Agenda, decisions and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Councillor Gwynfor Owen.

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 12/12/24 be signed as a true record.

The Chair signed the minutes of the previous meeting of this committee held on 12 December, 2024 as a true record.

To report on work to-date in developing a new Economy Plan for Gwynedd, inviting the input of Members on the content of this report and on any additional issues they believe are important in shaping the Plan.

DECISION

1.     To accept the report and note the observations.

2.     That the Committee scrutinises the Draft Gwynedd Economy Plan when timely during 2025/26.

The Cabinet Member for Economy and Community was welcomed to his first meeting of the scrutiny committee and was congratulated on his appointment. ⁠ The Head of the Economy and Community Department and the officers were also welcomed to the meeting.

Submitted – a report by the Cabinet Member inviting input from the members on the contents and on further issues they believed should be considered in compiling the Gwynedd Economy Plan.

The Cabinet Member noted at the outset that this item followed on from the discussion at the scrutiny committee meeting on 25 January 2024 regarding the implementation of the Gwynedd Economy Development Project.

In response to the Chair's comments at the start of the meeting, the Head of Economy and Community Department explained:-

That it was fair to say, when the report was presented last year, that they had expected to be in a considerably different position by now.

The hope last autumn, when there had been a discussion in the Leadership Team, was that there would now be a completed document ready to be printed. This had not happened, although much work had taken place.

They needed to go back to the Leadership Team, and she believed that it was beneficial to have this committee's input today to the principles and direction so that the document that would be submitted to the Leadership Team incorporated the scrutineers' observations.

A draft of the finished document was not ready today since the Department had re-scheduled the work since the autumn. That had happened for several reasons, which included starting again on setting a new direction in the wake of appointing a new Cabinet Member, and re-planning work priorities to take account of an additional year's worth of work in light of the UK Government's decision to extend the Levelling Up Fund for an extra year.

The Cabinet Member set out the context for the report, noting the following:-

The UK Government's confirmation that the Levelling Up Fund would continue for a further year to 2025/26 was to be welcomed, but we could be certain that the financial landscape would change once again after April 2026. Consequently, the requirement for this Council to consider its economic priorities remained.

Securing a document that clearly stated our aspirations would also be an important tool in influencing discussions by the two governments within the North Wales region.

The purpose of the report to hand was to summarise the messages received and to obtain comments and feedback from the scrutineers before proceeding to finish compiling the Economic Development Strategic Plan and adopting it in the new financial year.

The members were given an opportunity to ask questions and offer observations. ⁠ 

A member expressed their opinion that it was difficult to scrutinise a progress report – the members had hoped to scrutinise a draft version of the Gwynedd Economy Plan at this meeting. They noted that there could be no certainty whether there would be another opportunity for this committee to scrutinise the plan before it  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To present information on the engagement process in the context of the new Education Language Policy, and then report on the findings of the engagement.

DECISION

1.     To accept the report and note the observations.

2.     That the Committee scrutinises the Draft Education Language Policy along with the Strategy to support the implementation of the policy at the 10 April 2025 meeting.

3.     Request a copy of the relevant minutes of engagement meetings.

4.     Invite members of the Language Committee to attend the Committee meeting for the item.

The Cabinet Member for Education reported that this report was being presented in response to a request by the members of the Committee to receive a report on the engagement process in the context of the new Education Language Policy. It was noted that the report summarised the engagement procedure in relation to the Education Language Policy.

The context was provided, noting that the Gwynedd local authority had the largest number of Welsh speakers in Wales, and also had the highest percentage of young people receiving their education through the medium of Welsh and bilingually. The officer stated that linguistic changes in the county, as well as the Welsh Government's influence on education in Wales, made it timely to review Cyngor Gwynedd's Education Language Policy and discuss which elements worked well and where any reforms or changes needed to be made.

It was explained that the Education Department had set out the procedure and the process in the report. It was noted that a number of engagement sessions had been held with primary, secondary and special schools in all parts of the county, and in areas with varying percentages of Welsh speakers. An engagement meeting had been held for representatives such as Cylch yr Iaith, Cymdeithas yr Iaith, Dyfodol i'r Iaith and RHAG (Parents for Welsh Medium Education). It was further noted that several members of this Committee, the Language Committee and the Gwynedd Governors Forum had also been involved in the process.

The aim was to create a robust Language Policy that was suitable to circumstances in Gwynedd, ensuring that it could be built upon and developed in the future. It was noted that the true situation showed a slippage in the use of the Welsh language by the county's young people. It was further noted that we needed to prevent this and increase the use of the Welsh language.

Meirion Prys Jones (Adviser) reported that 29 conversations had taken place during the engagement process in October, 2024 with a broad range of representatives from the education field and with parents. He noted that, essentially, they had asked 10 questions during the discussions, but participants had been free to express an opinion on any matter relating to the Gwynedd Education Language Policy and present recommendations for the future. He expressed that constructive and positive feedback had been received from all participants, especially from the pupils themselves.

