Welsh Government annual report on compliance with Welsh Language Standards 2023 to 2024

This is the 8th annual report published by the Welsh Government on the implementation and compliance with the Welsh Language Standards, in line with the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011. The standards set out how we must consider the Welsh language and provide information and services in Welsh to the people of Wales in different situations.

Welsh Ministers' compliance with the standards is one part of a wider language planning strategy that will support the Government to achieve its 2050 goals; the first aim is to increase the number of Welsh speakers in Wales to 1 million and significantly increase the day-to-day use of the language while the second relates to the Government's internal working practices as we aim to become a truly bilingual organisation.

A compliance notice has been placed by the Welsh Language Commissioner on Welsh Ministers and lists the standards that apply to their activities.

1.1 General

The Service Delivery Standards set out how we provide services and information to the people of Wales in Welsh. Our aim is always to ensure that people can engage with their government in their chosen language. We want to provide high quality bilingual services on all occasions.

To do this we continue to operate a network of bilingual service coordinators, made up of representatives from across the organisation.

The coordinators ensure that their colleagues are aware of issues arising in 2 main areas:

• Welsh Language Standards compliance issues, led by the Welsh Language Standards Team, and
• Policy issues relating to the Cymraeg 2050 strategy and language mainstreaming, led by the Cymraeg 2050 Division.

1.2 Complaints

In the 8th year of implementing the standards, 26 complaints were received about Welsh Government Welsh language services, which is lower than the 30 received last year. 14 of these complaints are directly related to the Welsh Ministers becoming the Last Resort Operators of the Wales and Borders rail franchise in 2020, a service operated by Transport for Wales on a day-to-day basis.

Of the 22 complaints received by the Welsh Language Commissioner's office, 17 investigations have been terminated, with 5 ongoing.

4 complaints were received directly from members of the public and resolved immediately under Stage 1 of the Welsh Government's Complaints Policy.

Transport for Wales (Rail)

Transport for Wales has worked to improve the bilingual services provided to customers using rail services in Wales since becoming responsible for the services. Recent activities include:

• Improving bilingual customer information, both audio and visual, on all new train fleets – Transport for Wales continues to use the new Class 197 across the rail network along with the Valleys Class 231, which provides bilingual publications and information.
• Bilingual publications at railway stations are being upgraded, with most of this work completed.
• Bilingual braille has been introduced to parts of the network and on trains.
• All signs on the Cambrian line (including those in place since before the Welsh Language Standards were introduced in 2016) now comply with the TrC Station Toolkit which sets out the exact requirements of the Standards in relation to signage - signs across the whole network are being renewed in accordance with the Welsh Language Standards.
• An innovative digital programme has been put in place to introduce a translation function for live information displayed on the TrC website – the programme has been live since June 2023 and translates a live stream that will be in English only from National Rail Enquiries.
• A strategy has been developed to unify technological platforms, to ensure consistency and better service to users.
• Information totems were used in Cardiff, which display mission information bilingually.
• 3 members of staff with bilingual skills were recruited to ensure consistent Welsh language responses on social media to customers.
• We introduced more casual Welsh into our written materials and English videos.
• Transboundary marketing campaigns have been developed bilingually this year with a positive response – this includes joint campaigns with Visit Chester, Visit Shropshire and Chester Zoo.
• Cultural events were supported across Wales, including Thames, the National Eisteddfod, the Urdd Eisteddfod and the Hay Festival.
• More induction and language awareness training sessions were introduced for staff, with encouragement for everyone to use the Welsh language they have.
• Welsh lessons were relaunched for staff.

2.1 General

'Cymraeg 2050: A million Welsh speakers' is the Welsh Government's strategy for promoting and facilitating the use of Welsh. In line with the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, the commitment in the Cymraeg 2050 strategy demonstrates that the Welsh language is a strategic priority for the Welsh Government. The Welsh Government's vision is to see the Welsh language flourish, with a significant increase in the number of people speaking and using the language in their daily lives.

The policy-making standards require the Welsh Government to:

• consider the effects of our policy decisions on the Welsh language (positive and negative)
• consider how to increase, mitigate or reduce adverse effects and take every opportunity to promote the use of Welsh
• seek views on the effects on Welsh when engaging or consulting and seek the views of Welsh speakers and users of the language.

