The Group Manager – HR and Organisational Development, presented a report, the purpose of which, was to provide Cabinet Committee Equalities, with a summary of the equality profile of the Council’s workforce as at 31 March 2020 and information about the requirement for Welsh language skills for vacant posts.

She confirmed that, the provision of relevant and accurate workforce information enables the Council to meet its statutory duties and obligations in relation to the Equality Act 2010, the Public Sector Equality Duty and the Welsh Language Standards.

The Group Manager – HR and Organisational Development advised that, Appendix 1 to the report, provided an equality profile of the Council’s workforce as at 31 March 2020, with comparative data from previous years.

There was full data set available on gender and age, however, it was not mandatory for employees to disclose their sensitive personal information for equality monitoring purposes. She added, that work was ongoing and planned to encourage employees to provide and/or update such details, notwithstanding the fact that this was given voluntary by employees (and was not something that was obligatory.)

Referring to the report’s Appendix, the Group Manager – HR and Organisational Development advised that BCBC had a larger proportion of female employees when compared to other local authorities, although this could not strictly be compared on a like for like basis, given that different authorities outsourced different sized services.

She confirmed that that there were more people over 60 working within the authority and this had been the trend for the last 3 years. This was also consistent with other local authorities.

Data also confirmed that there had been an increase in residents of an ethnic minority within the BCB, of around 1.9% within the last few years.

In 2020, there had been a slight decrease in the percentage of workforce who had declared carer responsibilities. Although interestingly, 20% of staff who had responded to the survey (equating to 350 employees, had indicated that they had some level of caring responsibilities.

In terms of some queries raised at the last Committee regarding the Council’s recruitment processes and the need for the successful candidate to be a Welsh speaker for any particular post, the Group Manager – HR and Organisational Development confirmed, that when a vacancy arises, managers must undertake an assessment of the Welsh language skills required by considering the duties and responsibilities of the individual post as well as that of the team.  In relation to the post, the criteria covers, contact with the public and the expectation to be able to communicate in both English and Welsh, the extent of contact with Welsh speakers and the need to undertake internal administration in English and Welsh.  From a team perspective whether another officer is available who can provide a Welsh language service.

In order to increase the number of Welsh speaking employees and improve the Welsh language service provided by the council, the current Policy on Using Welsh Language in the Workplace, sets out that all posts will be advertised with Welsh as desirable, unless the assessment identifies Welsh is essential.

She added, that these arrangements have been reviewed internally and recommendations are being developed.  These will now be considered alongside the results of the Welsh Language Commissioner's 2019-20 monitoring work, which covered recruitment. The final outcomes of this may change the Council’s current protocols in terms of recruiting Welsh  speakers for certain posts, confirmed the Group Manager – HR and Organisational Development. One of the issues picked up by the Welsh Language Commissioner as part of their previous monitoring work within HR, was that BCBC needs to be more specific about what was required, when it advertises vacant posts and states in the job specification, that one of criteria for the position is that it would be desirable for applicants to speak Welsh. HR were presently therefore re-looking at this issue.

A Member referred to Point 5. in the Appendix to the report, where it referred that the sexual orientation of staff in terms of those who declared they were bi-sexual or lesbian etc, amounted to a total of 1.5% (ie of staff). This was below the 1.8% of staff of staff who confirmed they were of ethnic minority. He felt that a true reflection of this data could be higher than this percentage reflects and that due to this, more encouragement should be given to the Council’s workforce to provide this information. This would allow for a more accurate reflection to be given in terms of the data of the Council overall, as opposed to calculating the percentage only of those providing the information. 

The Group Manager – HR and Organisational Development confirmed that this would be looked at further, though she emphasised, that it was not mandatory for staff to provide such details.

A Member advised that whilst the Authority should encourage Welsh speakers as part of its recruitment process, it was difficult and possibly unreasonable, to have a workforce that could provide a Welsh language service in all of its service areas. He felt though that it was essential in some areas, for example, on main Reception areas at our buildings (as a first point of contact) and via any contact to the Authorities by telephone, ie to Customer Services/Contact Centres. Specifying the need for Welsh speakers in too many posts where this was strictly not essential, could also result in BCBC not recruiting the best person for that particular job, he added.

A Member felt that employees should also be encouraged to declare if they were a carer, particularly since the inception of the Covid-19 pandemic. This was essential he felt, as some of these individuals may require additional support from the Council.

The Leader concluded debate on this item, by advising that whilst the Authority could not apply pressure on its existing workforce to become Welsh speakers, there was a need where there was a demand or necessity for this, to recruit people who were able to converse in the medium of Welsh, in certain key posts within the Authority.    

RESOLVED:                              That the Cabinet Committee noted the information contained in the report.