The Customer Services, Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager presented a report, that updated Members on the work undertaken to meet the objectives within the Welsh Language Five Year Strategy (2016 to 2021), during year one of its introduction.

She explained that the council’s final compliance notice from the Welsh Language Commissioner includes two standards (145 and 146), that require the council to have produced and published the above Strategy by 30 September 2016. In order to track progress effectively, build on lessons learned and identify best practice, the council took the decision to report on this on an annual basis. The Strategy attached at Appendix 1 to the report, set out how the Council will promote the Welsh language, and facilitate its use in the County Borough for the period covered by the Strategy. This section of the report outlined what the Strategy included, whilst the next paragraph of the report, confirmed what was incumbent upon the Council, following a five year period after publishing the Strategy.

The Customer Services, Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager bringing Members up to speed, stated that Section 1 of the Five Year Strategy, focussed internally on maintaining the number of Welsh speaking employees in the council, with the section outlining:

·         A linguistic profile of the council’s workforce;

·         How the council can support its employees to improve their Welsh language skills and raise awareness of this in the workplace;

·         Recruitment and selection.

Within this she explained there were three Objectives as follows:-

1. Objective 1: Identify the capacity in service areas to deliver services in Welsh;
2. Objective 2: Provide appropriate learning and development solutions at various levels to meet identified needs within budget allocation;
3. Objective 3: Establish arrangements in recruiting to positions where Welsh language skills are essential.

Further information as to what these Objectives comprised of, was detailed in this part of the report.

She then explained that Section 2 of the Strategy focussed externally on maintaining the number of Welsh speakers in the wider county borough, and this Section also comprised of three Objectives as follows:-

a)      Objective 1: Raise the profile of the Welsh language, culture and local activities and events organised by the Council and its partners in a structured way;

b)      Objective 2: Increase promotion and awareness of the Council’s Welsh in Education Strategic Plan (WESP);

c)      Objective 3: To explore (and implement where possible), any new activities which will support the use of the Welsh language more widely within the County Borough, promoting these accordingly.

Further details in respect of each of these Objectives were detailed in the report.

Finally, the Customer Services, Communications, Marketing and Engagement Manager, confirmed that the Council had worked with Menter Bro Ogwr (MBO) to explore opportunities for joint working, and these are identified as follows:-

·          BCBC to work with MBO to advertise Welsh-essential jobs on their website and Facebook page;

·          MBO to continue working with Halo and Awen Trust, to provide recreational courses through the medium of Welsh for adults in Bridgend;

·          BCBC to promote public Siop Siarad sessions among staff via the Intranet.

RESOLVED:                That the Cabinet Equalities Committee both received and considered the report.