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 Economy and Community Department, and she referred briefly to the following main points:

-      She confirmed that Gwynedd continued to lead on the ARFOR scheme with the Isle of Anglesey County Council. She explained that a successful bid had been made to the Welsh Government which secured the continuation of this project until at least 2025 in order to fund projects to promote the Welsh language.

-      It was reported that the department had a grant fund for supporting businesses and communities. This was in addition to Welsh Government grants and the Council could impose language-related terms as conditions for the receipt of financial assistance.

-      The officer mentioned that there had been a lengthy discussion about how they could promote the Welsh language through the Visitor Economy, and the department had subsequently commissioned Bangor University to work with the Council to set a baseline and indicators for measuring the impact of visitors to the area on the language.

-      She explained that encouraging feedback had been received from individuals who used the facilities provided by the museums, arts and libraries. She explained that several activities were being held in a more informal environment to allow individuals to gain confidence in their use of the language. It was detailed that Welsh learners were more confident to contribute to conversations in such an environment.

-      It was explained that the department had received £18 million from the Welsh Government through the Levelling Up Fund, Llewyrch a Llechi as part of our regeneration programmes. It was elaborated that no language conditions had been imposed by the government as the Council distributed the funding further. Nevertheless, the department was attempting to set a foundation for ensuring that language requirements were imposed on any bid for funding in order to ensure that the language was taken into consideration as part of the regeneration programme.

-      She referred to one of the obstacles faced by the service, which was developing the linguistic skills of the maritime service. It was explained that the department employed 27-30 beach wardens over the summer to protect the public. Because of the seasonal nature of their posts, the department could not work alongside these individuals year on year to improve their Welsh-language ability – this was a barrier that the department was trying to resolve. Despite this, it was specified that 94.5% of the department's staff reached the language designation for their post out of the 80.5% of all the department's staff who had completed the self-assessment.

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

-      Members welcomed the fact that the department was working jointly with Welsh for Adults centres, and it was hoped that this arrangement would continue in future.

-      In response to the observations, the Head of Economy and Community Department confirmed that adults education was not the type of work that was normally undertaken within the department. She elaborated that this joint-working was taking place through a grant in cooperation with Coleg Llandrillo Menai with the aim of ensuring that there were education packs available to everyone – whether through colleges or libraries.

-      In response to an enquiry about working with independent museums, the Head of Economy Department confirmed that this did take place as part of the department's work, but there had been some impact on this recently due to staff absences.   Nevertheless, she confirmed that the collaboration with independent museums would continue in future.

-      In response to an enquiry about binding companies to language conditions when they applied for grant funding, the Head of Economy and Community Department confirmed that this was not possible in all cases. She explained that language conditions could be imposed on those applying for grants through certain processes such as the ARFOR project, but unfortunately it was unlikely that we were able to stipulate language requirements on every funding pot received from the Welsh Government. However, she emphasised that the department was seeking to set the foundations so that such conditions could be set in future.

-      In response to an enquiry regarding small grants for businesses, the Head of Economy and Community Department confirmed that businesses were able to apply for grants for signs, vehicle stickers or any other method of promoting the language. However, this funding was currently only available for 18 months, therefore applicants were encouraged to do so as soon as possible.

Members gave thanks for the report.

RESOLVED

To accept the report and note the observations received.