10 July 2012
Caerphilly County Borough Council is playing an active role in ensuring that all its decisions and operations promote the use of Welsh language.
The Council remains fully committed to providing the best bilingual services possible to residents and visitors - both fluent speakers and learners alike.
A recent monitoring and improvement report has shown that for the first time, every area of implementing the council's Welsh Language Scheme has seen progress.
In terms of translation capacity, under the Council's apprenticeship scheme, 5 posts have been designated as requiring Welsh speakers. Thus far, one is operating within the Communications team and one within the Policy Unit.
Cllr Keith Reynolds, the Deputy Leader said, "These new appointments will focus on providing a greater bilingual service to the public through the Council's website, social media pages and printed press.
Cllr Chris Forehead, cabinet member for HR and Governance added, "These appointments are directly relevant to how the Council is responding positively to resolving complaints, and will ensure that the delivery of Welsh Language services to the public will significantly improve."
The Council's Training Strategy, which was introduced in September 2001, has enabled a total of 1,038 staff to attend Welsh language courses. This coupled with the awareness of all main receptions, contact centres and Customer First Centres of the contact details of Welsh speaking staff has ensured that the services continue to improve.
This year also saw an increased capacity for training due to a successful bid for Community Cohesion Funding. This has provided scope for community partnerships and partner organisations to access the Council's Welsh Language and wider Equalities training for free in the same way the Council supports its own staff.
Caerphilly County Borough Council is also committed to considering the Welsh language when dealing with accessibility issues. During recent elections, out of all 22 local authorities in Wales, Caerphilly was the only one to include a Welsh language choice poster at polling stations.
Problem areas that have been improved include both the prevalence of the Welsh language online through the Council's websites, and an increase in focus on supporting and utilising Welsh speaking staff.
In June Caerphilly hosted the regional seminar for the Welsh Language Commissioner and last week we formally welcomed the Urdd National Eisteddfod to the area in 2015.
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