work of the More Than Words in-house forum.

·       Bilingual Workforce Recruitment Project.

It was explained that there was no reference to Menter Iaith Gwynedd in the report as they worked with Gwynedd communities instead of detailing on the use and compliance of the Language Standards.

Thanks was expressed for the report.

RESOLVED

·       To accept the report and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 8.

To present information about the progress of the Place-names Project.

Resolved:

·       To accept the report and note the observations received.

·       Recommend and support the Cabinet Member to try and find resources to extend the period of the project to ensure the development and continuity of the service.

The report was presented by the Welsh Language Promotion Project Officer and attention was briefly drawn to the following main points: ⁠ ⁠

Members were reminded that the project was established in 2021 following increasing concerns over a number of years that Welsh names were being lost. It was noted that one of the project's main developments was the Cyngor Gwynedd Place Name Map. It was explained that it noted local names of places within the county, such as fields, roads, buildings, areas and rivers which were used verbally but had not been recorded in official maps. Details were given that the map continued to be populated with new names following workshops in 15 primary schools and 1 secondary school. Individuals with correct information about Welsh local names in their area were encouraged to contact the Officer to populate the map in even more detail.

Attention was drawn to several projects underway to raise awareness of the importance of local names and the historical, linguistic and cultural richness that they included. It was elaborated that the Officer published 'Yr Enw a'r Hanes' articles internally to Council staff to note the history of a place name within the County. Pride was expressed that this was the page that received the most visitors of all the Intranet pages.

It was reported that the project had been very active during the week of the 2023 National Eisteddfod in Boduan. It was noted that the Officer was a member of a national discussion panel accompanied by Jeremy Miles MS (Minister for the Welsh Language) and Dr Dylan Foster Evans (Welsh Place-Name Society) to continue discussions on legal arrangements and policies in this field. Reference was also made to a discussion held on local names in the Babell Lên at the Eisteddfod. Pride was expressed that this discussion held by the Officer had been broadcasted on S4C as part of the Eisteddfod’s programme of the best of the festival (Goreuon yr Ŵyl). It was added that the Officer had been discussing the matter on BBC Radio Cymru by having a four-month contract to discuss local accents and names.

Reference was made to an application that came before the project to try to ensure that Welsh-only names were put on street signs. It was emphasised that the Officer had been investigating the process of renovating all signs, confirming that this would be too costly to implement. However, it was confirmed that the project had adopted an alternative project. Details were given that one of the main aims of this project was to install new signs for locations and areas, such as Twthill (Caernarfon), Lôn Rocar (Llandygai) and Lôn Groes (Pistyll), where there were no existing signs. It was considered that this would make the Welsh language more visible in the county.

Additional projects were mentioned which focused on installing signs such as:

·       Erection of signs marking the old Welsh names of some of the streets in Caernarfon (in association with Caernarfon Civic Society)

·       Welsh only signs erected in  ...  view the full minutes text for item 9.