Welsh language annual report 2020–2021

Executive summary

Welcome to our Annual Report for 2020-2021. This report focuses on how we have implemented the policy and work to improve our Welsh language services, in line with the requirements in our Welsh Language Standards, over the reporting period.

Over the last twelve months due to Covid-19 some of our services have needed to be delivered differently, this included our Welsh language services. Fortunately, as most of our services are available in Welsh online or over the telephone the pandemic had a limited impact. Using technology, we have been able to facilitate meetings online and provide translation facilities as we would in normal face to face meetings.

Following their monitoring of our compliance with the Standards we received positive feedback from the Welsh Language Commissioners Office at our Annual meeting. There were areas which we remained non-compliant and reported as risks in the 2019-2020 Annual Report, the work we have carried out to address these areas are included as part of this report.

Business Continuity Plans were updated in light of the pandemic, to ensure resilience. Welsh language considerations formed part of the updated plans, ensuring wherever possible and reasonable we were able to provide our customers with a language choice as normal and fulfilling our legislative requirements.

All our face to face Welsh language training courses moved online, not being able to have informal chats with fluent Welsh speakers on a day to day basis has impacted on our staff in practising their Welsh language skills. To help our learners we have organised Mentors who meet with learners via Microsoft Teams to practice language their skills.

The Welsh Language Commissioner understood that at times public organisations needed to provide advice and information to the public quickly, and let organisations make decisions about using the Welsh language when sharing emergency information, considering the circumstances and nature of the situation. With the plans we had in place for ensuring that public information was given priority we were able to provide the information in Welsh as normal throughout this period.

The Welsh language forms part of NRW’s identity, we respect the language preference and identity of our customers, by being proactive in offering a language choice. We have Welsh speakers in most of our teams and workplaces with the majority based in our Operational Teams who deal with the public daily as part of their work.

24% of our staff are fluent Welsh speakers. Our aim is to increase opportunities for our Welsh speakers and learners to use the language daily externally and internally, and we will be developing a Welsh Language Strategy to help facilitate this.

We will continue our vision to develop into a naturally bilingual organisation by taking opportunities to recruit Welsh speakers through our recruitment process and encouraging and supporting staff to develop and use their language skills “araf bach a phob yn gam” (slowly but surely) as we increase our capacity and capability to provide a bilingual service across the organisation.

Introduction

The Welsh Language Standards came into force for NRW on 25 January 2017, under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 and regulated by the Welsh Language Commissioner under Welsh Language Standards (No. 2) Regulations 2016.

Aim of the Standards are:

Provide a better and more consistent Welsh language service to Welsh speakers.
Make it clear to Welsh speakers’ what services they can expect in Welsh.
Make it clear to public organisations what their duties are in relation to the Welsh language.
Ensure that the Welsh language is treated no less favourably than the English language.

This report demonstrates how we have implemented the standards and the work we have done to improve our Welsh language services during the reporting year 2020/21.

Implementing the Welsh Language Standards

The standards we are required to comply with are in four categories:

Service Standards - the Welsh language services we provide to the public.
Policy Standards - ensuring that Welsh language forms part of the decision-making process by carrying out Equality Impact Assessments ensuring that the decision has no adverse effect, but positive or increased effects on the opportunities to use the Welsh language.
Operational Standards - promoting and facilitating the Welsh language in our internal administration processes.
Record Keeping Standards - keeping records for compliance with the requirements of the standards in areas such as staff Welsh language skills, training, complaints and recruitment.

Implementing and improving our Welsh language standards and services

Managers updates

. Over the last year Managers have been asked to raise awareness of the need to:

consider translation requirements at the beginning of a project, allocating enough time for translation prior to publication of information.
giving the same consideration to Welsh language requirements as when holding face to face meetings.
ensure all staff E-mail messages or instructions should be bilingual in line with our internal language policy.
refer to the guidance and support on Correspondence. Telephone and Communication, Meeting and Events, Reception Desks and Facilities, Staffing and Recruitment and Translation.
consider Welsh language in Equality Impact Assessments to ensure that our work does not have any effect on a person’s ability to use the Welsh language with us both internally and externally.

Grŵp Pencampwyr

Our Grŵp Pencampwyr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Champions Group) has a representative from each Directorate. Meetings take place every quarter and Pencampwyr will contact the Welsh Language Advisor as and when required. The Terms of Reference have been updated over the year as listed below.

The Pencampwyr act as a liaison between the Directorates and Welsh Language Policy Advisor helping to raise awareness and address issues as they arise.

Service standards

Customer Care Centre

Our Customer Care Centre deal with all incoming calls to the organisation. Over the last year up to 31 March 2021 the Centre dealt with a total of 21,255 calls of which 5.7% 1221 were Welsh calls.

Despite all our call handlers at the Centre being fluent Welsh speakers, a number of callers choose the English option initially and when speaking to our call handlers who greet the callers bilingually will then continue the conversation in Welsh. This pattern seems to be similar to callers to the Floodline.

To address this, we are discussing with the Welsh Language Commissioner whether we can remove the language choice option provided to customers. All our call handlers speak Welsh and answer bilingually, this will not only raise the statistics of our Welsh medium calls but also provide a proactive natural bilingual service to all our customers. We would need to find another way of recording language preference for statistical purposes.

Customer relationship management record system

Our Customer Relationship Management Recoding system is used to record the language preference of our customers. Areas of the business that deal with the public on a regular basis have access to the system. Work is underway over the next 12 – 18 months in developing this system and making it available for recording to more of the business.

Meetings and events

With Covid-19 restrictions in place, all events and meetings have moved online. We have continued to hold several meetings and organised bilingual events and ensured that the meetings and events have been run bilingually by:

Planning and discussing Welsh language considerations in the early stages of planning
Using Tocyn Cymru bilingual online event booking system and requesting language choice of participant
Arranging for all presentations to be bilingual
Ensuring a Welsh speaking Chair to open and close event
Welsh speaking facilitators in each break-out group
Welsh medium break-out group
Questions asked in the chat facility were answered bilingually

Education and Health Team – Training events

Between October 2020 and January 2021, 1,223 people from the education sector participated in online training provided by the team, with 405 receiving training through the medium of Welsh. The training is to help those working in the sector to have the knowledge and confidence in teaching in the outside environment and in using the correct Welsh names and terms. This work contributes to the WG Cymraeg 2050 Strategy Action Plan, to have more educators being able to teach confidently through the medium of Welsh for the future.

Feedback from the attendees of these events was very positive, noting how much it was appreciated the proactive natural offer of Welsh throughout the event, allowing participants to participate in their preferred language. Ensuring Welsh language considerations from the start of planning, ensured that events ran smoothly, but also the needs of the customer formed part of those considerations from the outset.

More information can be found on the work the team have done in relation to the Welsh language in Appendix 1 of this report.

Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Team was introduced at the end of 2020 for holding online meetings both internally and externally.

All the training content and guidance for staff is available in Welsh.
This system allows for breakout groups in the same way as face to face meetings allowing for facilitation of Welsh groups online.
Conference backgrounds have been created which include the Cymraeg logo for staff who are Welsh speakers to use in online meetings with others to identify themselves as Welsh speakers.
Dysgwr Cymraeg conference backgrounds have also been created for our staff who are learning to speak Welsh and feel confident enough to use their Welsh language skills in meetings with others online.

