Publication of the Welsh Language Standards Annual Report for 2022-2023

The Welsh Language Standards Report for 2022-2023 has been published following approval at a Cabinet meeting held on 06 June 2023.

The report outlines the progress the Council is making in addressing the implementation requirements of the Language Standards across its services during the past year.

The Council has raised awareness of Welsh language services through the Clic customer contact service. The Council’s staff consider the needs of Welsh speakers when carrying out their daily actions, and offer service users a choice of language from the first contact.

The report shows that 62% of the Council’s staff have the ability to converse orally in Welsh. This is consistent with previous profiles of workplace skills. 65 members of staff have the opportunity to learn Welsh through the Cymraeg Gwaith Tutor Scheme, by the Canolfan Dysgu Cymraeg Genedlaethol. By completing the Higher Level Welsh Learning Course, the Council is very proud to report that 21 members of the workforce are now new Welsh speakers, and have gained the confidence to use the Welsh language in professional and personal contexts.

During the past year, we had the opportunity to award Ceredigion County Council’s Learner of the Year, Melisa Elek who works for Hyfforddiant Ceredigion Training, and is originally from Canada with her family from Croatia. She set out to learn Welsh in order to be able to enrich the experience of living and working in Ceredigion and in Wales.

Among the main achievements of the past year, the Council has secured the following:

• review the Council’s Customer Charter, which describes the level of service users can expect when contacting the Council. This includes providing the service in Welsh or English, in accordance with the user’s language choice.
• publishing the Welsh Language Policy on Awarding of Grants, to ensure that grant awarding processes take into account any impact on the Welsh language.
• the Council did not receive any complaints regarding the Council’s Welsh language services or regarding the implementation of Welsh Language Standards during the reporting year.

Councillor Catrin M S Davies, Cabinet Member for the Welsh Language and Culture, said: “It’s great to see that a positive improvement has been made towards implementing the Welsh Language Standards and this shows the Council’s commitment to make continuous improvements in our Welsh medium provision. People in Ceredigion have the right to expect a service in their mother tongue, and we want to ensure that we can meet that. I would like to see more of the county’s residents taking advantage of the Welsh language services more often. Lack of confidence in their Welsh is still a problem throughout the county and it doesn’t need to be.”

The Welsh Language Standards Annual Report is available to read in full on the Council’s website: Welsh Language Standards