Agenda item

To submit the report of the Head of Corporate Services

The report was submitted at the request of the members in order to have a better understanding of the Language Standards and categorisation.

The report was submitted by the Head of Corporate Support Department and he reported on the problems identified. He explained that language levels had been denoted to fulfil the requirements of the posts; however, there was no certainty that every Manager had given adequate consideration when denoting an appropriate level for posts and that the language levels denoted for each post needed to be reviewed. In addition, it was reported that there were no recognised criteria in relation to the existing levels and that any assessment was dependent on interpretation and professional opinion of the Co-ordinator in consultation with the line manager. He reported on the intention for the Language Tutor to use the assessment plan noted in Appendix 2 which set out practical language levels which were in keeping with the WJEC language levels and to assess the officers' attainment against the language requirements.

It was further noted that an agreed timescale needed to be set in order to reach the language requirements but that timescale would need to be flexible and adapted for the language requirements of every individual situation.

In response to a member's request for figures in terms of officers' progress in reaching the requirements, the Head of Corporate Support Department confirmed that officers were making progress and that there were great successes which resulted in awarding the Dafydd Orwig prize every year.

In response to the members' concerns that the Council's conditions were not realised, it was reported that it was important to ensure that Heads of Departments referred the officers to the Language Tutor.

It was explained that it was intended to submit the details of the recommendation to the Management Group as the next step, which would be followed by scheduling consultations with service managers across the Council.

In response to an enquiry by a member regarding the reason why the Council would appoint an officer who was not on the language requirements level, it was explained that there was a shortage of Welsh-speakers for some posts particularly in some specific areas of the County.

The Head of Corporate Support Department confirmed that there would be robust evidence under this new Scheme to display whether officers reached the language requirements relevant to their posts.

In response to an enquiry by a Member regarding why chief officers were exempt from the Under-performance Policy provided as an appendix to the report, it was explained that those officers worked under different conditions of employment and that there was a corresponding policy for them also.

In terms of timescale, it was explained that the Scheme would be implemented immediately with the Human Resources Advisory Service and the Learning and Development Service raising awareness of the new arrangements.

RESOLVED

a)    To approve the Scheme

b)    To ask the Head of Corporate Support Department to submit a progress report against the Scheme to the Language Committee in 12 months' time.