The intention is to hold all information in relation to Welsh language capabilities of our ICT systems in one place. This will help staff in understanding which of our systems can be used in Welsh.

Place names and signage

Signage and Welsh language guidance are published on the intranet to help ensure that all permanent and temporary signage are bilingual and checked by our Translation team for accuracy in terms of meaning and expression.

All new signage at our recreation sites requires authorisation from our Specialist Advisor Visitor Experience and our Graphic Design Specialist, both ensure that signage are in line with our branding policy and bilingual with the Welsh text to be seen above or to the left of the English text. Any new infrastructure we create is given either a Welsh or bilingual appropriate name to reflect the infrastructure, site and history of the area.

As an organisation we often refer to topographical features on signage and interpretation panels on our sites. Over the next year we will review our signage guidance to ensure that the correct standard form is used but also to raise awareness of the meaning and how the descriptive language used in Welsh links back to how the land/place was used in the past, forming part of language heritage and an important element of our landscapes to be protected for the future. This work is included in our Action Plan for 2021/22 found in Appendix 6.

Accessible Microsoft templates

The Microsoft Templates used by staff in drafting letters, minutes, reports, agendas and paper etc have been updated to ensure they are accessible and bilingual. As part of the update the letterhead template includes Welsh language considerations to help ensure staff correspond initially with others bilingually if no language preference is known.

Our Translation Guidance for staff has been updated to reflect these changes.

Social media

NRW’s corporate social media accounts on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Linked In are managed centrally by the Communications team who ensure that all content is updated simultaneously in both Welsh and English. There are also a number of Twitter accounts operated and managed by members of staff who post in a professional capacity. During our annual feedback meeting with the Welsh Language Commissioner’s Office it was highlighted that some of these accounts did not always meet the requirements of standards 54-55 which requires that we publish all messages bilingually.

Following a review of these accounts, we are looking to identify those who post regularly and provide translation support. This is part of a wider planned review of our social media platforms where one option under consideration is for accounts to be managed and operated bilingually by the place-based Communications Officers and supported by the local operations team. Over the summer months training sessions will be held with staff involved to develop this plan, where the Welsh language requirements will be underlined.

Flood warning and informing services

The flood warning service comprises the messages we send by phone, SMS or email in Welsh or English as requested by the recipient. These warning messages are complemented by the following services

Floodline 0345 988 1188 – a local rate call service where callers can listen to live flood information, listen to pre-recorded advice and also speak to a trained call agent to report flooding or register to the flood warning service
5 Day Flood Risk for Wales webpage - where we provide a summary of potential flood risk across wales for the next 5 days
Flood Warnings and Alerts webpage - we provide details of all warnings in force along with live flood information
Each of these services are available in Welsh or English

Floodline

In July 2019, we improved the Floodline call plan to make it easier for callers to access our Welsh language services by including a Welsh language call agent service during weekday daytime hours. Outside these hours, or if a Welsh speaking call agent is unavailable, callers are given the option of leaving a message requesting a call back in Welsh, or to be diverted to an English-speaking call agent instead,

The table below shows a decline from 3.2% to 2.7% of callers to Floodline select the Welsh language service. Conversely there has been an increase by 1.2% of callers listen to live flood warning information in Welsh.

2019 - 2020

Callers to floodline	Cymraeg	English
Language choice	276 (3.2%)	8,418
Pre recorded live warning information	87 (1.3%)	6,513
Calls to agents	0	1,136

2020 - 2021

Callers to floodline	Cymraeg	English
Language choice	234 (2.7%)	5,504
Pre recorded live warning information	93 (2.5%)	3,680
Calls to agents	0	1,031

NRW website – Flood warnings, alerts and flood risk services

In October 2020, we refreshed our website design to make it easier and quicker to use, ensuring that the design was fully compatible with the Welsh language.

Visitors to our website are asked to choose their preferred language and the table below shows that there has been an increase in visitors to our Welsh language flood warning webpages.

2019 - 2020

Webpage views	Cymraeg	English
Flood warnings and alerts webpage views	10,257 (0.95%)	1,067,767
5 Day flood risk for Wales webpage views	489 (0.73%)	66,570

2020 - 2021

Webpage views	Cymraeg	English
Flood warnings and alerts webpage views	9,362 (1.3%)	698,750
5 Day flood risk for Wales webpage views	784 (0.5%)	154,779

Future plans

Floodline - We are planning to improve this service by developing a Welsh language call agent service – available regardless of time or day by diverting callers to NRW staff in our Incident Communications Centre, with call overflow to English language call agents if required.
Flood warning message and website - A key element of our service is to provide real-time information to help people understand their immediate flood risk. This requires the ability to accurately translate information in Welsh. We are planning to explore options for developing this translation capability so that we can provide richer, more helpful information – noting there is little room for translation error in a potentially life-saving service.
Warning service - Less than 1% of our warning recipients have registered to receive information in Welsh. On completion of the Floodline improvement we plan to carry out activities to promote our Welsh language offering to increase their use.

Website

As part of our work in ensuring the website is accessible to all, with more content being published as webpages, this has increased the information available on the website in Welsh. The Team also monitors compliance with the standards, ensuring information is published bilingually.

For the first time we have undertaken specific Welsh language user research to inform the development of future digital services and we are also actively involved with the new Centre of Digital Public Services, who have developed new standards for digital services. We are part of the community of practice, sharing updates about how we’re starting to test new designs in Welsh so that we design bilingual services that people choose to use. Statistics on numbers who have accessed our website in Welsh can be found in Appendix 2 of this report.

How we implement and comply with the Welsh language standards can be found in Appendix 7 of this report.

Policy making standards

Equality Impact Assessment

During the last year our Business Plan Dashboard Measures included reviewing our Equality Impact Assessment and guidance. Welsh language forms part of considerations within the assessment as is the requirement of Standards 84, 85 and 86.

New questions and guidance have been drafted to help staff understand the impact that the proposal could have on opportunities for people to use the Welsh language when completing the assessment, by:

considering the linguistic nature of the community, area and locality the proposal could affect.
ensuring that we are proactive in providing a real language choice and how people access and use all our services
ensuring that the languages are treated equally and that the services are always available in both languages to the same standard
considering are there any opportunities to preserve, promote and enhance local culture and heritage, or encourage people to learn the language as part of the proposal
same above considerations should also be given to any proposals we do in our internal administration, providing more opportunities for staff to work through the medium of Welsh if they so wish.

The requirement to complete and Equality Impact Assessment is embedded into our Project Management Toolkit and a requirement for any new or amended proposal needing Board approval as part of our governance procedures.

Operational standards

All new staff attend an Induction course and receive a presentation to raise awareness of our Welsh Language Standards, internal language policy and Welsh language training programme as a requirement of Standards 127, 128 and 129. The presentation helps new staff understand what our legislative duties are, and what support is in place to help all our staff work bilingually.

The Induction is compulsory for all new staff with 257 attending 3 face to face courses and 6 online due to Covid-19 restrictions during this reporting period.

Line Managers are required to go through a checklist with each new member of staff our Welsh Language Standards policy and guidance are included on the list. Line Managers are asked to ensure all new staff have bilingual e-mail signatures as well as a bilingual out of office message. Each new member of staff is also asked to self-assess their language skills and record in MyNRW as part of the process. This checklist is signed by the Staff member and Line Manager and sent to our People Services for filing. People Services send out a reminder every six months to Line Managers who have not completed the checklist.