The Welsh Government has an integrated impact assessment framework in place. The purpose of the framework is to advise staff on considering a range of topics, including the Welsh language, when making policy decisions. The framework guides staff through the process of considering the effects of policy decisions on opportunities to use Welsh and the principle that Welsh should not be treated less favourably than English. The Welsh language impact assessment is one of the statutory, mandatory assessments that officers must complete when developing, reviewing or amending policies and legislation.

We have amended our standard Welsh Government consultation template to ensure that we receive respondents' comments on the effects of our policy decisions on the Welsh language. As well as seeking respondents' views through the standard questions contained in our consultation template, we must also show how we have perceived the language in the narrative of the consultation document itself. The recent ruling by the Welsh Language Tribunal (TYG/WLT/22/01) on the policy-making standards has informed our understanding of how the Welsh Language Commissioner and the Tribunal interpret the requirements of the policy-making standards: we must show that a "conscientious effort" has been made to consider the potential effects of our policy on the Welsh language.

To help consider what impacts our policies may have on the Welsh language, we advise staff to use the format below and include them in the consultation document to help list potential impacts. We are asking policy officers to consider direct and indirect impacts on people, asking them to draw particular attention to the potential impacts on:

1. The number of Welsh speakers in general, or in a particular geographical area, sector or particular group of Welsh speakers.
2. Language transfer within families.
3. Welsh in the workplace.
4. Use Welsh language services.
5. Social use of Welsh.
6. Visibility of the Welsh language.
7. The vitality of Welsh-speaking communities.

2.2 Complaints

No complaints were received regarding the implementation of the Policy Making Standards in 2022-2023 from the Commissioner's office nor from members of the public directly.

3.1 Developing a policy on internal use of Welsh

The Welsh Government's strategy for seeing the mainstreaming of Welsh within the organisation, and seeing more opportunities for our staff to use it is 'Cymraeg. It belongs to us all'. Launched in April 2020, the themes behind the strategy's implementation in its first 5 years are: leadership; recruit; training and technology. Progress has been made in implementing the objectives of the 10 actions included in the strategy during the reporting period.

Some areas of progress include action 7, which is the introduction of a basic 'courtesy' level for Welsh language skills. ‘Courtesy' level Welsh is defined as the ability to:

• pronounce Welsh language words, names, place names and terms
• answer the phone bilingually, greet people or make introductions bilingually
• understand and use proactively everyday expressions and simple key words relating to the workplace;
  read and understand short texts providing basic information, for example in correspondence, or to interpret the content using available technology
• demonstrate language awareness – which includes an appreciation of the importance of the language in society and an awareness of what is required to provide bilingual customer service.

To begin addressing this action a pilot course was undertaken. As the National Centre for Learning Welsh had already developed online Welcome to Welsh courses for a number of different sectors and workplaces, as well as a general courtesy level Welsh course, it was decided to use the Centre's resources to develop a course tailored to the Welsh Government. This was an efficient and timely way to operate the pilot.

In April 2023 1,000 members of staff who identified their Welsh skills at level 0 (speaking) were offered the opportunity to register for the pilot course. Level 0 speaking is defined on the Welsh Government's skills matrix as someone who has no Welsh speaking skills. Nearly 200 members of staff responded positively to the proposal. All volunteers were given a period over the summer of 2023 to complete the course. 38 members of staff have completed the course in its entirety, namely part 1 and 2, and 64 have completed part 1 alone.

The pilot was thoroughly evaluated, and positive feedback received. The intention is therefore to build on this momentum and gradually apply courtesy level Welsh across the organisation to everyone at this level, something that will start with new recruits to the organisation and members of the Senior Civil Service.

3.2 Complaints

1 complaint was received from the Commissioner's Office relating to the operational standards during the reporting period. No investigation was conducted, because the Commissioner was satisfied that appropriate and timely steps had been taken to adjust processes to ensure compliance with the Standards.

31 March 2024

* With the move to a system of recording New HR details during 2023-2024, there has been a slight decline in the level of data we have about Welsh language skills. We are addressing the issue to reduce the number/percentage of staff where there is no record of their Welsh language skills.

