Venue: Council Chamber - Port Talbot Civic Centre. View directions
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Pre-Decision Scrutiny Minutes: Committee
scrutinised the following Cabinet items: Welsh
Language Standards Annual Report 2018-19 Officers
highlighted the positive work of the Council around the Welsh Language
Standards, including the continued investment in Welsh language education in
Neath Port Talbot. An invite would shortly be extended to the Welsh language
Commissioner to visit the new age 3-11 Welsh medium school, Ysgol
Bro Dur. Challenges
around the Standards were also discussed, including the translation of all
social media posts into Welsh. It was noted that the Council had a limited
number of Welsh speakers, despite numerous recruitment drives for Welsh
speaking Modern Apprentices. Existing staff were being offered courses in Welsh
in order to improve their knowledge and confidence in the use of the language. Members
were pleased to note that despite the relatively low number of recognised Welsh
speakers within the Council, the number of staff with fluent/fairly fluent
language skills identified in the employee directory had more than doubled in
the last two years. Another
challenge in adhering to the Standards was the budget pressure of translating
the relevant materials. It was hoped that future improvements in digital
technologies would reduce this particular pressure going forward. It
was noted that although the Welsh language Standards applied equally to the
whole of Wales, the amount of Welsh speakers across the country varied greatly. Members
queried the amount of customers who chose to speak in Welsh when contacting the
call centre and noted that this was a very small amount compared to the total
amount of calls received. More detailed information around these figures would
be presented to Members in the next quarterly performance monitoring report. Following
scrutiny the monitoring report was noted. Officer
Urgency Action 0037 – Establishment a Youth Mayor Members noted that an election would shortly take
place within Neath Port Talbot’s Youth Council for both the Youth Mayor and
Deputy Youth Mayor positions. A further report would be brought to Cabinet,
detailing the arrangements for the inauguration of the Youth Mayor, along with
the Deputy Youth Mayor, who would provide cover for events when the Youth Mayor
was unavailable. Following
scrutiny the report was noted. |
|
Forward Work Programme 19/20 PDF 72 KB Minutes: The
Committee noted the Forward Work Programme for 2019/20. |