Welsh language training programme

Within the last year, the working day has drastically changed as most staff were directed to work from home due to Covid-19. Given the turmoil that COVID created and the adjustments staff had to make, many learners will look at re-joining the training programme once the restrictions ease.

During the initial stages of lockdown we moved the courses online, enabling staff to continue in developing their language skills. There was a need to take into account the added concentration required online, reasonable expectations of learners given some added responsibilities and the need for more regular breaks during the lessons.

Feedback from staff on the online training has been extremely positive, for the future online courses are likely to continue to be offered with the occasional face to face to help staff in consolidating their learning, This will provide staff with more options in how they chose to develop their language skills to suit their learning style.

161 members of staff have attended Welsh language training at various levels. This is down by 36 from last year; however:

56% (90) of the current learners have started learning Welsh this year.
Most of our learners are based in North West Wales 24% (38) and Gwent 24% (38).
18% (29) of our learners are or near being fluent Welsh speakers.
If the (17%) 28 who are currently learning at Intermediate level continue learning Welsh, they will become fluent Welsh speakers 3 to 4 years.

We will continue to encourage staff to develop their language skills at all levels,

More information can be found on our Welsh language Training in Appendix 3 of this report.

MyNRW

Standard 100 requires that staff are able to record absences in Welsh. We have now been able to update the system to ensure that staff absences are available in both Welsh and English.

Recruitment

The Recruitment policies and procedures have been reviewed including Welsh language considerations. The changes explain our responsibilities more clearly to recruitment managers in ensuring that candidates have a right to apply and be interviewed through the medium of Welsh, and that Welsh speaking interview panel members must be arranged to carry out Welsh medium interviews in line with the requirements of standards 134.

Microsoft Templates

We have a brand manual in place which includes Microsoft templates staff are required to use for documents and letters etc. These have been updated over the year and the letterhead template includes Welsh language considerations when corresponding with others. This will help to ensure that staff correspond bilingually when unsure of the language preference of others and a requirement of Standard 7.

Record keeping standards

Compliance with Welsh Language Standards

Our Welsh Language Standards require that we publish an annual report detailing:

1. The number of employees who have Welsh language skills at the end of the year in question on the basis of the records kept in accordance with standard 145

Our records show that 24% (535) of our staff are fluent Welsh speakers, 13.9% (310) fluent in both spoken and written Welsh. Over the year we have increased the number of fluent Welsh speakers by 49 through external recruitment. The percentage increase from last year does not reflect this increase due to the increase in our overall staff numbers.

We have fluent Welsh speakers at Level 4 and 5 in each of our Directorates who can provide a bilingual service, with the majority (330), based within our Operations Directorate. This is the area of the business which comes into contact and deals with the public, landowners and stakeholders on a regular basis. Having fluent Welsh speakers based across the whole of the Directorate is important in building those important relationships and trust, respecting the language choice of those we deal with.

Our latest statistics found show that the language skills of our workforce have increased from last year as follows:

Level 1 = 915 (up by 90)

Level 2 = 438 (up by 26)

Level 3 = 153 (up by 17)

Level 4 = 225 (up by 14)

Level 5 = 310 (up by 35)

Over the three years the language ability of our workforce is increasing at each level with 95.1% if staff being able to show linguistic courtesy of meeting and greeting others bilingually. This is also the minimum level required of all our staff within the organisation.

More information on the Welsh language skills of staff can be found in Appendix 4 of this report.

2. The number of staff who attended training courses offered in Welsh during the year on the basis of the records kept in accordance with standard 146. If a Welsh version of a course was offered during the year, the percentage of the total number of staff attending the course who attended the Welsh version on the basis of the records kept in accordance with standard 124

Over the last year a high number of courses were cancelled due to the Covid-19 restrictions. Technical online courses have continued as normal as have our corporate mandatory training courses. During this reporting period we did not provide any training for the following courses which are the requirements of Standard 124 in Welsh or English, we will aim to run courses over the next year:

recruitment and interviewing
performance management
complaints and disciplinary procedures
induction
dealing with the public
health and safety

The Learning and Development Team are in the process of amending their processes and procedures in relation to booking onto courses. The new form for booking courses will ask staff their language preference for attending the course. When it is found that a cluster of staff wish to attend a Welsh medium course the team will look to provide that specific course in Welsh providing a Welsh speaking training provider can be found.

3. The number of new and vacant posts advertised during the year which were categorised as requiring Welsh language skills as essential, desirable, needed to be learnt when appointed to the post, or not necessary on the basis of the records kept in accordance with standard 148

During this reporting period we have advertised 569 vacancies in total, 289 were internal moves with 280 advertised externally. All posts are advertised using the Welsh language ALTE levels from Level 1 to Level 5 whichever is most appropriate for the role following assessment.

All posts advertised at Level 1 are advertised as essential as this is the minimum language level required of all our staff within the organisation to show linguistic courtesy. Training is given to staff who need to attain this level of understanding.

The Recruitment Team ensure that each new or vacant post is assessed for Welsh language level requirement prior to advertising with a confirmation email from the Welsh Language Policy Advisor to the Recruitment Managers.

Our Welsh Language Training Co-ordinator contacts staff who need to develop their language skills as a condition of appointment, liaising with the staff member to find a suitable course and start date. Our Co-ordinator keeps in touch with all learners and provides extra support when required. We have a Yammer page for learners with hints and tips to support their learning, with suggested Welsh programmes to watch or listen to. Courses are also arranged over the summer break to help learners keep up their Welsh language skills. We also have a Mentoring Scheme where our learners can practice speaking Welsh informally with a colleague on a regular basis.

Over the next year we aim to support staff who do not meet the Level 1 minimum language level required to complete the 10-hour online course provided by the National Centre for Learning Welsh to help them in attaining this level.

Posts are not advertised at Level 2, this is used for assessing language levels of only.

Number of posts advertised during this reporting period were as follows:

Language Level	Essential	Desirable	Welsh to be learnt
Level 5 – fluency in spoken and written Welsh	5	5	0
Level 4 – fluency in spoken Welsh	47	53	6
Level 3 - The ability to communicate in Welsh with con confidence in some work situations	8	79	14
Level 1 – The ability to pronounce basic Welsh names, phrases and greetings	352	0	0

Analysis of the above stats and language abilities of staff who secured roles from internal moves and external recruitment during this reporting period have Welsh language ability as follows:

73 are Welsh speakers at Level 5
37 are Welsh speakers at Level 4
47 are Welsh speakers at Level 3
94 are Welsh speakers at Level 2
288 are Welsh speakers at Level 1
30 have no Welsh language skills

4. The number of complaints received during the year which related to compliance with standards numbers 152, 156, 162 and 164 with which we are under a duty to comply with

Two complaints were received from members of the public relating to the standards over the last year, this is down from five complaints received the previous year as follows:

In July 2020 a complaint was received from a member of the public who had received a letter from us in English only when at the time their language preference was unknown and should have been sent bilingually. The team who initially sent the correspondence were reminded of our duties, policies and procedures when initiating correspondence with the public.
In November 2020 a complaint was received that no response was received on the Welsh language “Floodline UK” option at 1.20am. The customer was put on hold for 15 minutes and decided to re-dial and chose the English service where a service was received immediately.

Our Flood Incident team looked into the matter and found that a technical error occurred at the time which resulted in the pre-recorded Welsh message explaining that no Welsh speaker was available and the call was being transferred to an English speaking agent was not played to the customer.

