Council to target ‘low performing’ Welsh language departments

Richard Evans, Local Democracy Reporter

A new five-year policy aiming to “double” the use of Welsh among council staff will go before senior councillors next week.

Denbighshire County Council is proposing measures including a database of Welsh language requirements for jobs and the use of “mystery shoppers” to monitor low-performing departments.

Members will meet at its Ruthin County Hall HQ on Tuesday (28 April) to consider adopting the policy aimed at encouraging more day-to-day use of Welsh in the workplace.

Led by Councillor Emrys Wynne, the lead member for Welsh language, culture, and heritage, the policy is designed to meet legal duties under Welsh language standards.

The draft council report states its aim is “to show our commitment to doubling the daily use of Welsh in the workplace and support the national aim of reaching a million speakers by 2050.”

The council is pledging to “maintain” bilingual communications across its channels whilst encouraging staff to take up the language “whatever their level”.

The authority will also keep a “database” of Welsh speakers.

The report says the council will “create and maintain a database showing the level of Welsh required for each role and the current skills of staff, as a basis for planning learning and training”.

Under the proposals “all internal communications – newsletters, staff bulletins – will be bilingual with Welsh first, including signage, announcements and statements”.

The council will also strive to “deliver an ongoing programme of language awareness training for staff to increase understanding of the role of Welsh in their work”.

But the council will target “departments with low performance” with “mystery shopper exercises” to receive more training. Welsh-speaking staff will also be marked with a “Cymraeg Gwaith badge” to identify Welsh speakers and learners online.