Language Skills Strategy and Skills Development Framework

Transcription

1 Vale of Glamorgan Council Language Skills Strategy and Skills Development Framework December 2010 Page 1 of 17

2 INTRODUCTION 3 AIMS OF THE STRATEGY 4 WELSH LANGUAGE AND EQUALITIES 4 DEALING WITH THE PUBLIC ONEVALE 5 PLANNING FOR A BILINGUAL WORKFORCE 6 MAPPING WORKPLACES AND BILINGUAL SKILLS OF EXISTING STAFF 7 RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION 9 MONITORING AND REPORTING OF THE STRATEGY S IMPLEMENTATION 10 WELSH LANGUAGE SKILLS DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK 10 CORPORATE EQUALITIES TEAM 11 APPENDIX 1 - LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS IN ADVERTISING A VACANCY 12 APPENDIX 2 WELSH LANGUAGE IN THE VALE OF GLAMORGAN 14 ACTION PLAN Page 2 of 17

3 Introduction 1. The Vale of Glamorgan Council is committed to providing equality in service delivery to every resident and community within its geographical boundaries. 2. The Council s Corporate Equalities Team has overall corporate responsibility for language and equality issues under a number of statutory policies and strategies. 3. The Council s Welsh Language Scheme (as required by the Welsh Language Act 1993) outlines the way in which the Council will discharge its responsibilities to provide its services to the public equally in Welsh and English and to promote the Welsh language in the Council. This Linguistic Skills Strategy has been prepared in order to facilitate the implementation of the Council s statutory Welsh Language Scheme. 4. The Council s Welsh Language Scheme was approved by the Welsh Language Board in It notes in Section 5 - Implementing and Monitoring the Scheme, the commitment to prepare a Linguistic Skills Strategy. The first Linguistic Skills Strategy was prepared in 2008 and is developed further within this document. 5. This Strategy has been prepared in accordance with statutory guidance published by the Welsh Language Board in their document Welsh Languages Schemes their preparation and approval in accordance with the Welsh Language Act Statutory guideline 8(i) of this document states that Welsh Language Schemes should detail measures to ensure workplaces that have contact with the public in Wales will have access to sufficient and appropriately skilled Welsh speakers to enable those workplaces to deliver a full service through the medium of Welsh. 6. Guideline 8(ii) requires measures to identify those posts where the ability to speak Welsh is considered to be essential and those where it is considered to be desirable in order to deliver a full service through the medium of Welsh. 7. This Strategy also takes into consideration advice published by the Welsh Language Board under Section 3 of the Welsh Language Act 1993 Recruitment and the Welsh Language, published in January This advice is aimed at helping public organisations develop a bilingual workforce so that they can provide effective services to the public through the medium of Welsh, communicate with members of the public successfully and carry out their day-to-day business in either Welsh or English. 8. The Vale of Glamorgan is a diverse and vibrant community with a variety of linguistic backgrounds and abilities. In order to meet customer needs and respect the diversity of the local community, it is essential that the Council considers language as part of its workforce and service planning. 9. The Council s Equal Opportunities Policy notes clearly that the Council will provide services fairly and without discrimination. It also encourages staff to ensure that information is available in other languages and other formats such as audio, Braille or large print where it is practicable to do so. Page 3 of 17

