Welsh Language Policy

Statement
The City of Bangor Council has adopted the principle that in the conduct of public business in Wales it will treat Welsh and English on a basis of equality. This scheme sets out how the Council will implement that principle in the provision of services to the public in Wales.
The Council recognises that members of the public can express their views and needs better in their preferred language, that enabling them to use their preferred language is a matter of good practice rather than a concession and that the denial of that right could place members of the public at a real disadvantage. The Council will therefore offer the public the right to choose which language to use in dealings with the Council.

The Council aims whenever possible:
- to enable everyone who receives or uses the Councils services or contributes to the democratic process to do so through the medium of Welsh or English, according to personal choice;
Introduction to the City of Bangor Council

The City Council serves Bangor City which has a population of 13,500 and 7,734 students. The City Council Offices are situated at Ffordd Gwynedd, Bangor and it also has staff based at the City's Football Stadium and the Pier.

According to figures from the last Census the percentage of Welsh speakers resident in Bangor is 55.4%. There are six bilingual primary Schools and one all Welsh primary School. There are two secondary schools - Friars School teaches through the medium of English and Ysgol Tryfan through the medium of Welsh.

The City Council consists of 20 Elected members and employs 7 staff (together with a trainee and temporary staff at the Pier, staffing the pay kiosk over the summer months.) The Town Clerk is the head of the Authority's paid service.

The City Council's duties include the Administration, Maintenance and Marketing of the Penrhyn Hall and the adjoining Council Offices. It is also responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of Menai Woods, Ashley Jones Fields, Dargie Fields, the open space off Caernarfon Road and the grounds of the Cathedral. It also looks after the provision and maintenance of playground equipment at the Pier, the upkeep and maintenance of Bangor Pier and the letting of the kiosks and pavilion at the Pier. It also controls the management and maintenance of the Car Park at the front of the Pier and the maintenance of the Town Clock and certain Public Footpaths. It also provides and maintains public seats, benches, litter bins and bus shelters. It has the responsibility for the provision of Christmas lights in the City each year and it maintains Bangor War Memorial.

The City Council also owns Ambassadors Hall, Elderly Persons Cafe, Tyddyn Bowtan Land and maintains the Coed Mawr Community Centre under a lease from Gwynedd Council.

The City Council also provides financial assistance to certain local organisations and makes grants to voluntary bodies in the City. In addition the Office provides the administrative and secretarial support for the offices of City Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

The City Council also manages and maintains the Football Ground at Farrar Road, principally for Bangor City F.C. and Bangor City Girls F.C.

