Agenda item

Sharing information from the Census about the numbers and proportion of Welsh speakers in Gwynedd.

To accept the report and note the observations received.

The report was presented by the Research and Information Manager and the Senior Research and Analytics Officer. Attention was drawn briefly to the following principal points: 

-      It was explained that the latest Census had been held on 21 March 2021, with the detailed results on the Welsh language published on 6 December 2022.

-      It was explained that the following question had been asked as part of the census, and was used as the basis for the data:

“Can you understand, speak, read or write Welsh?

§  Understand spoken Welsh

§  Speak Welsh

§  Read Welsh

§  Write Welsh

§  OR none of the above”

-      It was confirmed that the percentage of Welsh-speakers (3 years old and above) in Gwynedd had fallen from 65.4% in 2011 to 64.4% in 2021. It was noted that this was lower than the overall reduction in the percentage of Welsh-speakers in Wales, which was 1.2%.

-      It was reported that the percentage of Welsh-speakers in Gwynedd had reduced each decade since 1981, and during that time, the percentage had reduced by 12.2%.

-      It was stated that the age group with the greatest number of Welsh-speakers was the 3-15 year-old group. However, it was confirmed that there had been a decrease of 2.9% in the number of Welsh-speakers in this age group.

-      It was explained that the rates of Welsh-speakers in Gwynedd was very similar to the general patterns seen throughout Wales. It was noted that the only age group that was different to the national pattern was an increase of 0.6% in Welsh-speakers between 50 and 64 years old in Gwynedd, where there had been a general decrease of 0.7% throughout Wales.

-      Details were provided on the 13 areas within Gwynedd, confirming that Caernarfon Catchment had the greatest percentage of Welsh-speakers (85.3%) and the lowest numbers were to be found in Bro Dysynni (38.6%). It was explained that a decrease in the number of Welsh-speakers was found in 10 areas, with an increase in the number of speakers only in the areas of Pen Llŷn, Bangor Catchment and Bro Dysynni.

-      It was confirmed that the five neighbourhoods with the highest number of Welsh-speakers were located in the Arfon area, and the five neighbourhoods with the fewest speakers were in the Bangor area.

-      It was reported that Llanbedrog and Abersoch was the neighbourhood with the largest increase of Welsh-speakers, with the greatest decrease to be found in Hendre area, Bangor.

-      It was noted that 7.1% of the population had confirmed that they understood spoken Welsh but could not speak it. This was higher than the Wales percentage of 5.2%. It was confirmed that the neighbourhood with the greatest number of people able to understand spoken Welsh but unable to speak it was Marchog.

-      Peblig neighbourhood in Caernarfon was identified as the neighbourhood with the greatest number of people able to speak Welsh but who were unable to read and write it.

-      It was explained that the results of the Census showed that 2.3% of the population of Wales could speak Welsh, but were unable to read or write it. This percentage for Gwynedd was 5.4%.

-      It was emphasised that more detailed information was released at a ward level, and that work would be undertaken to analyse the results.

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

Disappointment was expressed that the percentage of Welsh-speakers was lower than 70% in 37 out of the 71 neighbourhoods.

It was asked how the neighbourhoods in the Census results were determined, as they were not necessarily villages/communities adjacent to each other.

-      In response to the query, the Research and Information Manager confirmed that the Office for National Statistics determined the areas. It was considered that some areas were grouped in a specific way to correspond to Council ward boundaries, but the boundaries had been subsequently amended.

A member praised the ability of Cyngor Gwynedd's Language Policy to ensure that Welsh had a place within our communities and the world of business. Although the number of speakers had decreased overall, the policy succeeded in normalising the use of the language.

Consideration was given to the confidence of individuals to speak the language.  It was believed that the figures could be higher if people felt confident in their language skills, as some people felt under pressure to understand and speak correct Welsh in relation to the ability associated with this question.

A question was asked about whether the service used demography in order to examine how many people moved to different areas, and combined this with the census results in order to get clear statistics about the County's communities.

-      In response to the query, the Research and Information Manager noted that details about demography were included in the Census results. However, it was not possible to compare the statistics of two areas. It was hoped that information would be shared by the Office for National Statistics over coming months and that various fields could be examined as it was released.

Concern was expressed by some members that Cyngor Gwynedd's Language Policy was not sufficiently robust to ensure that Welsh was used in all situations. It was considered that amendments were needed to ensure that the figures of Welsh language users increased in the future.

RESOLVED

To accept the report and note the observations received.