31 March 2023

People Survey

The People Survey is a survey carried out across the Civil Service and is asked to be completed annually by all Welsh Government staff through an anonymous electronics survey. The survey is being adapted for Welsh Government purposes with specific questions relating to working for the organisation, including questions about Welsh language skills and language use in the workplace.

Our Information and Analysis Service has provided results for Welsh language skills based on the results of the 2023 People Survey in tabular form.

Welsh Language Skills: People Survey 2023

Skills data in the People Survey is based on the following question:

Which of the following best describes your ability in spoken Welsh?

• I'm fluent in Welsh
• I can speak a bit of Welsh
• I can only speak a small amount of Welsh
• I can only say a few words in Welsh
• I can't speak Welsh

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View in table format

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View in table format

Courses / Number of learners:

• Weekly class (early September 2023): 179
• 1:1 tutoring: 26
• Online self-study: 68
• Gloywi: 14
• Intensive block course: 51
• Kick Off Cymraeg: 11
• Residential Courses: 2
• Virtual Intensive Course: 1
• Welsh pronunciation: 24
• Clwb Cymraeg: 132
• Welsh Courtesy Level: 102
• Bilingual Customer Care Service: 17
• Total: 627

This is an increase of 14 from last year.

A breakdown of the above data can be found in the table below.

Please note that progress is not as good as we would have hoped during the reporting period. This is due to the loss of a core member of staff from the Learning and Development team for a period during 2023-2024, followed by a period of recruitment and induction which meant we did not have a whole Welsh team for a period of time. This has put us about 6 months behind schedule.

Weekly lesson data

Our weekly classes are based on the Learning Welsh curriculum with courses available across Wales. Applications open in April with courses starting in September and running into the following May, this accounts for around 4 hours per week of learning over 30 weeks. Classes are available from entry level to advanced level. It's great to see so many learning at Senior level, and to see the skills of staff who can work bilingually develop.

Tutoring 1:1

We have a 1:1 tutoring programme available for those who need additional support to learn Welsh and these sessions provide tailored learning based on the individual's learning needs and requirements. 1:1 training is also available for the Senior Civil Service who cannot attend classes due to time requirements.

• Senior Civil Service: 19
• All staff: 7
• Total: 26

Online self-study

This course follows the same curriculum as the weekly classes but allows learners to complete the learning in their own time at their own pace. The course is available to all staff at the institution and applications open every other month. This online self-study course is suitable for those at entry level and/or foundation. 13 cohorts of staff have now started the online self-study course.

Number of learners:

• Cohort 8 (April 23): 12
• Cohort 9 (August 23): 9
• Cohort 10 (September 23):11
• Cohort 11 (November 23): 10
• Cohort 12 (January 24): 17
• Cohort 13 (March 24): 9
• Total: 68

Gloywi

As part of our corporate Welsh language training offer, language refresher sessions are offered aimed at skilled Welsh-speaking colleagues who are keen to improve their language skills. This course is delivered by an expert tutor who develops the programme based on the subjects chosen by participants. This course has been run on demand in 2023-2024 and, following publicity in the prospectus, colleagues are required to register an interest in attending. Unfortunately, this approach has not been entirely successful, as few have expressed interest in the course. So in 2024-2025 we will organise a programme of courses and arrange publicity for them at that time. The first of these is scheduled for April 2024.

Course/number of staff who completed the course between April 2023 and March 2024:

• Gloywi 4 - 14
• Total - 14

Block course

We have put together a new intensive Welsh course. As this course is new, it was initially piloted before being added to our permanent training offer in 2024-2025. Classes are held based on four levels, from entry to advanced level.

The course follows the same curriculum as our weekly class offer above but has been condensed to a full 10 days of training over 2 weeks. The course is structured between 9:00 a.m. and 3:00 in the afternoon, Monday to Friday over 2 weeks (which are not consecutive) and will be equivalent to completing half a level. As part of the evaluation of the pilot, it was found necessary to commit to the second week as well as the first week before attending the first week. So in 2024-2025 we will be asking for a commitment to the 2 weeks before the start of the first week.

The sessions were also offered to the Senior Civil Service on the same conditions as above.

