Agenda item

To submit the final report of the Investigation (attached).

Submitted  – the  final report of the Scrutiny Investigation – Welsh Medium Education by the Chair of the Investigation, Councillor Alwyn Gruffydd.  He noted that:-

·         The investigation included the implementation, consistency and success of the authority’s language policy in the County’s schools, and he thanked his fellow members on the group and the officers who had worked so hard over a period of 6-7 months.

·         The draft investigation report had been submitted to the Services Scrutiny Committee on 22 September. The committee had decided to accept the contents of the report, to approve the recommendations which were submitted to the Cabinet Member for Education, and requested that he presented a progress report on the actions in six months’ time.

The Education Quality Improvement Officer presented the response of the department to the report, and noted:-

·         The department welcomed the work and praised and recognised the immense work that had been achieved in this field, which underpinned all the department’s work.

·         The Cabinet Member for Education had accepted the recommendations, and as a next step, discussions would be held between the department and the Cabinet Member in relation to the practicality of implementing the recommendations.

·         The scrutiny committee had reached many of the same conclusions as the Trywydd company who had been commissioned to undertake work on the secondary sector.

In discussing the conclusions of the investigation:-

·         Specific reference was made to the linguistic situation in Bangor, and the positive impact of the Language Charter on the attitudes of the area’s children towards the Welsh Language.

·         It was noted that children were making good progress at the Latecomers Centres. However, frustration was expressed that the drivers transporting the pupils to and from these centres were not Welsh speakers. In response, it was noted that this observation had also been made at the Scrutiny Committee, and it was confirmed that the Education Service was investigating the matter.

·         The members of the investigation and officers were thanked for their thorough work that had led to a series of clear and far-reaching recommendations.

RESOLVED to note the report.