4 10. This Linguistic Skills Strategy has been prepared with assistance by Sbectrwm, an independent company, following a recommendation in research undertaken by Cwmni Iaith in The recommendations made in that report were endorsed by the Corporate Management Team in It is prepared within the broader policy framework and context provided by various strategies and initiatives adopted or being developed by the Vale of Glamorgan Council. Aims of the strategy 11. The aims of this strategy are to: facilitate the implementation of the Council s statutory Welsh Language Scheme in relation to staffing its services to the public; ensure the language skills of the workforce are developed to continue to meet the council s commitment within its Welsh Language Scheme; ensure that sufficient staff are in post in order to provide bilingual services to the public. 12. This strategy builds on the previous Linguistic Skills Strategy and recognises the continuing developments in relation to staff skills within the Council. It will need to be reflected in the Council s recruitment and selection arrangements. 13. In order to continue to develop the Council s Welsh language provision, arrangements will need to be established to collect meaningful statistical information to enable the Council to identify areas of good practice and areas for further development. This will require auditing of current skill levels and monitoring and reporting of recruitment and selection practices. 14. Staff will also need to opportunities to develop their Welsh language skills. Managers will also need to be supported to assist in the implementation of this strategy. Welsh Language and Equalities We are committed to eliminating discrimination and removing barriers to services, information, premises, facilities and employment. We embrace equality of opportunity irrespective of disability, ethnic origin, colour, nationality, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, Welsh language choice, culture and religion. Vale of Glamorgan Council s Equal Opportunities Policy 15. The Council s equal opportunities policy covers a wide range of issues that stem from both a legal and moral duty to provide all services fairly, without discrimination to every resident and everyone who works in, and visits the Vale. The Council s commitment to providing good quality services through the medium of the Welsh language is further set out in the Welsh Language Scheme, approved by the Welsh Language Board in Page 4 of 17

5 16. As a major employer and service provider, the Council has a significant part to play in eliminating the disadvantages experienced by people. The Council aims to provide accessible services and to create a workforce that reflects the diverse community that it serves. 17. According to the 1991 Census figures, 6.5% of the population of the Vale of Glamorgan, or approximately 6,000 people spoke Welsh. The 2001 Census showed that the number of Welsh speakers in the Vale had risen to just over 11.0%, which equates to around 13,000 Welsh speakers. 18. Welsh medium education has been a significant contributory factor in this increase. A separate Welsh Language Education Scheme is published by the Council, outlining developments across the area. 19. The Disability Discrimination (Amendment) Act 2005 places an obligation on the Council to provide services through the medium of British Sign Language (BSL). Provision will be made through BSL interpreters when required and information may be requested in specific formats. The Council has made a commitment to develop BSL within the workforce and will run taster sessions and Level 1 training (subject to demand). Dealing with the public OneVale 20. The Council has two important strategies in place which clearly set out its ambitions and objectives in dealing with the public, Customer Relations Strategy 2010 and Contact Channel Strategy The Customer Relations Strategy 2010 sets out an ambition to develop customer insight in order to fully understand demand for services across communications channels by various customer groups. The Council will develop a clear understanding of where the demand for services through the medium of Welsh is greatest and target resources appropriately. 22. We have implemented a corporate complaints process which allows for improved data collection and management information and requires services to identify what they have learned from customer complaints and identify what actions have been taken to prevent complaints recurring. This procedure will help ensure that we learn from complaints regarding Welsh language access to and delivery of services and put appropriate long term solutions in place to ensure that these are addressed. 23. The Contact Channel Strategy 2010 has a clear objective to ensure that customers use the lowest cost, most appropriate contact channel to resolve their query at first point of contact. We will ensure that information and transactional services provided via the Councils website are available through the medium of Welsh. Where the website is not the most appropriate channel, we will ensure that access to services on the three most popular channels, telephone, face to face and by , are available in Welsh at the first point of contact. Page 5 of 17

