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 presented by the Head of the Finance Department, and in brief he drew attention to the following main points:

-      It was reported that the vast majority of staff in the department had completed the recent language skills self-assessment.  The results indicated that 216 of the workforce reached the language designation of their post, with 2 members of staff failing to reach this.  It was noted that 96% of staff had completed their self-assessment and 4% had not completed this, they had not done so as they were new to their role.  It was confirmed that this 4% was equivalent to 11 members of staff.

-      It was elaborated that every effort had been made to ensure that the 2 members of staff, who had not reached the language designation for their post, would be encouraged and supported to attend training courses to gain confidence. It was confirmed that the officers in these cases had attended courses but continued to lack a little confidence in their language skills and had marked themselves harshly when completing the assessment. 

-      Details were given that the department had not been successful to promote the Welsh language in all aspects of the work. The department contacts specialist technical companies regularly as well as information technology providers.  Many of these companies usually come from the USA and despite every effort to start a discussion in Welsh, the department had to be realistic when sending Welsh language documents to consider whether they can be effective or obstructive.  However, it was ensured that the fact that contact with a few of these companies occurred in English, did not prevent the department from providing a Welsh language service of the highest degree to staff and Gwynedd residents.  

-      It was emphasised that the majority of documents were bilingual or in Welsh. Essential work had been undertaken to ensure that all the technical terms in the department had been translated and therefore the people of Gwynedd have the option to complete any form such as tax forms or applications for benefits as well as reading reports, in Welsh if they wished.

-      An update was given that the IT service had by now updated Windows software on all the Council's computers to use the Welsh language as the default language rather than English.  This had been encouraged in the past, however, recently this change had been mandatory on all Council devices.

-      It was explained that the department had developed a Digital Learning provision since April this year.  This had taken place following the process of winding-up the Cynnal company and internalising the support they used to provide. As part of this support the department is responsible for providing a laptop to all the county's teachers and is in the process of providing laptops to all year 7 to 11 pupils in Gwynedd schools.  It was confirmed that these would also use the Welsh language as the computer language.

-      It was explained that there had been some change to external users as Barclays Bank had closed key branches the department used, in Caernarfon, Porthmadog and Dolgellau. This meant that people lost an opportunity to chat in Welsh at the bank and were likely to have to deal with the bank on-line or over the telephone more often.  Despite this, an alternative service had been established with the post office and therefore there was a dependency on the ability of post office staff to speak Welsh.

-      Reference was made to several other examples where the department was trying to ensure use of the Welsh language.   It was noted that a buddy scheme had been established where a Welsh learner is matched with an officer from another service and gets support to foster their language skills.  Reference was also made to the department's intranet that had recently been updated to include a dictionary of useful words for the department's services to use and to make it easier for staff. It was confirmed that the department continued to work closely with the Welsh Language Learning and Development Officer to ensure that everything was done to enable officers to work and communicate confidently and naturally in Welsh.  

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

-      The department was commended for its decision to change the computer language from English to Welsh and it was asked whether the department had received any concerns or negative responses as a result of this change?

o   In response to the query, the Head of the Finance Department noted that IT service staff had feared a negative response to this change.  However, there had been no negative response. Naturally, staff had taken time to get used to the change but generally everyone could remember where the icons and buttons are and the Welsh terminology had kept up with this.

-      It was asked if it was intended to extend the buddy scheme to be used across the council?

o   In response to the query, the Head of the Finance Department noted that he would be happy to do this within the department. However, only one officer was currently eligible for the scheme and therefore there was no scope to expand this within the department at present. 

o   In response to the enquiry, the Welsh Language Learning and Development Officer noted that this scheme was available to every department within the council. It had been created voluntarily by individuals having attended refresher Welsh language courses and they wanted to ensure there was regular use of the language to be able to foster their skills.

-      Gratitude was expressed for the report.

RESOLVED

-          To accept the report and note the observations received.