It was noted that the main conclusions of the engagement were that the Language Policy was working well and led to success. He noted that everyone supported the Language Policy, although no-one had read it recently, leading to more of an ethos and a feeling that a good Language Policy existed, but without complete certainty of what it contained.

He highlighted that this led to the Language Policy being interpreted and implemented differently between schools, especially among the secondary schools. He noted that there was a clear difference between the primary and secondary sectors, with the Policy being applied firmly in the primary  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

To provide an update on the evaluation process in the context of the Evaluation of the Immersion System.

DECISION

1.     To accept the report and note the observations.

2.     That the Committee scrutinises the Immersion Education Programme Improvement Recommendations Action Plan at the 10 April 2025 meeting.

The Cabinet Member for Education provided the context. It was noted that the Cabinet had decided at its meeting on 16 July 2021 that it was timely to reorganise these centres and create a new Immersion Education System. It was explained that the Committee had expressed a wish to scrutinise the new system after it had been given time to become established. He explained that the Education Department had decided to appoint a research team from Bangor University to evaluate the Immersion Education System in Gwynedd. ⁠He elaborated that this team had conducted visits and had spoken with stakeholders, and would report back soon with its recommendations.

A member questioned how the three participants had been selected for the case study, and what had been the criteria. In response, it was noted that the three had been selected by the university. It was explained that this relied on parental consent and that they had been selected at random, which was a scientific method of selecting participants in case studies. It was elaborated that the participants came from different immersion centres.

A member expressed interest in getting a copy of the equality impact assessment. Concern was expressed regarding the slant and focus of the report and the initial decision to cut from five immersion days to four. It was noted that the focus, without exception, was on the individuals going through the immersion system, with no mention of consultation with parents, other learners in the school, or wider society or elected members. It was expressed that the decision, the report, and the proposed research were thoroughly neo-liberal in their ideology.

It was explained, in response, that this research specifically looked at the implications for children going through the immersion system, but the point regarding the impact on schools was accepted, and conversations had been conducted with headteachers regarding this⁠ matter. Attention was drawn to the fact that the Education Department was prepared to strengthen or change the arrangements in response to recommendations, but they were waiting to see what the report stated before drawing any conclusions. The officer underlined that no effort had been made to conceal anything, and in terms of considering reports that had been produced over time, they were more than prepared to see what the impact had been. They noted that the point regarding equality implications was accepted, and that its scope was possibly greater than expected in standard reports.

In response to what was said, a member expressed that research would be expected before making the decision to reduce the number of immersion education days. From a lay person's perspective, it was noted that this appeared to be a financial decision.

It was noted that, considering the decision to revamp the immersion centres had been made in order to provide high-quality provision, the number of teachers had been reduced from two per centre to one teacher and one assistant, and the number of centres had been decreased, with the immersion period changed from five days to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To adopt the investigation’s brief and to elect members.

DECISION

1.     To adopt the brief.

2.     To elect the following members to undertake the work of the investigation:

-        The Councillors Dawn Lynne Jones, Cai Larsen, Gwynfor Owen, John Pughe Roberts and Dyfrig Siencyn

-        Co-opted Member - Sharon Roberts (Arfon Parent/Governor Representative)

-        Additional reserve name - Councillor Richard Glyn Roberts

It was noted that safeguarding arrangements in schools had been scrutinised at the Committee's meeting on 18 July 2024. There was an informal discussion after the meeting regarding the possibility of holding a Task and Finish Group or a Scrutiny Investigation into the area. It was concluded that a further discussion should be held at the informal meeting of the Committee on 5 September 2024. Concern had been expressed by the members present about the implementation of the safeguarding arrangements within our schools. A draft brief for the scrutiny investigation was considered at the Committee's informal meeting on 9 January 2025.

It was noted that the main question that the investigation would address is: "Are safeguarding arrangements in county schools appropriate and implemented consistently?". It was noted that the investigation intended to consider the authority's current arrangements in relation to safeguarding in schools, as well as arrangements in a sample of schools.

At the informal meeting of the Committee on 9 January 2025, the members were invited to express an interest in becoming members of the investigation. It was concluded that an e-mail should be sent to all members of the Committee to ask them to state which school governing bodies they were members of. The email stressed that members would be required to ensure they had completed the "Child and Adult Safeguarding Training" to be part of the investigation.

It was noted that a maximum of five members may be involved in the investigation and, in accordance with the Council's Constitution, the membership was required to include representation of no less than two different political groups. It was discussed that, given that this was an education issue, it would be appropriate to include one co-opted member with a vote on education issues only.

RESOLVED

1.    To adopt the brief.

2.    To elect the following members to undertake the work of the investigation:

-       Councillors Dawn Lynne Jones, Cai Larsen, Gwynfor Owen, John Pughe Roberts and Dyfrig Siencyn

-       Co-opted Member – Sharon Roberts (Arfon Parent/Governor Representative)

-       Reserve member – Councillor Richard Glyn Roberts