Agenda item

To submit the report of the Council Leader.

To adopt the Gwynedd and Anglesey Public Services Board Well-being Plan 2023-28.

 

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Dyfrig Siencyn, presented the report, inviting the Council to adopt the Gwynedd and Anglesey Public Services Board Well-being Plan 2023-28, and the Gwynedd and Anglesey Public Services Board Programme Manager elaborated further on the content.

 

The Leader thanked the Programme Manager for all of her work in preparing the plan.

 

Members were given an opportunity to make observations and ask questions.  The following matters were raised by individual members:

 

It was noted that concern had already been expressed at the Communities Scrutiny Committee regarding the concept that the Welsh language was a golden thread that ran through the whole plan, instead of being a clear objective in a box, and assurance was sought that the officers had acted on that feedback before submitting this report to the Council.

 

In response, the Leader noted –

 

·         That whether placing the Welsh language in a box strengthened or weakened the language was a matter of opinion. 

·         That the Welsh language was an integral part of every field that the Board was involved with, and that the Welsh language did not need to be placed in a box.  He therefore believed that it was stronger, and he could guarantee that there would be no change in viewpoint regarding the Welsh language.

·         That all partners had made a financial contribution to projects, under the leadership of the Chair of the Board, Aled Jones-Griffith, relating to the use of Welsh across all organisations in their receptions, and he believed that there was more money to come for future projects regarding the Welsh language.

 

The Programme Manager added that the same comment had arisen when discussing with the other groups, and that she hoped that the current plan was quite different to the original draft, after the language aspect had been strengthened.

 

It was asked what the situation would be as a result of a future change in leadership, without any language policies or protection.

 

In response, the Leader noted that the Welsh language was not a personal matter for him, and that the Welsh language was a priority for Cyngor Gwynedd as an organisation.  To that end, whoever would be representing the Council on the Board in the future would clearly set out the Council's perspective in terms of the Welsh language.

 

The Programme Manager added:-

 

·         That the Board's terms of reference stated clearly that the work of the Board was done in Welsh.

·         That she believed that the most effective projects that the Board had been involved with related to the Welsh language, where all partners had committed to them.

·         That there was a new project in the pipeline to look at difficulties in appointing to posts where Welsh was essential, within the different organisations.

 

With reference to paragraph 2.9 in the front report, it was noted that the specific actions in relation to Welsh were obvious in Well-being Objective 2, where reference was made to transferring the language, but that there was a wish to have examples in Well-being Objective 1 and Well-being Objective 3, where there was no exposure to the Welsh language at present.

 

In response, the Programme Manager noted:-

 

·         That she agreed that it was clearer in Well-being Objective 2, but that it permeated through the plan.

·         In terms of Well-being Objective 3, that there was more work to be done over the summer, and members could be reassured that the Welsh language would be included in the action plan in due course.

 

It was suggested that saying that the Welsh language was a golden threat that ran through the plan were empty words, unless it was made a measurable objective or criterion.

 

In response, the Leader noted –

 

·         That he disagreed with the comment and deplored the accusation, and that they were not empty words.

·         That he did not believe that a special project for the Welsh language was needed in Gwynedd.

 

It was suggested that a comment needed to be added, although the Welsh language was organic and the mother tongue of the communities on the whole, that the Census figures across the decades showed that the position of the language was not particularly secure here in Gwynedd either, and that we were following a similar trajectory to a number of other areas.

 

It was noted that a recent article noted that Gwynedd had the biggest gap between the percentage of the population who are able to speak Welsh in general and the percentage of the population from ethnic minority backgrounds who are able to speak Welsh. It was suggested that the Gwynedd education system, possibly, did not offer the same opportunity for some from ethnic minority backgrounds to grasp the Welsh language, and therefore qualify for jobs to the same degree as the general members of society, and it is believed that this is relatively damning and suggests that we should change our education policy, etc.

 

Astonishment was expressed that the plan did not give more priority to the current crisis in the health field.

 

In response, the Leader noted –

 

·         That he accepted the comment and that he was aware of the crisis in the health field.

·         Although the Health Board was mainly responsible for the health field, consideration could be given to ways to resolve the health problem by means of the Board's partnership.

 

It was noted that people were unable to get an ambulance, doctor or dentist, and that poverty was worsening in our communities because of the cost-of-living crisis.  Also, the lack of public transport confined people to their communities, and it was believed that the plan did not address all these matters.

 

In response, the Leader noted –

 

·         Although he accepted the point, the plan could not address everything. The role of the Public Services Board was to look for ways to add to the work of the councils and individual organisations, and not do this work for them.

·         That there was a point regarding health which referred to something that was cross-boundary and cross-organisation, and it was believed that there was something for the Board to look at.

·         That poverty, like climate change, was a very complex field and we had very little control, and the Welsh Government had very little control or tools in terms of poverty, as the tools lay with the Westminster Government.

 

It was suggested that the shift towards carbon net zero would send more people to a situation of poverty.  Most of the world's population was reliant on food produced by using fertilizer and companies from outside the area were buying our land in order to plant trees to off-set their carbon footprint. It was not possible to reach carbon net zero in the countryside.  Farmers needed diesel for their tractors and workers needed fuel for their vehicles to commute to the towns.

 

Disappointment was expressed that only 499 responses to the questionnaire had been received regarding the plan and it was noted that any collaboration between Gwynedd and Anglesey disregarded South Gwynedd.

 

In response, the Leader noted, as well as the questionnaire on the website, that engagement work had also happened by using the Council's engagement work in the context of Ardal Ni.

 

The Programme Manager added:-

 

·         That 499 responses were high compared to the responses to other questionnaires.

·         That most face-to-face engagement sessions had been carried out in South Gwynedd and that a very good response had been received.

 

Disappointment was expressed that older pupils in secondary schools had not been engaged with.

 

In response, the Programme Manager noted that the timings had not worked in relation to that, but that a further agreement was obtained to go out to secondary schools in turn, and that 4 schools had already signed up to that.

 

The Leader added that the Programme Manager was the only consultation resource that the Public Services Board had and that was why we also made use of the Councils' engagement work.

 

It was noted that the Leader's comment that we had very little control over poverty matters was very honest, and it was suggested that the wording of a few paragraphs and clause in the report should be more modest and practical, by noting 'we will thrive ...’ instead of 'we will...' As an example of that, it was noted that the plan referred to ensuring success and fairness to young people, but the schools had been pared down to the bone financially, and within those restrictions, only so much could be done. The same thing was true about the comments of Cylch yr Iaith, and it would be nice to express that there were structural barriers that we can do nothing about them.

 

In response, the Leader noted that he did not share the member's negativity in this respect.

 

RESOLVED to adopt the Gwynedd and Anglesey Public Services Board Well-being Plan 2023-28.