6 24. We take advantage of developments in technology (e.g. video conferencing) to expand access to services through the medium of Welsh were resources are restricted. 25. The OneVale contact centre deals with all calls from the general public. A dedicated Welsh language service is provided by One Vale to ensure that customers are able to contact the Council in their preferred language. 26. At the heart of the Council s OneVale programme is the goal of business transformation: implementing innovative technologies and processes, creating a culture of collaboration and a focus on customer service and improving the accessibility of services. 27. A number of members of staff who are fluent Welsh speakers have been appointed as customer agents at the OneVale contact centre. The Council is committed to ensure that this level of staffing continues in the future. 28. The target is that 80% of calls are dealt with at the first point of contact. If queries need to be dealt with in Welsh by the back office, OneVale staff will have access to a list of Welsh speakers who will be able to deal with specific queries. 29. The Welsh language service is advertised alongside the English language service. Recently, the Council promoted its Welsh medium service in partnership with Menter y Fro and the Welsh Language Board under the Mae gen ti ddewis ( You have a choice ) project. 30. The dedicated Welsh Language Service will be monitored to examine service usage and the nature of enquiries. 31. The Council provides a number of reception areas to assist members of the public in accessing Council services. Where posts are located in key frontline situations such as Council s cash desks, libraries, leisure centres, etc. managers will be required to assess the capacity of the team to provide services in Welsh. Where the need is identified, a person specification will include Welsh as an essential element of the post. The specification will also clarify the exact competencies required to undertake the role. 32. As a general principle, at least one member of any reception desk staff should be Welsh speaking. If a vacancy arises in reception staffing, and there are no other Welsh speakers, the post will be advertised as Welsh essential. Staff who currently hold key reception area posts will be supported through training to up-skill in the language. This training need will be identified by managers through the PDR process; managers will be responsible for provision of the training (details are available through the Equalities team) and for monitoring progress regularly. Planning for a bilingual workforce 33. The Council s Welsh Language Scheme has adopted the central principle that it will treat the Welsh language on an equal basis to English. It has committed to Page 6 of 17

7 implementing this principle in the conduct of its business and in providing services to the public. 34. In order to implement this principle and provide services successfully, the Council should ensure that the workforce has a sufficient number of Welsh speakers, located within key offices and posts, across the Council. This is particularly important in the case of public-facing reception staff where an improved approach is required. Managers should ensure that an adequate Welsh Language service is available. 35. Section 104 of the Welsh Language Scheme notes the Council s commitment to prepare a Linguistic Skills Strategy. This Linguistic Skills Strategy is prepared and published in order to services have sufficient bilingual skills capacity to implement these principles. In order to increase the services available through the medium of Welsh, the Council will look to increase the number of staff with Welsh language skills, through both recruitment and training. Section 7 of this strategy outlines the main considerations for the linguistic needs of posts. Appendix A provides guidance for Managers on the assessment of posts and the decision in relation to linguistic need. 36. Linguistic skills considerations will be reflected in recruitment, retention and development procedures and in the service planning process. 37. The Equalities Team will take lead responsibility for the Linguistic Skills Strategy and will report annually to the Welsh Language Board on implementation. 38. The Human Resources Team and TransAct will support the implementation of the Strategy and ensure that linguistic skills are reflected in the Vale of Glamorgan Council s workforce development. 39. Heads of Service and Operational Managers will be responsible for the day to day implementation of the Linguistic Skills Strategy and will ensure that the Welsh language is given due consideration in service planning and workforce planning. 40. Training for managers will be integral to the success of this strategy. All managers are currently required to undertake recruitment and selection training. This provision will be developed further to include training on the Language Skills Strategy. Mapping Workplaces and Bilingual Skills of existing staff 41. The commitment to undertake an audit of workplaces and posts which have a public interface is integral to the development of the Council s Linguistic Skills Strategy. The audit required will provide the foundation upon which the strategy is built. From this basis, the Council can then move forward to compare the skills required with the actual skills available and thus identify any gaps in the workforce. 42. Staff skills are currently recorded on the Oracle system and this will continue to be monitored by the Human Resources team. Data collated from the equalities monitoring questionnaire at recruitment stage will be added and updated following Page 7 of 17