We continue to work with Floodline UK in ensuring that a Welsh language service is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We continue to receive complaints from staff when all staff emails sent to a large group of staff are sent in English only. When this occurs, the matter is discussed with the team in question and they are reminded of our internal language policy and the support of our translation team and that planning ahead can avoid such circumstances for the future.

Promoting Welsh language and culture

Over the last year, we have celebrated several events virtually, working closely with the Communications Team to promote the Welsh language and heritage both internally and externally.

Eisteddfod Rhithiol / Online Eisteddfod August 2020

The National Eisteddfod and online events during the event were promoted on our social media all week. We shared activity ideas for all the family encouraging them to be creative and learn more about the environment.

Shwmae/Su’mae day on 15 October 2020

Posts on Yammer to encourage and challenge learners to speak Welsh in work/meetings, read Welsh literature or magazines and to listen to Welsh either on television or the radio.

Welsh language rights day on 7 December 2020

Post on intranet advising NRW staff on their Welsh language rights.
Videos recorded by a member of our Executive Team, Leadership Team and a Team Leader were published on social media explaining the importance the Welsh language makes to their working and private lives.

St Dwynwen’s day on 25 January 2021

Posts on Yammer encouraging learners to speak Welsh in work or at home.
An article on the intranet explaining the story of Dwynwen’s origins/history.

Welsh Music Day / Diwrnod Miwsic Cymru 5 February 2021

Staff promoted this day on our All Staff Yammer group, sharing their favourite Welsh music, including staff sharing their own musical talents, songs and music they have recorded themselves. These were popular posts which brought Welsh speakers and non-Welsh speakers together through Welsh music, discussing how the music made them feel and the events in their lives the music and songs reminded them of.

St David’s day on 1 March 2021

Posts on Yammer encouraging learners to speak Welsh and explore Welsh traditions.
An article on the intranet explaining St David’s origins and more information on Welsh language courses supported by NRW.
Video created by a member of our Communications Team and published on our social media accounts promoting “gwnewch y pethau bychain” (do the small things) we can all do to help prevent climate change. This is one of the well-known phrases used in Welsh that was used by Wales’s patron saint, Dewi Sant (St David) shortly before his death.

Action Plan 2020-21

The Action Plan for 2020-21 had 21 actions in total, out of the actions 10 were completed with 10 ongoing, 1 not completed. Some of the ongoing and not been completed actions are due to other work priorities and the Covid-19 restrictions. The ongoing actions will form part of the Action Plan for 2021-22.

Action Plan for 2020-21 can be found in Appendix 5 of this report.

Action Plan 2021-22

Action Plan for 2021-22 can be found in Appendix 6 of this report.

The priority actions will be:

Develop an easier process in assessing language levels of vacant posts
Review our Standards policy to include our monitoring procedures
Continue our work in developing a Strategy and review our internal language policy

Welsh Language Strategy

Discussions have been held with Welsh Government and The Welsh Language Commissioner on developing a long-term Strategy for the Welsh language for NRW, this is not a requirement of our Standards but something as an organisation we wish to do and shows our commitment to the Welsh language. This will provide us with a vision for the language and a road map of how we are going to develop ourselves into an organisation where the Welsh is spoken, heard and seen, not only in our dealings with others but also in relation to our own staff naturally. Providing staff with opportunities to work bilingually, hold more bilingual meetings, Welsh medium training courses and support staff development for the future.

To date, the work carried out to develop the Strategy is as follows:

Held discussions with Welsh Government, Powys County Council, North Wales Police on the development of their Welsh Language Strategies.
EDI Project 2021 survey for staff and stakeholders includes a question on how we can develop ourselves into a more bilingual organisation
Work has started with Continuous Improvement Team on options how to assess the language level of each role within the organisation following Welsh Language Commissioner’s guidance

Next steps will be holding discussions with staff and Trade Union, asking for their views and thoughts on the development of the Strategy.

The starting point for the Strategy will be mapping the current language skills of our staff, assessing a language level for each role using guidance in place. This will provide us with a true analysis of the language needs for the organisation and plan for how to fill those gaps for the future. This will help in ensuring our Welsh speaking business need matches the capability in each workplace and help us in being an organisation fit for the future in line with the ambition of Welsh Government Language Strategy – Cymraeg 2050.

Our Executive Director of Corporate Strategy and Development, Head of Communications and External Relations and Head of Organisation Development are attending Academi Wales course on developing and transforming organisation cultures to support the day-to-day use of Welsh. This course continues into 2021-22.

Cymraeg 2050

Through our work in implementing and improving our Welsh language services, over the last year we have contributed towards Welsh Government’s Cymraeg 2050 Strategy Action Plan for 2020-21 by:

Providing opportunities for staff to develop their language skills for work purposes this increase our capability to have more staff able to provide services bilingually for the future.
Encourage staff to use the Welsh language as part of their work, helping build confidence in using both verbal and written language skills in a more formal manner.
Ensure that we have Welsh speakers in each of our workplaces to be able to provide a bilingual service,
Through our Health and Education Team training courses with the education sector, contribute in ensuring that educators have skills to teach environmental subjects through the medium of Welsh using the correct terms and names.
Through operating bilingual social media accounts, promote Welsh language culture and events to a wide audience, raising awareness that Welsh is a living spoken language.

Risk of non-compliance

Purchase of Fishing Licences on .gov website

This is one area which remains non-compliant and was discussed during our annual feedback meeting with the Welsh Language Commissioner. Fishing Licence purchases are administered by the Environment Agency on our behalf, and the service is hosted on the .Gov website. All information on the website is in English only, customers who live in Wales do receive a bilingual fishing licence but are unable to access information or purchase a licence in Welsh on the website or by telephone. Fishing licences continue to be sold at local Post Offices.

The Commissioners staff have held discussions with .Gov to help them in gaining an understanding of the legal requirement in providing bilingual services to the public of Wales. The Commissioner has also been working with us, providing advice and sharing best practice to help us in our efforts to find a solution.

Along with our Digital Communications Team we are holding discussions with the Environment Agency and our aim over the coming year is to translate the pages and ensure a bilingual online and telephone service for customers.

Conclusion

As an organisation we are pleased with the continued progress which is being made in implementing and improving our Welsh language services. With the number of fluent Welsh speakers increasing within the organisation on an annual basis it is important to us that we provide more opportunities for staff to work in the language they feel more comfortable and confident in using.

The Welsh language training courses are popular and as an organisation we will continue to support our staff who are developing their language skills and appreciate the personal commitment made on their journey in becoming Welsh speakers. We will continue to support our staff to ensure that everyone is able meet and greet our customers and partners we work with bilingually to show linguistic courtesy.

This year the number of complaints decreased, whilst as an organisation we continued to provide services to the public through Covid-19. We were pleased to receive positive feedback of how much the effort made in ensuring that meetings and training courses provided bilingually for the public online were appreciated. With forward planning and consideration given from the start it shows it is possible to work bilingually naturally.

Over the next year we will continue to embed Welsh language considerations into our ways of working and look for ways of promoting, facilitating and encouraging more people to use our Welsh language services.

We will continue to work closely with the Environment Agency following the advice of the Welsh Language Commissioner in developing a bilingual Fishing Licence purchasing online and telephone service for our customers.

