Agenda item

WELSH LANGUAGE PROMOTION PLAN: CORPORATE SUPPORT DEPARTMENT

Meeting of Language Committee, Tuesday, 30th January, 2024 10.00 am (Item 6.)

To present information about the Department’s contribution to the Language Policy.

Decision:

1. To accept the report and note the observations received.

2. It was agreed to ask the Cabinet Member for Corporate Support to send a letter to the OS company to voice the committee's concern regarding the use of English rather than Welsh names on various locations on their maps.

Minutes:

The report was submitted by the Head of the Environment Department, and he highlighted the following main points in brief:

Reference was made to a number of projects that the department was working on to promote the Welsh language, including; collaborating with Menter Iaith Gwynedd and the process of establishing an independent entity, place name project and collaborating with schools to develop a spoken place names map and Prosiect 15. It was noted that the department had supported apprentices to qualify through the medium of Welsh and influence the further education sector to hold Welsh-medium sessions for students.

It was confirmed that an amended Language Policy had been adopted in October 2022 and the new Language Strategy had been adopted in December 2023. It was explained that the Language Policy was being promoted to staff in various ways, including meetings with the heads of department. In addition, messages are being shared with staff via the Council's intranet site, messages and the weekly bulletin.

It was noted that information about training for staff and staff designation details were being included in the report and the department was offering additional development opportunities, such as Cadernid Iaith training, which would be available to staff in the future. It was explained that this was an addition to the Language Awareness training that already existed. With the training, it was hoped that individuals would feel more confident and more certain of their language and less prepared to turn to English in circumstances where there was no need to do so.

It was reported by Ben, the Menter Iaith Officer, that they were prepared to work in partnership with anyone who was eager to do so in order to promote the Welsh language, with the main emphasis being placed on the Menter's priority fields. Specific attention was drawn to a project being developed jointly with M-Sparc, the Urdd and the National Eisteddfod to create a Welsh video game platform, funded by ARFOR.

It was acknowledged that the department had had to prioritise work recently and therefore, the work of developing a Welsh Events Map had not progressed in the past months. It was noted that the hope was to attract partners to help promote the map in order to populate it with more events. It was confirmed that this would happen in the coming months.

During the discussion, many Members expressed concern about the use of English names on OS maps recently. In response to this concern, the Senior Language and Scrutiny Advisor confirmed that the Council had held meetings with the OS in the past but that the Council had no influence over their actions, because anyone could contact the company to propose names for the maps. It was elaborated that the Cabinet Member for Corporate Support could send a letter to the OS, expressing the Committee's disappointment and concern. A request was made by the Chair for the Cabinet Member to formally send a letter to the company.