8 appointment. Contact One Vale will be responsible for the input of this information at the recruitment stage. Equalities will be responsible for the update of information following staff surveys. A report will be agreed to extract the data A questionnaire for completion by all staff will be placed on the Council s Staffnet and managers will be asked to ensure that members of staff have completed the questionnaire within a specified timetable. 44. Managers who are responsible for non-office based staff will be required to complete a paper based exercise in order to collate the relevant staffing data. 45. The questionnaire requires staff to indicate: their contact details and location of post their linguistic skills their proficiency in either language whether they are interested in training opportunities provided by the Council. 46. Staff will be able to access a list of Welsh speakers through the Staffnet 47. Heads of Service and Operational Managers will ensure that the departmental responses of their staff to the audit are as complete as possible in order to ensure that the Council has an accurate and comprehensive assessment of the current language skills. 48. The Council will adopt the following performance indicators as part of the strategy and report the statistics to the Welsh Language Board as part of the annual report. Ref LSS 1 LSS 2 Indicator The number and percentage of staff able to speak Welsh per service department; according to grade and per workplace (not including school teachers and staff). The number of staff who have received training in Welsh to a specific qualification level during the year. Page 8 of 17

9 LSS 3 The number of staff who have received language awareness training during the year. Recruitment and Selection 49. All posts advertised by the Council will be continue to be assessed in order to establish their linguistic need. Some key front line posts will be identified as either being Welsh essential or Welsh desirable. This is particularly important in the recruitment of reception staff where a specific approach is required in order to ensure that adequate cover is provided. Where linguistic ability is considered to be essential or desirable, it will be stated in the job description and person specification and also included in the job advertisements. 50. The person specification will also note clearly the exact responsibilities that will be required to be undertaken through the medium of Welsh, for example: The successful candidate will be able to converse with confidence and at ease in both Welsh and English with customers. Further examples can be found in Appendix Some aspects of the recruitment process will be bilingual. Application forms and standard letters will be in both languages and candidates will be welcome to submit application forms in either Welsh or English. 52. Recruitment advertising conveys the Council s commitment to the Welsh language and helps attract staff with Welsh language skills. Standard information, such as the name of the Council and the department, and all contact information will be displayed bilingually as the minimum standard. 53. Other aspects of the recruitment process will either be bilingual, in Welsh only or in English only, depending on the nature of the post being advertised. For posts where Welsh is essential, recruitment advertising will be in Welsh only, with an explanation in English: This is an advertisement for a position for which the ability to communicate through the medium of Welsh is essential. 54. For posts where Welsh is essential, a Welsh first language speaker will ask a number of questions in the interview (agreed by the interview panel) through the medium of Welsh. For posts where written Welsh is essential, a written test will be administered. The candidates will be fully informed of the way that the interview will be conducted. The Welsh translator will assist with this. 55. Welsh language skills will also be included on the monitoring form which is distributed and published with all advertising documentation. 56. The form and style of advertisements for school-based staff at Vale of Glamorgan community schools is decided by the Headteacher and governors. The Council will advise and encourage schools to adopt good practice in advertisements. Page 9 of 17

10 57. To encourage applicants with Welsh language skills to apply for posts within the council, a partnership will be developed with Ysgol Bro Morgannwg, Ysgol Glantaf, Barry College and Menter Iaith y Fro to organise job fairs, work experience and other opportunities. 58. In order to raise the awareness of the Welsh language amongst all new recruits, a basic introduction to the Welsh language in the Vale of Glamorgan will be circulated during the induction period. The information sheet can be found in Appendix 2. Monitoring and reporting of the Strategy s implementation 59. The Corporate Equalities team will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Linguistic Skills Strategy with input from Human Resources and Information and Communications Technology Departments. The performance indicators listed above will be the basis of the information on staffing and training. 60. The monitoring of information will be reported annually as part of the Welsh Language Scheme annual report to the Welsh Language Board. The annual report will be presented to the CMT and Cabinet for information. Welsh Language Skills Development Framework 61. The approach the council will take to implementing the Linguistic Skills Strategy will be to: offer Welsh language skills training to staff, prioritising the needs in order to deliver the biggest impact on service delivery to our customers; address areas of skills shortage as part of the process of recruitment and selection when posts become vacant or where new posts are created. 62. In order to achieve the first objective there will be a dual approach to addressing the development needs. The first will allow all staff the opportunity to undertake Welsh language skills training and language awareness training. In addition to this, there will be a corporate overview, following the completion of the skills audit. 63. In the first instance an audit of existing skills will be undertaken to identify the skills already available within the Council. Secondly, staff will be afforded the opportunity to undertake language awareness training. Finally, appropriate staff will be encouraged to undertake training to develop and build their language skills. 64. In the first instance, as part of the Performance Development and Review (PDR) process, it will be the responsibility of the line manager to identify the need and plan the development of their staff. 65. The Council currently encourages its workforce to learn Welsh by offering a range of flexible training opportunities. The Council will develop a Welsh Language Training and Development Strategy to improve the coordination these activities. Page 10 of 17

