Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme Auditor General for Wales and Wales Audit Office

Transcription

1 Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme Auditor General for Wales and Wales Audit Office Audit year: Issued: July 2015 Document reference: 432A2015

2 Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 Actions delivered according to targets identified in the Welsh Language Scheme ( ) Actions delivered according to targets identified in the monitoring report 5 10 Other actions delivered 13 Governance and scrutiny of the Welsh Language Scheme and mainstreaming the Welsh language 13 Internal administration arrangements 14 Complaints received and actions taken 16 Welsh language skills 17 Performance analysis 18 Targets for Page 2 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

3 Annual Report Executive Summary The updated version of the Auditor General for Wales Welsh Language Scheme was approved by the Welsh Language Board under Section 14 of the Welsh Language Act 1993, and it came into effect on 28 May As part of the Scheme, the Auditor General and the Wales Audit Office have adopted the principle of treating the English and Welsh languages on the basis of equality. Focusing on the period between April 2014 and March 2015, this report: sets out progress made against each of the action points set out in the Scheme; summarises and evaluates the key action points delivered during ; sets out details of any valid and relevant complaints received; and sets out targets for Good progress has been made during the year in addressing the action points, and the key developments were: The role of Welsh Language Officer, which sits within the Wales Audit Office s Communications team, was reviewed as part of a wider corporate services restructure during In April 2015, the review concluded that a full-time Welsh Language Officer was required, as well as two full-time Bilingual Publishers, in order to meet the organisation s strategic and operational objectives in respect of the Welsh language. The Wales Audit Office undertook an activity to assess staff language skills during , with 60 members of staff using online assessments provided though the Workplace Welsh website. The Wales Audit Office joined the new all-wales translations framework set up on behalf of Welsh public sector bodies by the Welsh Government following extensive liaison with Welsh Government and National Procurement Service officials. 57 members of staff received formal Welsh language training during Welsh language skills were made a part of the essential criteria for an audit post for the first time. Previously, the only roles that had Welsh skills listed as essential were those of the Welsh Language Officer and Bilingual Publisher. In addition, the Wales Audit Office received one complaint regarding compliance with the Scheme. This complaint, which was from an audited body, was regarding a failure to correspond bilingually and was resolved promptly. We also informed the complainant of the steps taken internally to ensure such failures are not repeated. In , we plan to build on our progress by: publishing and implementing the linguistic skills strategy; conducting a language preference survey to acquire information on the linguistic preferences of our audited bodies; and managing the transition from the Scheme to the new standards and strengthening our arrangements accordingly. Page 3 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

4 Introduction 1. The updated version of the Auditor General for Wales Welsh Language Scheme (the Scheme) was approved by the Welsh Language Board under Section 14 of the Welsh Language Act It came into effect on 28 May As part of the Scheme, the Auditor General and the Wales Audit Office have adopted the principle of treating the English and Welsh languages on the basis of equality. 2. Following changes made under the Public Audit (Wales) Act 2013, the Auditor General for Wales and the new Wales Audit Office are separate legal entities, each with their own statutory functions. Even though the Scheme only strictly applies to the Auditor General as a result of this new structure, in practice the Scheme is implemented jointly by the Wales Audit Office and the Auditor General Focusing on the period between April 2014 and March 2015, this report: sets out progress made against each of the action points set out in the Scheme; summarises and evaluates the key action points delivered during ; sets out details of any valid and relevant complaints received; and sets out targets for Throughout the period in question, the Wales Audit Office employed a Welsh Language Officer on a part-time, 2.5 days per week basis. 5. The role of Welsh Language Officer, which sits within the Wales Audit Office s Communications team, was reviewed as part of a wider corporate services restructure during In April 2015, the review concluded that a full-time Welsh Language Officer was required, as well as two full-time Bilingual Publishers, in order to meet the organisation s strategic and operational objectives in respect of the Welsh language. This conclusion reflects the Wales Audit Office s increased commitment to the Welsh language, and the full-time Welsh Language Officer was appointed in July Although the current Scheme was due to be reviewed in 2013, the Welsh Language Commissioner s office has advised that the current version should continue to be adhered to until the new Welsh language standards are introduced. 7. The standards, which explain how organisations are expected to use the Welsh language, are being introduced under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 and will eventually displace the current system of Welsh language schemes. 1 As part of our response to the recent standards investigation, we also presented the Welsh Language Commissioner s office with a paper entitled Welsh language standards: the respective functions of the Auditor General for Wales and the Wales Audit Office. This paper contains further details on the structure of the Auditor General and the Wales Audit Office, in relation to our obligations regarding the Welsh language. Page 4 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

