11/6/21

A new Welsh Language Skills Strategy, an increase in the number of officers with Welsh language skills and the highest ever percentage of school children admitted to Welsh-medium primary schools in the city are some of the highlights captured in the Council's annual Welsh Language Standards report for 2020/21.

A 114% increase in council jobs advertised as ‘Welsh desirable' posts, more than 11.6m words translated by the Council's translation team, Bilingual Cardiff, and more than 3,400 members of staff completing a new Welsh Language Awareness module are also among the headline achievements in the annual report, due to be considered by Cabinet at its next meeting on Thursday, June 17.

The 2020/21 report, which the Council is required to publish detailing its compliance with the Welsh Language Standards, sets out how the authority has performed using the Welsh language in different situations over the past 12 months.

The report includes information on the number of employees with Welsh language skills, Welsh-medium staff training opportunities, the number of posts advertised where Welsh language skills are either essential or desirable, and also the number of complaints received relating to compliance with the standards.

Leader of the Council, Cllr Huw Thomas, said: "Growing the Welsh language in Cardiff, in line with the Welsh Government's Cymraeg 2050 vision for a million Welsh speakers across the nation, and facilitating the use of the language amongst staff, customers, residents and visitors is at the heart of our strategy to become a truly bilingual capital city.

"This year's annual Welsh Language Standards report shows we are achieving high levels of compliance and making good progress towards our bilingual capital vision with Welsh medium education - a key driver of the growth of Welsh in the city, flourishing as well as a further notable increase of staff with Welsh language skills within our own workforce."

The Welsh Language Skills Strategy was launched on March 1, 2021 as part of the Leader's St David's Day message and outlines how all Council staff will have the opportunity to engage with Welsh language training to reach a certain fluency level, and all customer facing roles will include Welsh language skills and/or community language skills as a desirable requirement.

Figures from the past year show the Council is already performing well in these areas with a 7.86% increase in the number of staff with Welsh language skills, 227 Welsh desirable posts advertised during 2020/21 and a new Welsh Language Awareness module completed by 3,470 staff members so far.

A total of 764 pupils were allocated places at Welsh-medium primary schools - 18.5% of the total numbers admitted to Cardiff schools, while Bilingual Cardiff translated 11,624,764 words during 2020-21.

After consideration by Cabinet of June 17, the annual report will be discussed at Full Council on June 24 and later published on the Council's website at www.cardiff.gov.uk/bilingualcardiff