In the past the City Council pioneered the full restoration of Bangor Pier with the help and cooperation of Public Bodies.
Welsh language scheme
1. Service planning and delivery
  1. New Policies and Initiatives
    1. The Council will fully commit itself to any bilingual responsibilities arising out of new legislation. It will also assess the linguistic implications of any new policies or initiatives when formulating them. If these emanate from any transfer of responsibilities from Gwynedd Council or any other body then the City Council's commitments in its Welsh Language Scheme will be followed.
    2. New policies and initiatives will promote and facilitate the use of Welsh wherever possible and will move the Council closer to implementing the principle of equality fully at every opportunity.
    3. Any new policies and initiatives will be consistent with the scheme.
    4. The Welsh Language Board will be consulted in advance regarding proposals which will affect the scheme or will affect the schemes of other organisation. The scheme will not be altered without the Board's agreement.
    5. Those involved in policy formulation will be aware of the scheme, and of the Council's responsibilities under the Welsh Language Act 1993.
    6. The measures contained in the scheme will be applied to new policies and initiatives when they are both formulated and implemented.
  2. Delivery of Services
    1. The measures set out in the scheme will apply to all the services delivered by the Council to the public.
    2. Members of staff will be fully aware of the requirements of the scheme.
  3. Standards of Quality
    1. Services provided in English and Welsh will be of an equally high standard. The Council will always endeavour to ensure that it provides a consistent standard of service in Welsh in all areas of its work and will display notices to that effect.
    2. Service delivery in both languages will comply with the existing commitment to standard and promptness in dealing with Councils business.
    3. The Council's commitment to providing an equally high standard of service in both languages will be stated in documents such as the City Guides.
    4. The standards applied to Welsh language services and their implementation will be monitored on a regular basis.
2. Dealing with the Welsh-speaking public
  1. Written Communication
    1. The Council will welcome correspondence in either English or Welsh and will respond in that language.
    2. The City Council will aim to deal with correspondence through the medium of Welsh within the same time scale as for correspondence in English. It is the Council's aim to deal with non specialised correspondence within five working days.
    3. All correspondence with the Council requiring a reply will receive a signed reply in the language of the original letter. Letters received in Welsh will receive a signed reply in Welsh.
    4. All correspondence following a telephone or face-to-face conversation in Welsh will be in Welsh unless the member of the public has indicated otherwise.
    5. All circular or standard letters to the public will be bilingual.
    6. The Council's translator will have responsibility for the quality of written Welsh in correspondence produced by the Council.
  2. Telephone Communication
    1. The Council welcomes telephone enquiries in Welsh or English. However, the availability of staff able to converse in Welsh varies from time to time.
    2. Non-Welsh speaking staff will explain their position courteously and offer to transfer the caller to a Welsh speaker. If no Welsh speaker is available, the person receiving the call will take the caller's name and number and will ensure that a Welsh speaker returns the call as soon as possible.
  3. Public Meetings
    1. Contributions will be welcome in English or Welsh at public meetings organised by or on behalf of the Council. This will be made clear in the literature convening or publicising the meeting.
    2. Translation facilities will be provided for non-Welsh speakers at all public meetings organised by or on behalf of the Council.
    3. All publicity for public meetings will itself be bilingual.
  4. Other Meetings with the Public
    1. It is the Council's aim that employees coming into contact with members of the public at a service counter should be able to work in both languages. Until this is achieved, non-Welsh speaking staff will explain their position courteously.
  5. Other Dealings with the Public
    1. When the Council contacts the public through computerized media, that contact will be fully bilingual.
3. The Council's public face
  1. Corporate Identity
    1. The City Council has a fully bilingual corporate identity CYNGOR DINAS BANGOR / CITY OF BANGOR COUNCIL
    2. The Council's name will appear in both languages on all external and internal signs in all areas, on publications, and on motor vehicles and buildings owned by the Council.
    3. All official letter headings, fax paper and compliment slips will be bilingual.
  2. Signs
    1. All new information signs or those replacing previous signs on Council property, including internal areas to which members of the public have access, will be bilingual, as will any other public information signs for which the Council is responsible.
    2. If separate signs are used for the two languages, they will appear together and be equal in terms of format, size, quality, legibility and prominence.
  3. Publishing and Printing Material
    1. All publications aimed at the public in Wales will normally be bilingual with both language versions forming one document. The versions will be printed side by side, where possible, to facilitate easy cross- reference.
    2. If Welsh and English versions are published separately they will appear simultaneously, be distributed together and be equally accessible.
    3. The selling price of a bilingual document will be no greater than that of the same document in one language.
    4. All Agendas and Minutes of meetings of the full Council will be produced bilingually as will all Agendas and Minutes of Committees. Time scale and cost prevent all reports being produced bilingually.
    5. Steps will be taken over the next three years to ensure that any other type of printed material, whether on paper or any other material, e.g. invitations, posters, cards, programmes, maps etc., will be bilingual.
  4. Press Releases
    1. From time to time the City Council produces Press notices for the Local press, for instance its annual week long festival. These will be sent in Welsh to the borough paper, Y Goriad as well as in English for the Mail and Chronicle. Promotional material for the Festival is bilingual and some of the activities are held in Welsh.