Cohort Apprentice 2 block course pilot

(Cohort 1 pilot in 2022-2023)

• Entry Group 1 - 15
• Entry Group 2 – 12
• Foundation Group 1 – 6
• Foundation Group 2 – 3
• Intermediate Group 1 – 4
• Entry Group (Senior Civil Service) 11
• Total – 51

Kick Off Cymraeg

Kick Off Cymraeg is a three-hour virtual session that allows participants to explore the Welsh language and the Welsh Government's strategy in relation to its internal use – 'Cymraeg. It belongs to us all'. The session explores the essence of the Welsh language and its significance in Wales. Topics include "Your language journey", "What is language and how we got here" and "The part you play within Welsh Government".

Number of staff who completed the course: 11

Residential courses

Welsh Government staff can book intensive courses at Nant Gwrtheyrn through the National Centre for Learning Welsh. There are a variety of residential Welsh courses available at different learning levels, from Entry to Gloywi. These are intensive courses of approximately 5 hours of training per day over a period up to 5 days. This enables learners to progress quickly but involves a commitment of time over the course of a week.

• Number of staff who completed the course: 2
• Virtual: 1
• Total: 3

Language Skills Certificate

In September 2022, 15 individuals in Welsh Government were offered the opportunity to be part of a pilot scheme to deliver the qualification of the Welsh Language Skills Certificate. The Certificate course took place between November 2022 and May 2023.

The Certificate is an initiative of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol for students and staff involved in the College's programmes, to deliver a qualification that is testament to their high quality skills in Welsh and their ability to use Welsh in the workplace.

All 9 candidates passed the oral and written elements of the course, achieving the Certificate. 5 of the candidates succeeded with distinction. The certificates were presented to the successful staff by the Permanent Secretary at a ceremony at Cathays Park, and over Teams, in September 2023.

Follow-up sessions were held after the course with the whole cohort to receive their feedback and to discuss plans to put their skills into practice to make further use of Welsh in their day-to-day work. Formal and informal opportunities were discussed for candidates to use and develop their skills in the workplace. In terms of the impact of gaining the Certificate on the cohort's workplace practices, very positive stories have emerged from the crew, including

• changing the language of 1:1 meeting with a line manager to Welsh
• joining the Government's Welsh-language working facilitation networks
• drafting of departmental text for the corporate website in Welsh
• mentoring learners at lower levels to use their Welsh skills
• assisting in the running of corporate Welsh language clubs
• and the whole cohort reported an overall increase in their confidence and use of Welsh, both written and oral.

One of the cohort has been successful in applying for a job where Welsh language skills are essential since gaining the Certificate and now uses Welsh every day in the workplace.

This course is planned to take place again in 2024-2025 following a thorough evaluation of the pilot course and we will collaborate again with the National Centre for Learning Welsh, Coleg Cymraeg and Nant Gwrtheyrn to deliver the course.

Welsh pronunciation

The Welsh Pronunciation course aims to support employees by developing their confidence and giving them the opportunity to practise the pronunciation of Welsh words and phrases. The aim of the course is to ensure that participants are enabled to set an example in terms of trying and learning collaboratively. Staff at the end of the course will be directed to the next steps in their journey to learn and use Welsh.

Number of staff who completed the course: 24

Clwb Cymraeg

The Clwb Cymraeg is an informal "drop-in" session available to all staff (not just learners), to chat in Welsh and receive support from a tutor. Because these are informal sessions the numbers vary from session to session.

Number of staff taking part: 132 have expressed interest and received a link to join; and 65 sessions took place between September 2023 and March 2024.

Courtesy level Welsh course

During 2023-2024 we have run a pilot scheme to introduce a new course to our Welsh language training offering – Welsh Courtesy Level.

The course is delivered as an online module, which takes 10 hours to complete.

At the end of the course, participants will be able to:

• say hello and introduce themselves at different times of the day.
• make initial greetings like "I'm John, I'm learning Welsh", etc.
• answer the phone with a bilingual greeting and take a message.
• arrange and facilitate a meeting.

The details were shared with 170 individuals who had expressed that they lacked Welsh speaking skills (which is level 0). An evaluation form was sent to the 170 on 19 September 2023.

Number of staff who completed the pilot in 2023-2024:

• Part 1: 64
• Part 1 and 2: 38

Bilingual Customer Care Service

Bilingual Customer Care sessions have been organised for security staff, reception staff and facilities staff at the Welsh Government's head office, Cathays Park, to remind staff of expectations for language awareness and to provide quality bilingual customer service to visitors to the office and Government staff.