As an organisation we wish to develop a long-term Strategy for the Welsh language. We look forward to developing this Strategy which will provide us with a vision and a road map of how we are going to develop ourselves into an organisation where the Welsh language is spoken, heard and seen naturally in all our work and dealings with others, including providing more opportunities for our staff to work bilingually internally. This work will help us in our vision of becoming a naturally bilingual organisation.

Appendix 1- Education and Health Team

Health work

Bilingual blogs to help people with their health and wellbeing during Covid-19 and the importance of using the outdoor environment.
Create bilingual posters explaining “The Wider Determinant of Health” the natural environment has to offer.

Education work

Tocyn Cymru was used by the team for booking onto “A Natural Childhood – Early Years in the Outdoors Training” online event held in January 2021. Using this system reduced the administration required due to the bilingual ability of the system in confirming appointments with information required for the course listed on a spreadsheet.

Below is a direct link to the event on Tocyn Cymru:

English page

Welsh page

Training was offered in either Welsh or English by the team who received positive feedback that the language used was clear and easy for all to understand.

Newport's Outdoor Learning group is creating a pack to help groups/schools make the most of the outdoors – NRW has translated them. These will be available on the Outdoor Learning Wales website.
The University of South Wales has created a learning pack based on “The Lost Words” (poetry book). Early Years students have developed a toolkit for educators with ideas on how to do activities around 'Y Geiriau Diflanedig' “The Lost Words” outdoors. NRW worked in partnership and translated the toolkit which is available on the Outdoor Learning Wales website.
DRY:Diary of a Water Superhero book explaining the types of drought we are having and what impact they are having on the natural environment in the UK, by University of West England Bristol to encourage discussion on how we can prepare for periods of dry weather and what individuals can do to save water. Natural Resources Wales has paid for a Welsh version of this resource and notes for teachers.
Between March and September 2020 shared activity ideas to do at home as a family on Outdoor Learning Website, NRW Twitter and Facebook bilingually
Gave a shout out on Radio Cymru asking for jokes relating to the natural environment and shared them on social media.
NRW Children’s Charter available in Welsh.
Staff spoke on Radio Cymru on importance of children having contact with nature and discuss training events staff have been running.
Training on how Welsh tree names have influenced place names e.g. Betws y Coed, Llwyncelyn, Aberaeron, Pentreffwrndan.
Education and Learning bilingual Newsletter
Bilingual videos created showing how to carry out activities – these available on You Tube playlist Welsh.
Articles about the natural environment in the Cliciadur / Clic It Cymru – a newsletter for younger school children.
Created a bilingual video to give parents ideas about how to use the natural environment for learning to celebrate the virtual Eisteddfod in August 2020 and shared on our social media.

Video created in Welsh with English subtitles showing that outdoor learning can take place all year round with accurate clothing with Cylch Meithrin Llandderfel and Sarnau. This is shared on the Mudiad Ysgolion Meithrin internal system for all members to view and are encouraged to become members of Outdoor Learning Wales.

Appendix 2 - Stats on website Welsh pages

Total page views: 44,595 (number of times a visitor has looked at our website pages)

Total unique views: 34,820 (number of times a visitor has looked at a particular page)

Most accessed pages in Welsh

Homepage – 4,892 views / 4,124 unique views
Job listing landing page – 1.957 views / 1,430 unique page views
Check flood warnings – 1,260 views / 885 unique page views
Flooding landing page – 813 views / 590 unique page views
Jobs and placements landing page – 777 pageviews / 661 unique pages views

Top referrals on Welsh pages

Homepage

Direct – 2,649 views / 2,296 unique views
Google – 1,541 views / 1,238 unique views
Bing – 138 views / 134 unique views
Yahoo – 40 views / 36 unique views

Job listing landing page

Direct – 760 views / 563 unique views
Google – 666 views / 496 unique page views
Bing – 241 views / 192 unique views
Twitter – 80 views / 58 unique views
Careers Wales – 45 views / 9 unique views

Check flood warnings

Google – 442 views / 232 unique views
Direct – 420 views / 308 unique views
Facebook mobile – 138 views / 121 unique views
Facebook – 107 views / 94 unique views
BBC – 76 views / 54 unique views

Flooding

Direct – 259 views / 188 unique page views
Google – 237 views / 174 unique page views
Facebook – 89 views / 58 unique page views
Twitter – 67 views / 63 unique page views
Bing – 31 views / 27 unique page views

Jobs and placements landing page

Google – 331 views / 255 unique page views
Direct – 219 views / 201 unique page views
Bing – 179 views / 165 unique page views
Careers Wales – 9 views / 4 unique views
Twitter – 9 views / 4 unique page views

Appendix 3 -Welsh language training

Courses

This year we have 81 learners attending one of the 11 in-house courses that have been set up for NRW staff in Maes Y Ffynnon, Ty Cambria, Maes Newydd and the newest addition, the Buckley office. After liaising with the course providers, courses have been adapted and are now being delivered virtually through Microsoft Teams.

Along with the in-house training, we also have another 81 members of staff learning Welsh within the mainstream. This means that they are either learning with other organisations or are learning within the community. This is a great opportunity for our staff to network and to meet other learners within their regions.

These courses are being delivered virtually using systems such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom. The ICT department have been extremely helpful this year in responding to all of the additional requests for ICT support for these sessions.

Course	Learners 2020/21	Percentage
Entry	90	56%
Foundation	14	9%
Intermediate	28	17%
Advanced	24	15%
Proficiency	5	3%
Total	161	100%

Region	Learners 2020/21	Percentage
Cardiff	10	6%
Carmarthenshire	10	6%
Ceredigion/Powys	19	12%
Glamorgan	2	1%
Gwent	38	24%
North East	16	10%
North West	38	24%
Pembrokeshire	2	1%
Swansea Bay	23	14%
The Vale	3	2%
Total	161	100%

Regions are based on the National Centre for Learning Welsh regions.

As a result of Covid-19, no examinations took place in Summer 2020.

It is hoped that once restrictions ease, some face-to-face training will resume. We will still look to provide our staff with the flexibility of learning online too, as this has proved to be very popular amongst many of our learners. Many learners have already commented that moving courses online has provided flexibility and reduced travelling, being more environmentally friendly. Some learners are looking forward to returning to a classroom environment, even if only arranged occasionally, as they believe it will provide them with further opportunity to reinforce what they are learning.

Mentoring scheme

In November 2020, we re-launched the mentoring scheme. The scheme is designed to provide support for Welsh learners within NRW. This is even more critical at present as the majority of our learners are unable to practice what they are learning whilst working from home. The scheme involves fluent Welsh speaking staff members or more advanced learners volunteering 30 minutes of their time every fortnight to informally chat to their Welsh learner buddy.

We have had a great uptake so far with 24 mentors and 35 learners registering for the scheme. This is very encouraging, and we are always open/encouraging more people to join.

Say Something in Welsh

There have been many requests in the past from staff to introduce Say Something in Welsh as an alternative and flexible method of learning. As a result, in January 2021 we decided to trial the use of it for 6 months. So far, the trial is going very well with learners enjoying studying 30/40 minutes a week. We currently have 15 people trialling this with more being added daily. They will be asked to provide monthly evaluations in order to view their progress and feedback on the course.

