Agenda item

To receive an update on how the YGC Department is implementing the Language Policy and their plan for promoting the Welsh Language in Gwynedd

To accept the report and note the observations received.

The report was submitted by the Head of Gwynedd Consultancy, noting that the Department was dealing with the engineering world, which was considered to be quite an English industry. This led to problems with recruiting staff with high standard language skills. It was noted that the Department was working on a number of projects and plans to help staff meet the language designations of their posts and to improve the linguistic skills of the workforce; details of these projects were available in the report. Reference was made to the following points in the report:

-          The Welsh Language Learning and Development Officers were thanked for their work supporting the Department's staff to assess their own linguistic ability and to provide further training where needed. 

-          Reference was made to individuals within the Department who had made progress and were encouraged to speak Welsh as a result of schemes such as the Cynllun Cyfeillion or Cynllun Arfer via the University.

-          It was noted that the Department encouraged teams to hold their conversations through the medium of Welsh. It was acknowledged that the lockdown period had disrupted this progress somewhat and it was intended to recommence the support for teams to use the Welsh language as the workforce's day-to-day language.

-          It was emphasised that the Department would seek to extend their use of the Welsh language internally and with other bodies such as contractors and advisers further by corresponding in Welsh; it was believed that this showed an impact and had an influence.

Members were given an opportunity to ask questions and offer observations.  During the discussion, the following matters were raised:

-          Thanks was expressed for the presentation and for all of the Department's work. It was noted that the success of the Cynllun Adfer via the University was very interesting and it was asked whether other Councils and Organisations were aware of this and whether it could be marketed.

-          It was asked whether the courses for staff to receive professional engineering qualifications being offered in Welsh, and if not, was there room to ask Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol for support to ensure that the courses were being offered bilingually. It was questioned what Education establishments were doing to assist the Department which sought to provide a Welsh workforce with relevant qualifications.

-          A comment was made about the technical terminology associated with the field and it was suggested that it was possible to continue to have conversations about the work in Welsh, despite the fact that terminology used was in English. It was believed that it was important to discuss work in Welsh, whilst continuing to use the English technical terminology, in order to raise the confidence of staff.

In response, the Head of Gwynedd Consultancy noted:

-          It was expressed that work was not being done by the Department to promote the Cynllun Adfer, but rather there was reporting back between the Council and the University. The Language Adviser added that the Language service was a part of the Management Board for this project. It was noted that it was a University research project, with the University leading on this with a number of other public bodies participating in the research. It was believed that the responsibility fell on the University to share the good practice and promote the success of the Scheme. It was reported that the direction of the work had taken a different path as a result of the pandemic and that no recent update had been received. It was reiterated that the Language service could ask for an update from the University and ask what were the plans to extend the scheme for the future. It was added that the feedback received from the University had been very positive.

-          It was reported that progress could be seen where more courses were being offered through the medium of Welsh. It was also noted that the Department's staff were more prepared to ask for Welsh-medium courses. The tendency was that degree courses were normally in English and that BTEC courses were sometimes offered in Welsh. It was believed that it was an opportunity to more strongly persuade the Educational world and have more political persuasion on Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol. 

-          It was agreed that the terminology associated with the engineering world was technical. It was noted that examples of successes could be seen; it was reported that 'cylchfan' was used today, however ten years ago 'roundabout' was most commonly used. It was believed that small things like this made a difference and extended the staff's vocabulary.

DECISION

To accept the report and note the observations received.