Four sessions were held, with 17 members of staff attending.

We will deliver the sessions to other offices within the Welsh Government estate during 2024-2025.

Learning and Development 2023-2024

Inductions

All new members of the Welsh Government workforce are required to undertake induction training. The corporate induction course instructor uses incidental Welsh throughout the 4-part course, and Welsh is a key theme throughout.

As part of the induction the Welsh Language Standards and Translation Service Team are providing a language awareness session during the course. This is an hour-long session that explains more about the Welsh Government's vision for the language, both internally as a bilingual organisation and externally in terms of our vision to see the language flourish in our communities. Opportunities to learn Welsh and develop their skills in the workplace are also highlighted to new staff during the session. The requirements of the Welsh Language Standards are also be introduced as part of the course, and how the Standards affect the day-to-day work of officers will be discussed. The Translation Service introduces their remit and reminds staff how to commission translation work and arrange simultaneous translation at meetings.

Date of event - attendees:

• 15 June 2023 - 32
• 12 July 2023 - 18
• 24 August 2023 - 15
• 13 September 2023 - 23
• 11 October 2023 - 34
• 16 November 2023 - 36
• 5 December 2023 - 12
• 11 January 2024 - 16
• 27 February 2024 - 21
• 20 March 2024 - 10

Total (10 sessions) - 217

There is a dedicated induction course for new members of the Senior Civil Service and non-executive directors of the Welsh Government Board. The course focuses on our statutory duties and policy objectives in our strategies for the Welsh language, 'Cymraeg 2050: A million Welsh speakers' and 'Cymraeg. It belongs to us all', bilingual work considerations, leadership mindsets, bilingual working tools, services such as the Translation Service, and Welsh language learning opportunities. These are 1:1 sessions and the new staff member usually contacts the Standards Team to assign a session. Welsh language inductions were held this year with 3 new non-executive directors of the Government Board.

In addition, inductions for the new cabinet secretaries and ministers of the Welsh Government were arranged in March 2024 following the appointment of the new First Minister and Cabinet. During the session we outlined statutory duties and policy objectives in our Welsh language strategies and the opportunities for Cabinet members to promote and mainstream the Welsh language across their portfolios. Cabinet members' personal use of Welsh in public was also scrutinised and discussed the support and maintenance in place to improve skills and for preparing for speeches, public appearances and presenting to camera. The sessions were delivered by the Standards Team and the Cymraeg 2050 Division team.

The Welsh Language Network

A total of 485 Welsh Government staff are members of the internal Welsh language network on the Learning Lab. This is an increase of 21 members from last year.

The aim of this network is to provide space on the Learning Lab (the Staff Learning and Development platform) for learning/speaking Welsh staff to practise and improve their confidence by having conversations and sharing the latest news and information about training, opportunities, media, etc. with others.

All learners and new members of staff are encouraged to join the network.

The number of new and advertised vacancies categorised as requiring:

1. Essential Welsh Language Skills
2. Welsh language skills to be learnt in the role
3. Desirable Welsh skills
4. Welsh skills not necessary (this category is no longer used by the Welsh Government)

Here is the 2022-2023 data:

This year, the Welsh Government has introduced a new recruitment portal, 'Cais'. The category "Welsh skills not necessary" is not an option for line managers when advertising jobs on the new portal. This year the Welsh Government has also introduced a diverse data entry system regarding HR and recruitment issues, 'Pobl'. It has not been possible for us to obtain corresponding data for the number of vacancies advertised per the 3 categories (essential, desirable, to be learnt on appointment) from the system for this year due to transition issues to the new system, but a new process is now in place which means the data will be available for 2024-2025.

Public Appointments: Welsh Language Skills Assessments

All roles appointed to them through the Welsh Ministers' public appointments process are subject to a Welsh skills assessment. Of the 49 assessments carried out this year, 19 roles were categorised as roles with Welsh as essential to them, and 30 with Welsh desirable. All assessments are subject to scrutiny and clearance by No Welsh Language Standards.

Tables

Welsh Language skills of WG staff (People Survey data - full breakdown)

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Welsh Language skills of WG staff (People Survey data - full breakdown)

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