11 66. Not all Welsh learning can be funded by the Council. Training in language skills must be prioritised to achieve the greatest value for money. The highest training priority will be for staff in posts where Welsh language skills have been identified as essential, followed by those that have been identified as desirable. 67. Where staff are already in these posts, or where the most suitable appointee needs to develop their linguistic skills further, training will be arranged and funded by the Council and targets will be agreed for the desired level and timescale. 68. Future training provision will include refresher courses, media training and language improvement courses. These developments will be subject to budgetary constraints and according to the needs of the service. A record of all qualifications attained and courses attended will be maintained. Corporate Equalities Team 69. The Equalities team works towards eliminating unfair discrimination and removing barriers to information and facilities in employment and service delivery. This work covers discrimination on the grounds of: Gender Disability Human Rights Race Religious Belief Sexual Orientation Welsh Language Age 70. The team provides information on the Council s equality policies and on where to get impartial advice on equality issues. It also deals with discrimination complaints on the above grounds relating to Council employment or Council services. Further information is available from: Corporate Equalities Officer The Vale of Glamorgan Council Civic Offices Holton Road Barry equalities@valeofglamorgan.gov.uk Telephone: Page 11 of 17

12 Appendix 1 - Language requirements in advertising a vacancy A language skills assessment will provide a definition of the language skill requirements of the post and that should be worded simply and fairly in the job details. Before advertising a post, a manager will need to carefully consider: the post holder s contact with the public their team s existing capability the post holder s client group the area that the post serves The details should be worded carefully. It is better to describe what kind of Welsh competencies are essential rather than only using general wording. For example if the ability to speak Welsh is essential, a description of the exact linguistic requirements would assist candidates e.g. The successful candidate will be able to converse with confidence and at ease in both English and Welsh with customers. If looking for candidates who are able to write in Welsh a description such as the successful candidate will be able to answer queries in English and Welsh as well as answer correspondence in both languages could be used. Training will be offered to improve written Welsh skills if needed could be added. This information will allow prospective employees to have a better understanding of the post requirements. Examples of wording asking for language requirements in a job description where Welsh is essential:- Receptionist The ability to converse at ease with customers in Welsh is essential. Social Worker The ability to converse with clients in Welsh is essential. Finance Officer It would be desirable if the successful candidate could answer simple correspondence in Welsh. Project Manager The ability to give public presentations in Welsh is desirable. Care worker The ability to conduct a simple conversation in Welsh is essential for the post. Education Psychologist The ability to conduct psychological assessments through the medium of English and Welsh and the ability to present written information in both languages is essential for this post. Page 12 of 17

13 Support is available for assessment of linguistic skills at interview. These include faceto-face assessments by the Welsh language translator or in relation to written skills (a set task that can be assessed). Consideration should be given to these assessments prior to interview and built into the interview procedures. Candidates will need to be informed of this arrangement prior to interview. Please contact the Equalities team or your HR advisor for further information. If you are unable to recruit an applicant with the required Welsh language skills, you may need to re-advertise the post with a specific indication in the contractual agreement that the employee is expected to learn or develop their Welsh language skills to the required level within an agreed period of time or consider alternative provision. Page 13 of 17

