Welsh language Standards Annual Report

Comments on Progress 2023-24

Summary of Progress (Service Delivery) 2023–24

• The volume of calls to the Council’s Contact Centre has dropped since 2022–23, but the volume of Welsh language calls has fallen slightly more sharply (down 12%) than the volume of English language calls (down 9%).
• The time that customers have to wait for a response, when calling the Council’s Contact Centre has increased for both English and Welsh languages, with callers to the Welsh language line now waiting an average of 31 seconds and callers to the English language line waiting an average of 45 seconds. The response time for the Welsh language line is better than the English line.  These wait times are within the service target for 2023-24 which were for calls to be answered within 2 minutes on average. This overall target applies to both English and Welsh queues. 
• Number of users of the English website continues to grow (4% increase), while numbers of users of the Welsh site decreased slightly (1% decrease).
• Usage of the Council’s My Account continues to grow for both the English and Welsh Accounts. The growth in the number of customers registering for My Account and to receive My Account communication through the medium of Welsh is growing faster than English (62% increase in Welsh versus 41% in English).
• Interest in the Council’s Welsh language Facebook page continues to grow, with the number of followers increasing 29% from 309 in 2022/3 to 400 in 2023/4. Interest has continued to be boosted by coverage of the St David’s Day parade, Shwmae Day promotions and Welsh language education news stories.
• Compared with 2022/3, written translations of all lengths in 2023/4 have remained at a similar level. 

Summary of progress (Policy Making Standards) 2023-24

• There continue to be some lapses in Corporate Integrated Impact Assessment processes, which has implications for the Welsh language and more widely. During 2024/5, we will review the Corporate Integrated Impact Assessment process. This review is in response to a number of factors including the decision of the Welsh Language Tribunal case TYG/22/01, and the subsequent seminar by the Commissioner held in November 2023.  

Summary of progress (Operational) 2023–24

• The number of employees wishing to receive correspondence relating to their employment has remained static for the last three years.
• There has been a small fall in the number of employees completing the training needs self-assessment (1,774 in 2023/4 compared to 1,870 in 2022/3) but Welsh language skill levels remain largely static (868 at Level 1 or above in 2023/4 compared to 899 at Level 1 or above in 2022/3, and 170 at Level 3/4 in 2023/4 compared to 179 at Level 3/4 in 2022/3).
• Whilst the number of employees completing Health & Safety Training through the medium of Welsh more than doubled from 66 in 2021/2 to 152 in 2022/3, there was a decrease (38%) in the number of employees completing Health & Safety Training through the medium of Welsh in 2023-24 compared to 2022-23. This decrease may be due to many factors including the timing of renewals for mandatory courses e.g. every 3 years.
• The re-provision of Work Welsh learning, in partnership with the National Centre for Welsh, has prompted an increase in the number of employees taking up Welsh language learning opportunities from 118 in 2022/3 to 203 in 2023/4. 
• The designations of Welsh language requirements on posts advertised has remained largely static since 2021/2 and is currently 8% Welsh language essential, 75% Welsh language desirable, 1% Welsh to be learnt on appointment and 17% Welsh language not required.