Agenda item

To present information about the Department’s contribution to the Language Policy.

To accept the report and note the observations received.

The report was submitted by the Assistant Head of the Highways and Municipal Department, and in brief attention was given to the following main points:

-      It was reported that 94.5% of the department's staff meet the language designations of their job.  Unfortunately, only 39% of the department had completed the survey.  While this was the lowest response rate of all the Council's departments, it was difficult to say how many people reached their language designation. 

-      It was expanded that consideration had been given to access to the survey and many front-line staff in the department had failed to complete the survey as they had no access to a computer.  It was discussed with the Welsh Language Learning and Development Officer to try and simplify the on-line survey as well as sending a hard copy of the survey with a letter of explanation from the head of department, but unfortunately the majority of officers had not completed this, as an increase of 14% can be seen in the number of responses last year.

-      There was a discussion with officers to receive feedback regarding why staff did not want to complete the survey and several reasons of explanation were given.

§  Some believed that it was a pointless process.

§  Some were worried about their employment future if they did not reach the language designation.

-      An intention to work jointly with the Environment Department was expressed to try and get more feedback to this survey, and it was confirmed that the waste collection workers had transferred to that department. 

-      It was explained that the recruitment of professional and front-line officers had been an obstacle during the last period. This has been a specific problem with litter collection service workers and street cleansing in the Meirionnydd area.  Although the language designation for these roles was basic, the department had to weigh-up and measure the importance of employing workers with Welsh language skills, with providing a quality service.

-      It was reported that the department had managed to appoint an officer who had developed his confidence and language skills. The applicant submitted his application in Welsh, and since then had been appointed on condition that he attends a language course at Nant Gwrtheyrn.  The officer was very keen to attend and was now communicating both verbally and in writing in Welsh to a very good standard and was confident.

Members of the committee were given an opportunity to ask questions:

-      Concern was expressed that some of the department's technical terms were not translated from English into Welsh. Translation processes were very effective in Wales and it was asked if it was possible to re-visit this matter.

o   In response to the query, the Assistant Head of the Highways and Municipal Department noted that many steps to externalise the work occurred bilingually but very often conditions were included in English only as the meaning can easily vary when translated.  This means that the majority of documents include the Welsh language but certain sections used English only.

-      A number of matters associated with language designations were discussed. Some of these included controlling slipping into English in the office for the benefit of officers who are learning Welsh, and to consider that line managers take more of a role to complete language skills assessment forms.

o   In response to the enquiries, the Language Adviser confirmed that all the matters relating to language designations would be discussed in Item 9, at the end of this meeting.  Should any questions arise following the presentation, it would be appropriate for the members to ask them during that discussion.

-      There was pride in the stories about officers who had managed to improve their Welsh language skills since joining the Environment department as well as the Highways and Municipal department. It was asked if there were projects in the pipeline to promote the success of such individuals, to set an example for other officers who are trying to improve their language skills.

o   In response to the enquiry, the Welsh Language Learning and Development Officer noted that such successes were shared with staff on the internal language site. In addition to this, the annual Gwobr Dafydd Orwig was awarded to encourage officers to continue to foster their Welsh language skills. 

RESOLVED

-      To accept the report and note the observations received.