Agenda item

Invitees:

Rhys Cornwall – Strategic Director for Transformation and Corporate
Heather Powell – Connected Communities Manager
Hywel Jones – Language Policy Officer

The Strategic Director introduced the report.

The Strategic Director informed committee that it was now out of the consultation phase but that they were still taking comments.

The Strategic Director informed committee that the timeline for the report was for it to go to Cabinet in February and Council in March.

The Connected Communities Manager noted that there were some specific regulations required under the current standards including a target for growth in Welsh speakers in Newport, which aligned with the Welsh and Education Strategic Plan. The Connected Communities Manager informed committee that these centred around 3 strategic themes – education, visibility and engagement. The Connected Communities Manager informed committee that this was out for consultation, being sent to Welsh language partners and live on the Newport City website on Monday. The Connected Communities Manager highlighted that a reception survey had also been taken over the summer.

Questions:

A comment was made on the lack of Welsh used in the report

Did the demand for Welsh schools meet up with the provision of places?

·       The Language Policy Officer informed committee that there had been a planning and school places meeting the previous day and this was a long standing item on its agenda. At present, they were just under prescribed in primary, but provision would be there until 2032, though was being reviewed on an ongoing basis.

·       The Language Policy Officer informed committee that they were trying to increase uptake for the new Welsh language school in Pillgwenlly.

What costs were incurred through translation and other Welsh Language initiatives?

·       The Strategic Director informed committee that they would be happy to provide actual figures for this. 

·       The Strategic Director informed committee that when they were originally given the Welsh Language Standards that applied to Newport, part of the process of consultation with the Local Authority was around the proportion of the costs of implementing some of those standards, primarily regarding translation costs. The Strategic Director informed committee that the current budget for translation was £101,100 per year and was the bulk of the cost associated with the implementation of these standards. The Strategic Director informed committee that this doesn’t consider any development of Welsh education provision as that is included in the Education Capital Programme for schools. The Strategic Director informed committee that other costs included provision for the Language Policy Officer and a Promotion Officer for the Welsh language.

·       The Strategic Director informed committee that there was work being undertaken to recruit more Welsh speaking staff and to encourage staff to learn Welsh.

·       The Connected Communities Manager felt that the wording of the question relating to the statistics on Welsh speakers in Newport and the contact centre’s engagement with Welsh speakers could be reworked.

What were the plans to increase visibility, engagement, and employment for Welsh speakers?

·       The Connected Communities Manager highlighted the need to increase visibility within the Council despite current standards ensuring translation of documents, dual language email signatures and out of office messages etc. The Connected Communities Manager also noted that there was also a need to increase visibility outside of the council for members of the community to interact with the Welsh language outside of settings they would expect to see Welsh used such as schools and colleges. The Connected Communities Manager informed committee that they were focused on looking at community partnerships that were not traditionally Welsh language partners to encourage this. The Connected Communities Manager cited the Newport Gwent Dragons were going to offer bilingual match programmes and increase Welsh language visibility on match days as a step to encourage Welsh in less formal settings.

·       The Language Policy Officer noted that the work being done was to increase visibility of Welsh within the community. The Language Policy Officer noted that there were two strands to their approach in addressing skills and employment; internally where staff would be encouraged to learn and use Welsh within the Council, how to employ more Welsh speakers into the council, and increasing visibility of Welsh within the Council. The Language Policy Officer noted that the other strand was working with the Right Skills Board and public sector partners to increase the Welsh language as a skill. The Language Policy Officer informed committee that this would tie in with the Welsh Education Strategic Plan promoting it within all schools, not just Welsh speaking schools. The Language Policy Officer informed committee that a small group that would report back to the Welsh Service Board. The Language Policy Officer also hoped that there would be a resulting standardised way of measuring skills in Welsh.

·       The committee member asked for an explanation regarding work done for the private sector.

·       The Language Policy Officer informed committee that the private sector aren’t subject to the same standards, but that they were working to incentivise them.