We currently envisage being able to offer this course to staff on short term contracts, visitor centre staff and staff members that are unable to commit to a course due to extenuating circumstances (i.e. medical conditions, etc). As courses tend to become available for September and January starts, it will provide a handy tool for learners to start/continue with their studies whilst waiting to register for a course provided by the National Centre for Learning Welsh.

Events

Over the last year, we have celebrated several events virtually, working closely with the Communications Team to promote the Welsh language and heritage both internally and externally.

Shwmae/Su’mae day on 15 October 2020:

Posts on Yammer to encourage and challenge learners to speak Welsh in work/meetings, read Welsh literature or magazines and to listen to Welsh either on television or the radio.

Welsh language rights day on 7 December 2020:

Post on intranet advising NRW staff on their Welsh language rights.
Video published on NRW social media of some NRW learners explaining the importance of learning to them.

St Dwynwen’s day on 25 January 2021:

Posts on Yammer encouraging learners to speak Welsh in work or at home.
An article on the intranet explaining the story of Dwynwen’s origins/history.

St David’s day on 1 March 2021:

Posts on Yammer encouraging learners to speak Welsh and explore Welsh traditions.
An article on the intranet explaining St David’s origins and more information on Welsh language courses supported by NRW.

Appendix 4

Welsh language skills of staff February 2021

Welsh language skill level	Number of staff members	Percentage of staff members
Fluent in both spoken and written Welsh	310	13.9%
Fluent Welsh speaker	225	10%
Able to discuss some work matters confidently	153	6.8%
Able to construct basic sentences	438	19.6%
Able to pronounce basic phrases and greetings	915	40.9%
No language skills	87	3.9%
No return completed	109	4.9%

Welsh Language skills of staff at 11 March 2020

Welsh language skill level	Number of staff members	Percentage of staff members
Fluent in both spoken and written Welsh	275	3.4%
Fluent Welsh speaker	211	10.3%
Able to discuss some work matters confidently	136	6.6%
Able to construct basic sentences	412	20.1%
Able to pronounce basic phrases and greetings	820	40.0%
No language skills	63	3.1%
No return completed	134	6.5%

Headcount February 2021 = 2237

Number and percentage of Welsh speakers at January 2021 = 535 (24%)

Headcount March 2020 = 2051

Number and percentage of Welsh speakers at March 2020 = 486 (23.7%)

Welsh Language skills of staff per directorate at February 2021

Welsh language skill level	Communications, Customer and Commercial (CCC)	Corporate Strategy and Development (CSD)	Evidence, Policy and Permitting (EPP)	Finance and Corporate Services (FCS)	Operations (OPS)	Total
No return completed	7	8	18	6	70	109
No language skills	6	2	20	9	50	87
Able to pronounce basic phrases and greetings	23	30	266	72	524	915
Able to construct basic sentences	18	22	136	38	224	438
Able to discuss some work matters confidently	6	4	46	12	85	153
Fluent Welsh speaker	11	11	43	19	141	225
Fluent in both spoken and written Welsh	35	17	51	18	189	310

Each of our Directorates have Welsh speakers who are fluent in both spoken and written Welsh.

Appendix 5 - Welsh Language Action Plan 2020 - 2021

Standards - Service delivery

Continue discussions with Welsh Government and Environment Agency on purchase of fishing licences

Key Action

Following agreement on a way forward, ensure that systems and services are developed to provide a Welsh language service in the purchase of fishing licences

Liaise/Work with

EPP
Specialist Advisor, People Management

Owner

Status

Ongoing - discussions taking place in quarter 1 and 2

Review and update Translation guidance in line with accessibility requirements

Key Action

Look at Welsh language standards and accessibility and equality legislation requirements
Draft amendments and liaise with Welsh Commissioner for approval
Promote new guidance and publish on intranet, Managers Monthly and team meetings

Liaise/Work with

Digital Communications Team
Translation Team
Welsh Language Commissioner

Owner

People Management
Digital Communications

Status

Completed

More use of Welsh on our social media accounts

Key Action

Promote more use of Welsh on our social media accounts
Encourage our Welsh speakers and learners who use social media to use their language skills

Liaise/Work with

Digital Communications Team

Owner

Communications Team

Status

Ongoing Due for completion in quarter 3

Promotion of Welsh culture days/events

Key Action

Look for opportunities to promote Welsh culture events on our intranet, Yammer and social media accounts

Liaise/Work with

Communications
Welsh Language Training Co-ordinator
Specialist Advisor, People Management

Owner

Communications
Learning and Development
People Management

Status

Completed

Standards - Policy making

Review Welsh language considerations on Equality Impact Assessment

Key Action

Review impact assessment to ensure compliance with standards to help ensure so we engage with communities in a more equitable way
Develop guidance, Training and promote use of Equality Impact Assessment as good practice across organisation

Liaise/Work with

People Management
EDI Forum
Grwp Pencampwyr
Trade Union

Owner

People Management

Status

Completed

Standards - Operational

Review Grŵp Pencampwyr terms of reference and membership to oversee and promote Welsh Language Standards

Key Action

Review terms of reference of group
Promote purpose of group through, publications on intranet, Yammer, Managers Monthly, team meetings and current group members
Ensure member for each Directorate/area of business as part of group

Liaise/Work with

Grwp Pencampwyr

Owner

People Management

Status

Completed

Draft Bilingual Skills Strategy

Key Action

Identify the language needs of the Organisation
Identify the language skills of the workforce
Plan how we maintain and increase skills to meet identified need

Liaise/Work with

People Management
Grwp Pencampwyr
Learning and Development
Organisation Development

Owner

People Management

Status

Ongoing - Due for completion in quarter 4 2021/22

Work to ensure MyNRW becomes fully compliant with Standard 100

Key Action

Explore ways to make absence fields within MyNRW bilingual

Liaise/Work with

MyNRW Systems Team

Owner

MyNRW Systems Team

Status

Completed

Learning and Development-Land Management training courses

Key Action

Proactive in offering Welsh medium land management courses when advertising to staff

Liaise/Work with

Learning and Development

Owner

Learning and Development

Status

Ongoing - Due for completion in quarter 2 2021/22

Review and update Welsh language training programme and re-launch

Key Action

Research into range of courses available online, skype, self-led, classroom learning, residential courses in discussion with National Centre for Learning Welsh
Amend Welsh Language Training programme
Launch training programme and promote on intranet, Yammer, Manager’s Monthly and team meetings

Liaise/Work with

Welsh Language Training Co-ordinator
Specialist Advisor, People Management
National Centre for Learning Welsh
Grwp Pencampwyr
Welsh Language Training Co-ordinator

Owner

People Management

Status

Completed

Re-launch Mentoring Scheme

Key Action

Request fluent Welsh speakers to become Mentors to learners
Promote Mentoring Scheme to learners and on intranet, Yammer, Managers Monthly and team meetings

Liaise/Work with

Welsh Language Training Advisor
Grwp Pencampwyr

Owner

People Management

Status

Completed

Dwi’n Dysgu Cymraeg option for learners in outlook

Key Action

Offer learners option of Dwi’n Dysgu Cymraeg (Welsh learner) in outlook
Ensure option becomes operational for those who have taken up this option

Liaise/Work with

Specialist Advisor, People Management
Welsh Language Training Co-ordinator

Owner

Status

Ongoing due to be completed in quarter 2 2021/22

Arrange training courses: Welsh language awareness, Benefits of a Bilingual Workforce, Holding bilingual meetings

