Agenda item

To consider the report.

To accept the report, noting the observations received during the discussion.

The report was presented by the Assistant Head of Finance - Accountancy and Pensions, and the Assistant Head of Information Technology. They referred briefly to the following main points:

Members were reminded that the Department implemented the Cyngor Gwynedd Digital Plan 2023/2028 by encompassing 29 projects in order to be a 'Digital Council'. Specific attention was drawn to the Organisational Management System, which assisted the payroll and human resources systems, which had now reached the procurement system. Pride was expressed that the Department had gone beyond the expectations of linguistic measures when undertaking the procurement procedure for this system. It was explained that 26 questions relating to the Welsh language were included within the process, which was substantially higher than the Gwynedd and national standard procurement arrangements.

It was highlighted that artificial intelligence was a major technical development at present. It was explained that a pilot was currently being held to assess the strength and accuracy of the Microsoft 'Copilot' software, which was an artificial intelligence resource. Attention was drawn to the fact that this could not be done in the past as it was not available in Welsh.

An update was given that the Council's phone systems had now been updated. It was explained that the phone systems had now been installed on the computers of staff members and the default had been set as Welsh, in the software that allowed this, on all of the Council's corporate computers, as well as all computers in Gwynedd schools. Pride was expressed that this system was innovative, and that the Council had been able to sell this software for external use.

It was reported that Audit Wales was auditing the accounts of Cyngor Gwynedd, North Wales Economic Ambition Board, Gwynedd Harbours, Pensions and GwE, with the cooperation of the Finance Department which had developed and administrated those accounts. Pride was expressed that meetings with Audit Wales officers were still being conducted through the medium of Welsh. Members were reminded that challenges had arisen when trying to hold discussions with them in Welsh in the past; however, pride was expressed that those difficulties had led to the development of training plans within the organisation in order to ensure that more Welsh speakers were available to carry out audits.

Attention was drawn to the Council's Trainee and Apprenticeships plan, confirming that the department had taken advantage of this plan this year by appointing two professional trainees as well as four new apprentices. It was detailed that those individuals worked in the field of pensions, taxation and benefits, and were an important recruitment source to meet the needs of the department by offering a strong career pathway. Pride was expressed that Tomos Pritchard, who was an apprentice in the accountancy service, had received an invitation to represent the Council on a panel at the Welsh Language Commissioner's conference in Cardiff, which would be discussing the use of Welsh in the workplace. Pride was also expressed that this opportunity had emerged to share his experiences with other apprentices, and the importance of speaking Welsh in the workplace.

It was expressed that the Pensions Service had introduced a new self-service system for the pension fund in April 2024. It was noted that the Gwynedd Pension Fund was the first fund in Wales to upgrade to this new site. Unfortunately, this meant that there was no Welsh version of it available at the time; however, the service has been working a lot with the providers to ensure that a Welsh version of the site will be forthcoming. Reference was made to an innovative development as a part of this self-service system, namely an avatar which detailed the annual pension statement of the individual. It was confirmed that a Welsh avatar had been developed, which shared information simply and explicitly for users. A video clip was shared of the avatar, explaining sections of the annual statements during the meeting so that Members could see this new technology in practice.

Pride was expressed that the Department promoted Welsh nationally as other Pension Funds upgraded to the self-service system. It was confirmed that the Pension Funds of Powys, Torfaen, Swansea and Rhondda Cynon Taf used the site, noting that it was expected for more Funds to upgrade over the coming months. It was explained that an ongoing effort was being made to introduce extra items to the self-service site, as well as technological work to improve how the avatar pronounced Welsh terms. It was added that the Pension Fund had received positive feedback following the success of their stall at the 2023 National Eisteddfod in Boduan, and that further positive feedback had been received as the Fund shared a stall with the Clwyd Pension Fund at the National Eisteddfod in Wrexham this year. Attention was drawn to the fact that most people were non-Welsh-speaking in the Clwyd Pension Fund, hoping that this collaboration would lead to a greater use of Welsh in that fund. Also, it was reported that the Pension Service officers had provided a dictionary of Welsh terms to the Local Government Association and HM Tax Inspectors to ensure that they used those terms.

During the discussion, the following observations were made: 

In response to a query about perceptions of the pilot in practice on the work of Microsoft Copilot on the Council's Information Technology systems, the Assistant Head - Information Technology confirmed that full results were not available at this time. However, it was explained that a trial of the software had been carried out in the past and that the transcript of virtual meetings developed in Welsh through the system at that time was very poor. Nevertheless, it was confirmed that the initial results of the pilot suggested that the software had developed a lot recently and that the Welsh transcripts being developed from virtual meetings within the software was much more accurate.

It was asked whether the Council was proactive when selling software being used by other organisations and Councils, and whether there was an income for the Council from selling these products. It was explained that specific promotion work was done on educational software developed by Cynnal; before this service was transferred to the Finance Department. It was confirmed that these, such as the 'on-line IDP' programme had been promoted and sold to other counties. Nevertheless, attention was drawn that the promotion of other software, such as a system to track fleet vehicles, had not come to fruition as other Counties had not shown much interest in purchasing it. However, it was noted that there was more interest in this type of software by now. Attention was drawn to the fact that there was more interest in software if it was promoted by other councils, instead of through Cyngor Gwynedd promotion.

In response to an enquiry as to whether there was any conflict within systems as artificial intelligence software was integrated into the Council's current systems, it was confirmed that the development of artificial intelligence had received specific attention within the Cyngor Gwynedd Digital Plan. It was explained that a temporary budget had been identified to appoint a staff member to lead on this field and ensure that it was embedded accurately and securely within the Council's system.

The members expressed their thanks for the report, congratulating the department on their innovative work.

RESOLVED

To accept the report, noting the observations received during the discussion.