Agenda, decisions and minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillors Gwilym Jones and Sasha Williams; Colette Owen (The Catholic Church) and Karen Vaughan Jones (Parent / Governor Representative for Dwyfor) and Councillor Dyfrig Siencyn (Leader) (Item 5).

To receive any declarations 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 Chair for consideration.

None to note.

The Chair shall propose that the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee held on 8th December, 2022 be signed as a true record.

The Chair signed the minutes of the previous committee meeting held on 8 December, 2022, as a true record.

Cabinet Members – Councillors Dyfrig Siencyn and Nia Jeffreys

To consider a report on the above.

(1)  To accept the report and recommend that consideration should be given to amending the Vision of the Gwynedd and Eryri Sustainable Visitor Economy Plan 2035 to read:-

"A visitor economy that:-

(i)     Encapsulates the language and culture of Gwynedd and Eryri;

(ii)    For the benefit and well-being of the people, environment, language and culture of Gwynedd and Eryri".

(2)  To ask the Cabinet Member to convey the committee's observations to the Cabinet.

The Deputy Leader and officers from the Economy and Community Department were welcomed to the meeting.

Submitted – the report of the Leader and Deputy Leader inviting the committee to scrutinise:-

•    Whether the Strategic Plan for a Gwynedd and Eryri Sustainable Visitor Economy corresponded with the Council's ambition and priorities for a Sustainable Visitor Economy in the future (Appendix 1 to the report submitted to the committee);

•    Whether the joint operating structure with the National Park Authority was suitable (Appendix 2); and

•    The arrangements for establishing the New Sustainable Visitor Economy Partnership to steer the implementation of the Action Plan (Appendix 3).

The Cabinet Member set out the context. The Assistant Head of Culture gave an overview of the contents of the report and the plan, and the Partnerships Manager – Eryri National Park Authority expanded on the partnership's structure and actions.

Members were given an opportunity to ask questions and offer observations. 

Individual members made the following observations:-

·         It was suggested that since tourism in Gwynedd and Eryri was largely based on the landscape, landowners should be represented on the partnership.

·         A member noted that elements that were relevant to the discussion were missing from the report and the appendices. There was a tendency to avoid possible disagreement and conflict over resources.  There was mention of the potential effect on the Welsh language, but that effect was certain. There was no reference either to the effect on the health service and the police during the visitor season.

·         A member expressed dissatisfaction that we, as a Council, relied on the National Park, a body that had no democratic accountability attached to it, to be a part of the partnership with us.

·         It was noted that none of the plans that formed part of the Overnight Stay Scheme were within the Park area, which therefore did not solve the problem where most of the tourism was. The case study also referred to plans for the mountains and footpaths, but since the main thing for us was the people living in the park, where were the plans for the towns and villages in the Park? Also, the plans for the seaside were missing from the plan.  (As the Partnerships Manager – Eryri National Park Authority had had to leave the meeting for a while, the Scrutiny Advisor was asked to forward the member's comments to her.)

·         It was noted that this was a very commendable strategic plan. It was good to see both authorities working together closely, and the Deputy Leader and the officers were thanked for their collaboration.

·         A member expressed disappointment that the officer from the Park had had to leave the meeting, and noted that a senior officer from the Park should have been part of this discussion.

·         It was noted that the work carried out by the Assistant Head of Culture on the UNESCO World Heritage Site Management Plan had forced the joint-working between the two authorities to a degree, as most of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To approve a brief for the Scrutiny Investigation.

To adopt the Gwynedd Category 3 Secondary Schools Scrutiny Investigation Brief and to elect Councillors Cai Larsen, Beth Lawton, Huw Rowlands, Paul Rowlinson and Rhys Tudur to undertake the investigation work.

Submitted – a brief for the Scrutiny Investigation of Category 3 Secondary Schools in Gwynedd.  The committee was invited to adopt the brief and to elect a maximum of five members to be part of the investigation, with the membership to include no fewer than two different political groups.

It was noted that members had been invited to express an interest in being members of the investigation during the informal meeting of the committee on 8 December 2022. Expressions of interest had been received from Councillors Cai Larsen, Huw Rowlands, Paul Rowlinson and Rhys Tudur following the meeting.

It was noted that there was no representation from Meirionnydd amongst the names, or a female, or a representative from the Independent Group, and as such the Chair, Councillor Beth Lawton, was suggested.

The investigation brief was then discussed.  The following was noted:-

·         The report specified that the main question to be addressed by the investigation was: ‘What is the Welsh medium provision in our secondary schools...'. but this should be known to the Authority. It was not a matter for the investigation to determine what was the provision, but rather to scrutinise that provision.

·         The brief reflected the reality, which was that the Education Department was unclear what the Welsh-language provision was at present, and the fact that this exercise was happening at all was the consequence of a disgraceful lack of monitoring in this field, and it cast doubt over all the statistics that had been gathered over the years. The teachers knew full-well who did assessments and essays in what language, and the member could not understand why the Education Department could not cast a light on what the current provision was.  In response, the Chair stated that the investigation would hopefully cast a light on this.

·         The three schools that had been selected to be part of this investigation were some of the most Welsh-speaking schools in Gwynedd, and the investigation would not find a representational picture of the situation across the county by only visiting those schools.  On the contrary, it was suggested that there was no point going to the least Welsh schools, and the three schools selected were not believed to be an inappropriate mix.  In response, it was explained that the Education Department had suggested the three schools (one in Arfon, one in Dwyfor and one in Meirionnydd) on the basis that post-16 considerations could be included in two out of the three schools.  The matter had also been discussed at the Secondary Headteachers Forum in terms of which schools were willing to participate in the investigation.

·         Certainty was needed that the brief contained a questionnaire for each secondary school in order to gain an approximate picture of the situation county-wide before the working group selected the three most representational schools to be scrutinised in detail.

·         As well as the questions listed in Part B of the brief, we should also ask what the baseline was and what support did the Department provide  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.