Key Action

Raise awareness and gather interest in attendance for courses
Discuss and arrange course requirements with training providers
Promote courses on intranet, Yammer and through normal training procedures

Liaise/Work with

Welsh Language Training Co-ordinator
Learning and Development

Owner

Learning and Development

Status

Ongoing - due for completion in quarter 4 2021/22

Welcome email to all new starters

Key Action

Promoting Welsh language policy, guidance and training programme in place

Liaise/Work with

Welsh Language Training Co-ordinator

Owner

People Management
Learning and Development

Status

Completed

Ensure all staff self-assess Welsh language skills and record in MyNRW

Key Action

Gather statistics and contact staff and Managers to update their records

Liaise/Work with

Welsh Language Training Co-ordinator

Owner

People Management
Learning and Development

Status

Ongoing - due for completion at end of each quarter

Review and promote internal language policy

Key Action

Set up working group from across business including Trade Union to review internal policy
Look at other organisations for best practice
Discuss with Welsh Language Commissioner
Promote and launch reviewed policy

Liaise/Work with

Grŵp Pencampwyr
Representatives across business
Trace Union
Welsh Language Commissioner
Specialist Advisor, People Management

Owner

People Management

Status

Ongoing Due for completion in quarter 4 2021/22

Standards - Record keeping

Self-regulate our compliance with Welsh language standards

Key Action

Carry out survey on our Welsh language services on website, through our Customer Care Centre and Visitor Centres

Liaise/Work with

Specialist Advisor, People Management
Customer Care Centre
Recreation Team

Owner

People Management

Status

Ongoing - due for completion in quarter 4 2021/22

Draft Welsh Language Annual Report

Key Action

Liaise with business to gather information on the work in implementing and improving our Welsh language services
Gather statistics on our compliance as required by Record Keeping Standards

Liaise/Work with

Specialist Advisor, People Management
Welsh Language Training Co-ordinator

Owner

People Management

Status

Completed

Appendix 6 - Welsh Language Action Plan 2021 – 2022

Standards - Service

Continue discussions with WG and Environment Agency on purchase of fishing licences

Key Action

Following agreement on a way forward, ensure that systems and services are developed to provide a Welsh language service in the purchase of fishing licences

Liaise/Work with

EPP
Specialist Advisor, People Management

Owner

Status

Due for completion quarter 3/4

Review Welsh language requirements on social media platforms

Key Action

Promote use of Welsh on our social media accounts
Social media accounts managed centrally
Social media training session including Welsh language requirements

Liaise/Work with

Communications Team

Owner

Communications Team
People Management

Status

Due for completion in quarter 3

Promotion of Welsh language, culture days/events

Key Action

Look for more opportunities to promote Welsh language, culture events/days on our intranet, Yammer and social media accounts

Liaise/Work with

Welsh Language Training Co-ordinator
Specialist Advisor, People Management
Communications Team

Owner

Communications
Learning and Development
People Management

Status

Due for completion in quarter 4

Flood Awareness

Key Action

Floodline - We are planning to improve this service by developing a Welsh language call agent service – available regardless of time or day
Flood Warning Message & Website -explore options for developing this translation capability so that we can provide richer, more helpful information is to provide real-time information to help people understand their immediate flood risk
Warning service - carry out activities to promote our Welsh language offering in the hope of increasing their use.

Liaise/Work with

Flood Awareness Team

Owner

Flood Awareness Team

Status

Due for completion in quarter 4

Increase callers choosing Welsh language option for Customer Care Centre

Key Action

Carry out survey
Carry out survey on our Welsh language services on website, through our Customer Care Centre and Visitor Centres

Liaise/Work with

Customer Care Centre

Owner

Customer Care Centre
People Management

Status

Due for completion in quarter 4

Review Welsh Language Signage Guidance

Key Action

Ensure standard forms of place-names and topographical features are explained and used on signage and interpretation panels.

Liaise/Work with

Recreation Sites
Planning Team

Owner

Recreation Sites
Planning Team

Status

Due for completion end of quarter 3

Standards - Policy making

Equality Impact Assessment review tracker

Key Action

Ensure all Equality Impact Assessments are recorded

Liaise/Work with

Organisation Wide

Owner

People Management

Status

Due for completion end of each Quarter

Monitor inclusion of Welsh language in our consultation processes

Key Action

Raise awareness of requirement
Monitor inclusion in our consultation processes

Liaise/Work with

Organisation Wide

Owner

People Management

Status

Due for completion end of each Quarter

Standards - Operational

Draft Bilingual Skills Strategy and review internal language policy

Key Action

Identify the language needs of the Organisation
Identify the language skills of the workforce
Plan how we maintain and increase skills to meet identified need
Review internal policy based on discussions with staff and best practice
Work with Continuous Development Programme to develop a new streamlined process for assessing language levels of posts

Liaise/Work with

People Management
Grwp Pencampwyr
Learning and Development
Organisation Development

Owner

People Management

Status

Due for completion in quarter 4

Raise awareness of Welsh Language Training Programme

Key Action

Promote Welsh Language Training Programme via, intranet and Yammer
Publish articles to promote use of Welsh and Welsh culture days
Provide support to learners
Promote Mentoring Scheme
Arrange informal group chats for learners
Arrange Welsh Language Awareness Training

Liaise/Work with

Welsh Language Training Co-ordinator
Organisation Development

Owner

People Management

Status

Ongoing each Quarter

Dwi’n Dysgu Cymraeg option for learners in outlook

Key Action

Promote the use of Mail Tip with learners and implement in outlook as requested by staff

Liaise/Work with

Welsh Language Training Co-ordinator
ICT

Owner

People Management
ICT

Status

Due for completion in quarter 2

Arrange Welsh medium training courses

Key Action

Benefits of Bilingual Workforce
Holding Bilingual Meetings

Liaise/Work with

Learning and Development

Owner

People Management

Status

Due for completion quarter 4

E-mail to all new Starters and ensure all staff self-assess Welsh language skills and record in MyNRW

Key Action

Welcome e-mail raising awareness of standards, guidance and Welsh Language Training Programme
Include need to assess language skills and provide guidance in e-mail above
Monitor People Finder and send out reminders

Liaise/Work with

Welsh Language Training Co-ordinator
Specialist Advisor People Management

Owner

People Management

Status

Ongoing at end of each Quarter

Standards - Record keeping

Update Welsh Language Standards Policy

Key Action

Include section on our monitoring of our Standards

Liaise/Work with

Specialist Advisor People Management

Owner

People Management

Status

Due to be completed in quarter 4

Draft Welsh Language Annual Report

Key Action

Liaise with business to gather information on the work in implementing and improving our Welsh language services
Gather statistics on our compliance as required by Record Keeping Standards

Liaise/Work with

Specialist Advisor, People Management
Welsh Language Training Co-ordinator

Owner

People Management

Status

Due to be completed in quarter 4

Appendix 7 - Implementing and compliance with our Welsh Language Standards

Below are the measures that have been put in place to ensure compliance with our Welsh Language Standards Policy.

Managers are asked through Managers Monthly to discuss the requirements of the Standards with their staff. A monitoring exercise took place in January 2020 to ensure that staff are aware of the basic requirement all should be doing as part of their day to day work. Monitoring also forms part of our work in self-regulating our compliance with the standards. The next monitoring exercise will take place Autumn 2021 and reported in our Annual Report for 2021-22.

