Ceredigion County Council has published its Welsh Language Standards’ Annual Monitoring Report following approval in a recent Cabinet meeting.
This is the fourth full year of implementing the Welsh Language Standards in accordance with the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, and the report outlines the Council’s progress in implementing the standards.
During a virtual Cabinet meeting held on 9 June 2020 via Zoom, members approved the Ceredigion County Council’s Welsh Language Standards’ Annual Monitoring Report (2019-20), and it has now been published on the Council’s website.
The report sets out how the Council complies with the standards in terms of service delivery, policy making, internal operations to staff, and promoting and facilitating the Welsh language more widely throughout the county.
The information was gathered through the Council’s ongoing monitoring of its services. A self-monitoring framework has been developed against the Welsh Standards’ requirements, and each Corporate Lead Officer has scored their service performance against these. In accordance with this, the Council’s Language Policy Officer has worked closely with service managers to assist them in setting plans to improve the quality and availability of Welsh language services. The Council is also very proud of the learning opportunities it offers to staff, to develop or improve their language skills in order to be able to work bilingually. During the reporting year, 83 members of staff attended learning courses or to improve their language skills, with 20 members of staff passing language exams set by the National Centre for Learning Welsh.
Councillor Ellen ap Gwynn, Leader of Ceredigion County Council, said: “This report outlines the County Council’s commitment in its ongoing efforts to meet the requirements of the Welsh Language Standards. By raising awareness amongst staff of the importance of providing bilingual services, we are steadily increasing the proportion of staff at all levels who have the ability and the confidence to use Welsh in the workplace. This is to ensure that all the services we offer can operate with an effective understanding of the bilingual communities we serve, and to identify with them, in accordance with the principles of the Welsh Language Standards”.
Ceredigion County Council has committed to implementing the Welsh Language Standards since 30 March 2016, in accordance with the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 under Section 44.
18/06/2020