Agenda and minutes

Venue: Council Chamber - Port Talbot Civic Centre. View directions

Items
No. Item

1.

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.

 

 

2.

Forward Work Programme 19/20 pdf icon PDF 72 KB

Minutes:

The Committee noted the Forward Work Programme for 2019/20.