Agenda item

To submit the report of the Council Leader, Councillor Dyfrig Siencyn.

To adopt the Language Strategy 2023-2033.

 

Submitted - the report of the Council Leader asking the Council to adopt a Language Strategy for 2023-2033 as the period of the current Language Strategy (Welsh Language Promotion Scheme in Gwynedd) was coming to an end.

 

In his presentation, the Leader referred to some successes that had derived from the previous strategy noting that he believed that the Welsh language should fly high in Gwynedd. He also noted that he refused the negativity often heard about the Welsh language in Gwynedd and that this would lead to the extinction of the language.  He noted that the challenge in front of us would have to be faced confidently and inclusively by strengthening the Welsh language, promoting its use and taking pride in the fact that we in Gwynedd, at least, stood strong in terms of the language's future.

 

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

 

Concern was expressed that only 159 people, and only 3 people under 34 years old, had responded to the consultation on the draft strategy.  In response, it was noted:-

 

·         It was agreed with the observation and that this was something that should be addressed further.

·         That focus groups had been held at the National Eisteddfod etc. and that the Service collaborated with the Youth Service.

·         There was an intention to improve the technology and that this was also part of the response to obtain the opinion of young people.

 

It was noted that the report included a lot of rhetoric, but it was easy to praise something without getting down to the nitty-gritty. In that sense, it was noted:-

 

·         That 34% of respondents to the consultation had noted that they did not know whether the scheme in its entirety would have a positive impact on the Welsh language in Gwynedd.  This in itself was damnable as well as the number of participants in the consultation.

·         There was a lot of aspiring for things that, potentially, could not be measured in the report.  For example, the Measuring Success column in the Actions for October 2023 to October 2024 included many gaps.

·         That Gwynedd was downsizing the immersion provision with the number of days that children were immersed in a language centre reduced from 5 to 4 with the number of specialist teachers who taught in immersion centres halved from 2 to 1 teacher in every centre.

·         That Gwynedd was scared to designate schools as predominantly Welsh-medium ones and that it was possible, in theory, for 40% of children in the county to avoid Welsh-medium education as the category definition we agreed on allowed this.

·         That Gwynedd, unlike other counties such as Anglesey, Denbighshire and Powys, had abstained from funding a transition scheme that gave prominence to the Welsh language in the cylchoedd meithrin.

·         That the strategy was weak in terms of robust measures and that no reference was made to what would happen should those targets not be achieved. 

·         That a reduction had been seen between 2016 and 2022 in the number of pupils studying 5 or more GCSE subjects through the medium of Welsh and that there had been no subsequent action.

·         Rather than attempting to promote the Welsh language only, the Welsh language should be integral in Gwynedd, and if someone chose Gwynedd, that they chose the Welsh language, and if they chose a school in Gwynedd, that they unequivocally choose Welsh.

·         That Gwynedd had been pioneering in the past, but it was now lagging and at risk of empty longing where deterioration had occurred, and unless there would be serious action, in light of the Census findings, we would severely let down the Welsh language.

·         Although it was likely that we did better than any other county in Wales, we would severely let our own county down if we did not excel everyone else.

 

In response to the observations, the Leader noted:-

 

·         That he totally disagreed with these observations and that they were a classic example of the negativity he referred to during his presentation.

·         That the observations of the member regarding Welsh language provision in the county's schools was untrue and that all our children were taught through the medium of Welsh.

 

The observations of the previous speaker about the nitty-gritty of the report were reiterated, and it was also noted:-

 

·         That it was very important for the Strategy to succeed but the Leader's joy in it could not be shared.

·         That the objectives in the Actions for October 2023 to October 2024 table were honourable and the priorities were important ones in terms of the future of the Welsh language in Gwynedd, but there was a lack of clear and definite actions here.  For example, the actions in relation to the objective to increase the number of school pupils who studied Welsh-medium courses (GCSE/A Level) included no more than awareness-raising, and nothing had been included under the Measure column, and no clear target had been set by October 2024.

 

In response to the observations, the Leader noted that he did not share the member's concerns about the quality of the document, but officers would examine it again and attempt to provide more details.

 

Another member noted that she did not share the Leader's optimism regarding the Strategy and noted:-

 

·         That it must be acknowledged that the previous Language Strategy had failed and that Gwynedd had fewer Welsh speakers as people lost confidence to use the language and opportunities to use it had eroded.

·         That the work programme for next year did not include anything and that she was heartbroken in seeing such little vision from Gwynedd of all places.

·         That the Strategy did not have anything to offer, except for more of the same thing that had not borne fruition.

·         That the Strategy was full of words such as 'attempt', 'hope', 'consider' etc., and that there was no decision to take firm action.

·         That the Strategy noted that the Council was prioritising the Welsh language through all its schemes, but this was not seen in our current education system as we did not have category 3P schools as the norm.  It could not be seen in our housing policies either as we were told that it was not possible to impose a language condition on every social house or only sell houses to local residents on the open market, and it was asked where was the will to act for the benefit of the Welsh language throughout the whole Council?

·         That nursery schools, which had to close in Gwynedd because of demographic and Covid impacts, were not reopening and, although the Government had a policy to open 60 additional Welsh-medium nursery groups by 2026, Gwynedd was not doing any more than 'hoping' that some of them would be in this county.

·         That children in Trefor had to travel 5 miles to reach a cylch meithrin and there was a desire for the Strategy to map the nursery provision and get to grips with these deficiencies and ensure that the Welsh language was used.

·         That childcare provision was designated as bilingual nearly without exception and this prevented the Strategy from feeding the Welsh language in the early ages, and among parents.

·         That communities were changing but there was no mention in the Strategy of what needed to be addressed in the field of community action, and did this mean that we had given up on looking for new solutions?

·         Where was the vision to create Welsh zones, to be more positive and to acknowledge that bilingualism was detrimental to the confidence of native speakers, and to learners, who wished to have opportunities to speak Welsh and to be part of the community?

·         That the Strategy should encourage monolingualism in Gwynedd once again, and in its current form it was weak, ineffective and only a desk-top exercise.

 

The Leader noted that he disagreed with nearly all of these observations, and noted:-

 

·         It was accepted that there were substantial gaps in the county in terms of early years provision and that this was being examined.

·         He fully refused any idea of creating Welsh zones as this would be a form of linguistic apartheid.

 

It was enquired whether the Leader knew that schools in the strongholds of the Basque language were equivalent to category 3P schools in Wales and would he insist that this happened in Gwynedd.  In response, the Leader noted that he would not insist on doing so, and noted:-

 

·         That the difference between 3P schools was that they were optional in all the other counties, and this is why it was a failure in the other counties.

·         Although an increase had been seen in the number of Welsh speakers in counties such as Rhondda Cynon Taf, a quarter of the children did not attend Welsh-medium schools or heard much Welsh in the other schools, and the Welsh language had to be introduced in the other schools so that every child received education that made them bilingual, and indeed trilingual and multi-lingual.

 

In response to an observation regarding the importance of ensuring that the young people of Gwynedd are proficient in English, as well as Welsh, to be able to ensure employment opportunities across the border, the Leader noted that the purpose of the Gwynedd education system was to teach pupils to be totally bilingual, and that there was no sign of weakness in children's ability to speak English.

 

It was enquired whether there was a funding source that could be used to resurrect the county's youth clubs and to assists the young farmers' clubs, as their influence on the use of the Welsh language was invaluable.  In response, the Leader noted that no funding was available unfortunately as Gwynedd, like every other council, was facing the worst ever financial position.

 

RESOLVED to adopt the Language Strategy 2023-2033.