5 Actions delivered according to targets identified in the Welsh Language Scheme ( ) Staff awareness and guidance 8. The Welsh Language Scheme was publicised and instructions provided to staff when it was first published in The Welsh language pages on the intranet were updated during and separate, prominent space was given to Welsh language information pages on the home page of the intranet to ensure that staff have easy access to all information regarding our approach to the Welsh language, as well as procedures regarding translations. 9. The Scheme has been publicised in our internal monthly newsletter ( Refresh ) and the news section of our intranet on a number of occasions throughout , with articles focusing on various topics. These topics have included: reminders about Welsh training courses; requests for staff to complete Welsh language skills assessments; and an update on activities such as the standards investigation and what they may mean for staff when coming into effect. 10. Furthermore, the Wales Audit Office has started to offer bespoke Welsh language awareness training to staff during More information on Welsh language training courses provided to staff during the period in question can be found in paragraphs 44 to 48. New staff induction 11. Further activities to provide guidance and raise staff awareness on the Scheme have taken place as part of the induction process for new staff. The Welsh Language Officer has established a close working relationship with the Human Resources (HR) team and the Adviser for Learning and Development in particular. As a result, the HR team continues to ensure that all audit staff are given a presentation by the Welsh Language Officer as part of their induction, with several of these presentations taking place during As part of this presentation, new staff are provided with the following information: an overview of the Wales Audit Office s Welsh language commitments and obligations; the process for getting documents translated; where to find Welsh language information pages on the intranet (the pages include links to useful documents such as the Scheme, the results of the most recent language preference survey, a glossary and links to external Welsh websites that could help with learning the language); information on which Welsh language training courses are available to staff; Page 5 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

6 Welsh speakers are provided with and encouraged to use Iaith Gwaith lanyards and badges to inform others that they are Welsh speakers; Welsh speakers are made aware of the range of Welsh language software programmes that are available and how to acquire them (these include Cysgliad, To Bach and the Welsh Microsoft Office); and Welsh speakers who have received their induction during or after September 2014 have been encouraged to complete the Workplace Welsh 2 online assessments, in order for the Welsh Language Officer to be able to keep the information on staff language skills up to date. Publicity for the Welsh Language Scheme 13. The Welsh language page on our website includes a copy of the Scheme, so that it is available to the public. Our most recent Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme is also available on this page, as well as the Welsh Language Commissioner s response. Third party contracts arrangements 14. In accordance with guidance from the Welsh Language Board, the Wales Audit Office contract template includes a section about the requirement to adhere to the Welsh Language Scheme. 15. During February 2015, three external firms were awarded contracts to undertake financial audit work on behalf of the Auditor General. The contracts came into effect on 1 April 2015, for a period of three years, with the option to extend for up to two additional years. The successful tenderers were: Deloitte LLP, who will be deployed in North Wales; Grant Thornton LLP, for work in Mid and South Wales; and BDO LLP and Grant Thornton LLP for the audit of town and community councils throughout Wales. 16. The following requirements were set out in the invitation to tender specification, and the wording was also included in the contract agreement to the three successful tenderers: The Providers must ensure that services provided through this contract are compliant with the Welsh Language Scheme and, on their commencement, the Welsh Language Standards. As a minimum the Wales Audit Office will expect: communication with public bodies (oral and written) will be in accordance with the language preference of those bodies; 2 We started using these online assessments in September More information on the assessments and staff language skills in general can be found in paragraphs 35 to 43. Page 6 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

7 public communications in relation to this contract to be in both the Welsh and English languages where this applies; and standard letters and/or general communication to be available in either language. 17. The ability to provide a Welsh service was examined at the pre-qualification stage of the tender process considering experience of work within a bilingual (Welsh/English) environment and the ability to meet the needs of audited bodies and members of the public whose preference is to communicate in Welsh, including competence of individuals. 18. All three successful tenderers confirmed that they have the capacity to undertake audits in accordance with the Auditor General s Scheme. A copy of the Auditor General s Scheme was provided with the tender documents along with a link to a webpage on the Welsh Government s website containing the Welsh Language Standards Regulations 2015, as a guide to what may come into effect during the lifetime of the contract agreement. Linguistic skills strategy 19. During , we set up a task and finish group to lead on the development of some organisation-wide Welsh language projects, including workforce and succession planning and learning and development initiatives, which are aimed at improving our ability to communicate in Welsh externally. 20. In order to produce and implement the Wales Audit Office s first ever linguistic skills strategy, the group identified the need to obtain accurate information on staff language skills. Having identified the online skills assessment provided via the Workplace Welsh website as a method of accurately collecting this data, the Welsh Language Officer co-ordinated an internal communications campaign, requesting that staff with any kind of Welsh language skills complete the assessments. More information on this activity can be found in paragraphs 35 to In November 2014, the HR team attended a language awareness training course, delivered by Iaith: Welsh Centre for Language Planning. This training was heavily tailored towards HR staff and focused on the Welsh Language Commissioner s guidance on recruitment and on developing and implementing a linguistic skills strategy. 22. Following this training, the HR Manager has joined the Welsh language task and finish group and has been actively involved in the second phase of developing the strategy, which is producing an objective means of assessing the linguistic requirements of all roles within the organisation. 23. The Wales Audit Office will be publishing its first linguistic skills strategy during Page 7 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

