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No. | Item |
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APOLOGIES To receive apologies for absence. Minutes: Councillors Craig ab Iago, Elwyn Edwards, Alan Jones Evans, Charles Jones, Eric Merfyn Jones and Sion Jones. |
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DECLARATION OF PERSONAL INTEREST To receive any declaration of personal interest Minutes: No declarations of personal interest were received from any members
present. |
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CONSULTATION ON THE COMPLIANCE NOTICE ON WELSH LANGUAGE STANDARDS PDF 379 KB To consider
the report of the Democratic Services Manager (and Language) (attached). Additional documents: Minutes: Submitted – the report of the Democratic (and Language) Service Manager, providing a summary of the Compliance Notice and the main points that were requested to be discussed and responded to by the committee. It was noted that there would be consultation with the Management Group and the Corporate Management Team prior to the Cabinet Member’s formal response to the consultation on behalf of the Council. During the discussion the following observations were noted by members on the contents of the standards:- 1. Delivering Services
(1-87) ·
Standards 2, 3, 21, 28, 32, 72 – The
principle of delivering standards as needed rather than according to choice was
a basic principle and it should be a principle throughout the whole of Wales. If a choice was
given, people tended to state that they had no preference and this could result
in a reduction in the use of the Welsh language. ·
Standard Number 12 – It was suggested that Welsh
should be placed first when advertising telephone numbers, helplines or call
centre services. ·
Standard 30 - The Council provided simultaneous
translation at every public meeting that was held and the Welsh language has
been normalised to such a degree that the public were completely aware that it
was possible for them to speak Welsh at public meetings held by the Council. ·
Standard Number 49 – It was not usual for this Council
to produce a separate Welsh and English version of a document. ·
Standards 67-68 - In accordance with the Council’s
Welsh Language Scheme, all staff members in receptions were completely
bilingual. Consequently, staff did not wear
badges to show that a Welsh language service was available and there were no
signs stating that people were welcome to use the Welsh language in the
reception. Once again, it was arguable that the
Council’s policy as it stood was more than sufficient for the requirements. ·
General - ·
The Council’s Language Scheme already went beyond the majority
of these standards. It had to be ensured that the
wording of the standards did not dilute the Language Scheme and that they
reflected the situation that had developed naturally in Gwynedd over the years
by practice and procedures. ·
The reorganisation of Local Authorities arrangements
and the possible impact of this on compliance with the Standards had to be
borne in mind in due course. 2. Forming a Policy
(88-97) ·
The fact that the Council formed policies which did
not treat the Welsh language less favourably than English as a matter of course
was welcomed but it was agreed that formalising the procedure by establishing a
structure to prove that full consideration had been given to the Welsh language
would be a way of promoting this aspect in a positive manner. ·
It was not the wish to create additional paper work
but rather a system could be incorporated to evidence this in the current
procedure of submitting policies to the Cabinet. 3. Implementation
(98-144) · The standards should allow this Council to operate in accordance with its Language ... view the full minutes text for item 3. |