Action taken to comply with service delivery standards (1 – 83)

Guidance in place for dealing with Welsh medium correspondence, telephone calls, arranging meetings, assessing translation requirements, recruitment, reception desks, signage and internal communication and found on the intranet.
Guidance on Welsh language considerations for social media are in place with the Communication team.
Welsh language considerations to be included in third party contracts are available on the procurement guidance pages on the intranet.
Welsh language considerations have been written into the Grant guidance.
Interface and each page on the website are available in Welsh.
All public documentation, adverts, notices, signage and promotion material are produced bilingually with the Welsh text to the left or above the English.
Signs are displayed at each of our public reception desks stating that the use of Welsh is welcomed, with Welsh speaking reception staff wearing “Cymraeg” badges or lanyards to identify themselves as Welsh speakers.
Welsh speaking staff are asked to wear a “Cymraeg” lanyard or badge to identify themselves as Welsh speakers. Welsh learners are given the choice of wearing a “Dysgwr Cymraeg” lanyard or badge.
Reception areas display “Cymraeg” posters noting that we welcome the use of Welsh language at our public reception areas.
Language preference of customers we deal with on a regular basis is captures in our CRM computer software for future reference.
Welcome Work Welsh courses have been arranged to help all our staff be able to meet, greet and answer the telephone bilingually to show linguistic courtesy.
Bilingual letterhead, agenda, report, meeting notes and presentation templates are available on the intranet for staff to use and include Welsh language consideration requirements in corresponding with others. The template includes a bilingual statement that we welcome correspondence in Welsh and English.
All our Facebook pages are combined bilingual pages.
Corporate Twitter accounts are bilingual.
Communication Team manage social media pages and are supporting staff in each Place Based Team to ensure that posted bilingually.
Self-serve parking meters at our car parks offer a language choice.
Welsh medium training courses available to staff can be found on the Learning and Development page on the intranet.
The organisation adopted a bilingual identity from vesting day.
Internal Translation Team in place to carry out and arrange translation requirements for organisation.
Guidance published on intranet on Translations requirements of publications both internally and externally.

Action taken to comply with policy standards (84 – 93)

For each new or amended policy in place staff are required to complete an assessment of the impact on equality which includes Welsh language considerations. These considerations have been written into the equality impact assessment, and records what/ if any effect the policy will have on the ability to use the Welsh language and not treating the Welsh language less favourably than the English language. These are signed by Specialist Advisor, People Management.
Welsh language consideration questions in our consultation processes shared with all staff in Managers Monthly and included on the intranet as part of our Consultation and Ideas Hub area.

Action taken to comply with operational standards (94 – 140)

All new and existing staff are asked their language preference for receiving paper correspondence relating to their employment addressed to them personally.
All our people policies, procedures and guidance are available to staff on the intranet in Welsh and English.
Policies allow staff to make complaints and raise issues in Welsh, including face to face meetings relating to the complaint.
Windows 10 software used by all staff is available in Welsh.
Cysgliad/Cysill Welsh spell/grammar check is available for all staff to use.
Intranet bilingual.
Dedicated Welsh language policy page on intranet with Standards policy and guidance to help all staff work bilingually and self-assessing Welsh language skills, recording the information in central MyNRW system.
Dedicated Welsh language training page hosting the Welsh language training programme guidance, how to book training, learning resources to help learners develop their language skills, mentoring scheme, free apps for learners, useful Welsh words and phrases, history of Welsh language and culture.
Welsh Language Training programme in place giving all staff the opportunity to develop their language skills for work purposes.
Welsh Language Standards forms part of Induction Training, Welsh Language Policy Advisor gives presentation on requirements of Standards.
Managers are required to explain the Standards policy to all new staff as part of the New Staff Check-list. This is signed by staff member, Line Manager and kept on personal files.
Corporate bilingual signature available for all staff to use.
All new and vacant posts are assessed for Welsh language skill requirement and recorded for audit purposes by Welsh Language Commissioner.
Text on signage is proof-read by our Translation Team.
Guidance on bilingual signage published on intranet and include Welsh language templates for use on temporary signage.
Internal language policy in place facilitating the use of the Welsh language internally, the policy includes:
- The need for all staff to assess their Welsh language skills.
- For staff to indicate their language preference in receiving correspondence addressed to them personally.
- That Performance Management and Training plans are available bilingually for staff to complete in their language of preference.
- Items sent to all staff or a large group of staff should be bilingual.
- Staff are encouraged to use their written Welsh language skills when sending correspondence internally.
- Encourage the use of Welsh in internal meetings.
- Which training courses staff can request in Welsh.
- That staff are welcome to make a complaint in Welsh and can respond in Welsh to allegations made against them in the internal disciplinary process.

Action taken to comply with Record Keeping Standards and Supplementary Standards (141 – 168)

All complaints received in relation to the Welsh language are recorded by our dedicated Complaints Team and reported in our Annual Report. A complaints procedure is in place which explains how all complaints received by our organisation are dealt with, the procedure is published on our website. Staff dealing with complaints complete an online Civil Service training module.
Welsh Language Standards policy is published on the intranet and website noting each Standard we are required to comply with and explaining how we intend to comply with each one. Policy is available upon request at each of our offices.
The Executive Director of Corporate Strategy and Development has overall responsibility for the Welsh Language Standards policy.
The Corporate Plan explains how the Business Plan links to our Corporate Plan and details what we will achieve to help strengthen our bilingual capacity, improve our services to customers and our relationships with stakeholders and partners by providing a service in their preferred language. Our Welsh Language Training programme is in place to ensure we have a capacity of Welsh speakers for the future.
A Grŵp Pencampwyr is in place with a member from each Directorate who liaise between Welsh Language Policy Advisor and Directorate.
Awareness of the Standards are published on a regular basis on the intranet and Managers Monthly, where Managers are asked to discuss requirements with their teams.
As part of the induction process with new staff, Managers are required to discuss the requirements of the Standards along with other corporate policies and procedures. The induction checklist is signed by both employee and manager and kept on file.
Monitoring compliance of Standards is carried out by Welsh Language Policy Advisor, any risks highlighted to ET, Managers and Grŵp Pencampwyr.
For each new policy or project an Equality Impact Assessment tool is used to assess the positive or adverse effects it would have on opportunities to use the Welsh language, information is recorded for auditing purposes.
All staff are asked to self-assess their Welsh language skills and record the findings in our central MyNRW system. Staff that have not carried out this action are sent an email reminding them that this action is yet to be completed. Line Managers are also asked to ensure staff complete this action.
Welsh medium training courses are arranged upon request from a group of staff. Learning and Development Team training request form request staff to note their language preference for attending a course.
Welsh language skill assessment for each new or vacant post is agreed by Recruiting Manager and Welsh Language Policy Advisor, bearing in mind nature, location of post and team capacity of Welsh speakers within the team, whether the Welsh language skills are essential, desirable or need to be learnt for each post. Information is recorded for audit and recording purposes.
Welsh Language Annual Report records how the standards have been implemented, any improvements made to our Welsh language services and how we have complied with our Standards for each financial year. The report is published in September of each year and highlighted on our social media, website and intranet and available at each of our offices open to the public upon request. The draft report is presented and scrutinised by our Executive Team, People and Remuneration Committee before final approval by our Management Board and then published in line with the requirements of the Standards.
Information is provided to the Welsh Language Commissioner as and when requested.

Explore more

Last updated