  5. Advertising and Publicity Activities
    1. Promotional literature prepared for the tourist market will be bilingual.
    2. Posters and information boards will be bilingual.
    3. Steps will be taken over the next three years to ensure that all material will be bilingual. Priority will be given to those materials that have the largest audience and circulation.
  6. Forms and explanatory material.
    1. All forms and explanatory material published by the Council will be bilingual with both language versions forming one document.
  7. Official notices, public notices and staff recruitment advertising
    1. Advertisements and notices in the press, on notice boards or on any other medium will appear bilingually. Advertisements for all jobs will appear bilingually in English/Welsh publications.
    2. lf job opportunities arise the City Council will objectively establish whether the requirement of that post include essential, desirable or no bilingual skills in order to meet its requirement.
    3. If no suitably qualified Welsh speaker applies for a post for which Welsh is considered essential, it will be re-advertised containing a statement that any appointee will be require to learn Welsh (see 4.1)
4. IMPLEMENTING AND MONITORING THE SCHEME
  1. Learning Welsh
    1. Members of Staff who deal with the public will be actively encouraged to attend appropriate Welsh courses locally. This will particularly apply to new members of staff
    2. Learners will also be actively encouraged to apply for recognised qualifications such as NVQ in Welsh.
  2. Recruitment
    1. Publicity will be given to the fact that Welsh speakers are welcome to join the work force by ensuring that all job advertisements appear bilingually and that the information is transmitted to the Job Centre when relevant.
  3. Administrative Arrangements
    1. This Scheme has been approved by the Council and carries its full support in its implementation.
    2. The responsibility for implementing the Scheme within the Council will rest with the Town Clerk, who will
      - ensure that guidelines and instructions are available to all staff involved in the implementation of the scheme
      - monitor the implementation of the scheme
      - provide an annual report on implementation to the Welsh Language Board
    3. The City Council uses Computer Programmes to produce forms, minutes and agendas of Council meetings and these are done in both English and Welsh.
  4. The Translation Service
    1. The written translation needs of the Council will be the responsibility of the translator who will also be responsible for the quality of all Welsh text produced.
    2. The Town Clerk will have responsibility for arranging simultaneous translating facilities for all the Council's requirements. This service will be available at all meetings of the full Council and Committees and at public meetings arranged by or on behalf of the Council.
  5. Services delivered by third parties on behalf of the Council
    1. In the very small number of instances where the Council does use third parties to provide its services the Council will ensure that they implement any applicable element of this scheme.
    2. In order to implement this commitment the Council will specify the requirement of the use of Welsh in all tendering documents, contracts, grants and loan conditions. The Council will also monitor their implementation of the Scheme by regular checks on them.
  6. Statutory Functions
    1. When the Council is consulted on planning applications, it will encourage applicants to erect bilingual signs on premises in the town such as offices and shops by referring to the bilingual nature of the area.
    2. The City Council will encourage the adoption of Welsh names when invited to name new streets, developments and estates.
    3. The City Council regularly receives applications for financial contributions towards the activities of Local Organisations. It will invite applicants to reflect the bilingual nature of the Community in their applications. In submitting proposals the bilingual element will be a matter for the applicant to consider and not for the Council to require as a condition of grant.
  7. Publicity
    1. Information concerning the scheme will be provided for the public and Members in a bilingual form distributed from the Council's offices.
    2. The City Council will publicise the implementation of the scheme in the local press and on its notice boards. This will include details of and the extent to which the public can deal with the Council in Welsh.
    3. Publicity for the scheme will be conducted on an initial and ongoing basis.
  8. Monitoring
    1. The implementation of the scheme will be monitored.
    2. Responsibility for monitoring will rest with the Town Clerk who will provide a report annually to the Welsh Language Board, determine the necessary targets and publish information on performance.
    3. The Council will encourage and welcome suggestions from the staff and the public for improvements to the Welsh service. All suggestions received will be acknowledged in writing.
    4. The City Council will invite the public to comment on the range and quality of services provided in Welsh and English as part of its quest for good services generally.
  9. Timetable
    1. The City Council will begin implementing the scheme (in a formal sense) from the date of its approval by the Welsh Language Board with a view to its being largely operational within 12 months thereafter.
    2. Bangor has a high number of Welsh speakers and the use of Welsh on a daily basis is a natural part of life in all its aspects. A considerable number of Members, Officers and others engaged in local government business naturally use Welsh in their day-to-day work, although currently it so happens that the City of Bangor Council has few Welsh speakers on its internal staff. However, most of the items detailed under Section 2 and 3 of this scheme are already in place.
  10. Publishing Information
    1. The City Council will prepare a brief annual report on implementing the Scheme that will be sent to the Board and appear in the "Goriad". The Report will invite Bangor Residents to offer their views on the Service and how it can be improved.
  11. Contact within the Council

Welsh Language Policy

Statement

Introduction to the City of Bangor Council

Welsh language scheme

Service planning and delivery

Dealing with the Welsh-speaking public

The Council's public face