14 Appendix 2 Welsh Language in the Vale of Glamorgan The 2001 Census shows that just over 11% of the population of the Vale of Glamorgan are able to speak, read and write Welsh. This equates to about 13,000 in actual numbers. It also signifies that 14% are able to understand Welsh, which equates to about 16,000 inhabitants. This compares to a figure of 6.5% in 1991, which is approximately 6,000 Welsh speakers. In 2001, some electoral wards in the council area had substantial percentages of Welsh speakers. For example, 13% of the population in Cowbridge, Llandow/Ewenny and Baruc were Welsh speaking and 12% in Llantwit Major, Peterston-Super-Ely and Stanwell. The main contributory factors behind this significant increase are: the growth of Welsh-medium education the number of adults learning Welsh the number of Welsh speakers that have moved into the area The growth in Welsh medium education over the last 20 years has been considerable. Ysgol Gymraeg Sant Ffransis in Barry was one of the first Welsh medium schools to be established in South-East Wales. Today there are 5 designated Welsh medium primary schools in the Vale of Glamorgan with 2 others planned to open in the near future. Over 1,400 primary age pupils currently receive their education through the medium of Welsh. The area also has one designated Welsh-medium secondary school Ysgol y Fro which has over 850 pupils. As a result of the support for Welsh medium education it is estimated that 37% of year olds in the authority are Welsh speaking. Underpinning these developments in the statutory sector is the contribution of Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin ( Welsh Nursery Schools Movement) with their provision of Cylchoedd Ti a Fi (Parent and Toddler Groups) and Cylchoedd Meithrin (Nursery Groups). At present there are 5 Cylchoedd Ti a Fi and 15 Cylchoedd Meithrin spread across the authority. Due to demographic changes and the growth of Welsh-medium schools, it is estimated that the Census will show a further increase in the proportion of the population able to speak Welsh. A number of organisations support the development of the Welsh language in the Vale of Glamorgan. These include: Menter y Fro provides opportunities for people of all ages to speak and practice their Welsh Urdd Gobaith Cymru (Urdd) provides opportunities for children and young people between 7-25 to enjoy cultural and sporting activities in Welsh Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin responsible for developing Welsh-medium parent and toddler and nursery groups Page 14 of 17

15 Merched y Wawr provides opportunities for women of all ages to enjoy cultural and recreational activities through the medium of Welsh Welsh for Adults Centre, Cardiff University offers a programme of Welsh language training for adults Chapels two Welsh speaking chapels are to be found in Penarth (Bethel) and Barry (Tabernacl) Page 15 of 17

16 Action plan Sub Ref LSS 1 LSS 2 Action Publish and promote the Linguistic Skills Strategy Undertake a linguistic skills audit of staff Success Criteria & Outcomes Raise awareness of the Strategy amongst staff Key information on staff skills Priority Officer Responsible Start Date H Linda Brown Jan H Dave Vining/Linda Brown Sept 2010 Finish Date June March Resource Implications Within existing resources Within existing resources Progress Process has commenced LSS 3 LSS 4 LSS 5 Compare staff capacity with the language need across the organisation Develop a Welsh Language Training and Development Strategy Produce monitoring data and publish in annual monitoring report Identification of priority areas for training and development Tailored training provision for beginners and improvement courses Information provided to WLB on an annual basis H M Linda Brown/ AN other Linda Brown/ AN other June April M Linda Brown Jan Dec August March Consultancy support Consultancy support A draft strategy has been produced Will be done annually Page 16 of 17

17 LSS 6 Reflect the contents of the Linguistic Skills Strategy in the Human Resources Strategy and Workforce Plans LSS 7 Provide training for managers on recruitment and selection on issues relating to Welsh language LSS 8 Develop specifications to produce monitoring data reports from Oracle LSS 9 Produce reports from Oracle based on the specifications Mainstreaming the Linguistic Skills Strategy as part of workforce planning Awareness of the Linguistic Skills Strategy Key information on staff skills Key information on staff skills H H Reuben Bergman Allan Williams / Linda Brown Dec 2010 Jan H Linda Brown Jan H Gill Howells Jan Dec 2012 Dec Dec Dec Within existing resources Within existing Recruitment & Selection training Within existing resources Within existing resources Awareness training to take place in January Page 17 of 17