8 Increasing the number of auditors with Welsh language skills 24. The linguistic skills strategy will deal with Welsh language training for staff and will also set out principles regarding recruitment. The need for a linguistic skills strategy in itself a need which was identified when the current Scheme was first published reflects the fact that the organisation lacks staff with the appropriate language skills. This shortage is particularly evident in the operational parts of the business. Therefore, the Welsh language task and finish group has already begun to put some of the linguistic skills strategy s key principles in operation when and where possible, in advance of the strategy being published. 25. During , Welsh language skills were made a part of the essential criteria for an audit post for the first time. Previously, the only roles that had Welsh skills listed as essential were those of Welsh Language Officer and Bilingual Publisher (both based in the Communications team, Corporate Services). 26. The post in question was that of Performance Auditor, based in North Wales. At the same time, the organisation was also inviting applications for the role of Performance Project Officer, for which Welsh skills were listed as desirable. 27. The HR team liaised closely with the Welsh Language Officer when advertising this role in order to carefully consider the wording used regarding the Welsh language, so as to not discourage Welsh speakers from applying. Both of these roles were successfully filled by fluent Welsh speakers. The wording used to describe the level of Welsh required is set out below: Welsh Language Skills While the ability to communicate in Welsh, both written and orally is desirable for the roles, the Wales Audit Office considers Welsh language skills to be essential for one of the roles. For this role, though the post holder will not need to write complex reports in Welsh, the successful candidate will have the ability to communicate effectively, both verbally and written, through the medium of Welsh, as well as understand and interpret Welsh documents. For a further discussion about the level of Welsh ability required for this role, please contact us. 28. Furthermore, a total of six roles have been advertised on the Welsh job website Lleol.net during Audit trainees 29. The Welsh language task and finish group has applied some of the linguistic skills strategy s principles to the recruitment of audit trainees as well. The audit trainee programme combines audit work with working towards a professional accountancy qualification (we are accredited as a training organisation with ACCA, CIPFA and ICAEW), and we employ a number of audit trainees every year. Many trainees go on to be fully-qualified auditors working for the organisation; most, however, are recent graduates at the time that they are employed, with little experience of working in an audit environment. Page 8 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

9 30. The task and finish group identified the annual audit trainee intake as a means of employing more Welsh speakers, given the difficulties previously faced with attracting fully-qualified, experienced auditors that are also Welsh speakers. 31. The Welsh Language Officer proposed that a percentage of the audit trainee roles each year should include Welsh skills as part of the essential criteria, thereby providing a consistent and sustainable means of having increasing numbers of Welsh-speaking auditors advancing through the organisation. 32. Following this development, the following information is now included on the Audit Trainee Programme page on our website: Do you speak Welsh? While the ability to communicate in Welsh, both written and orally is desirable, we consider Welsh language skills to be essential for a small number of the roles. We are therefore looking to recruit some audit trainees who have proficiency in the Welsh language. You will not need to write complex reports in Welsh, but you will have the ability to communicate effectively in Welsh, both verbally and in writing, as well as understand and interpret Welsh documents. For a further discussion about the level of Welsh language ability required, please contact us. 33. These roles were advertised on Welsh job website Lleol.net and the Welsh Language Officer also engaged with Welsh Students Union officers at Bangor, Aberystwyth and Cardiff universities respectively, asking them to advertise the job opportunities via their Union s social media accounts and/or This development was in operation during the latest intake of audit trainees, which yielded 14 trainees. Fifty per cent of these audit trainees are Welsh speakers. Page 9 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

10 Actions delivered according to targets identified in the monitoring report Assessing staff language skills 35. The Welsh in the Workplace Skills Indicator, which is available through the Workplace Welsh website, provides a suite of online language assessments for employees to assess their Welsh language skills. 36. Between September and November 2014, staff with any level of Welsh language ability were asked to complete four online assessments to test their skills in four key areas reading, speaking, writing and listening using the Welsh in the Workplace Skills Indicator. 37. The information we previously had regarding Welsh language skills within the workforce relied on staff self-assessing their skills. The Workplace Welsh assessments provided a more objective means of assessing staff skills, providing more consistent results and more accurate data. 38. Having registered as an employer, we were able to download a report showing the results of all employees who had undertaken the language skills assessments using the organisation's unique identification number. 39. The assessments were not mandated. Rather, the activity was supported by an internal communications campaign to raise staff awareness of the value in undertaking the assessments. 40. The assessments were co-ordinated by the Welsh Language Officer and the Welsh language task and finish group, with information and a link to the assessments provided to staff on our intranet and via s sent out by a Director. 41. Not all staff members who started the assessments completed all four. For example, many failed to complete the speaking assessment due to practicality issues around needing to set up and use a microphone. In order to alleviate the effect of this practical barrier, the Welsh Language Officer has hosted a number of lunchtime sessions in the organisation s main office in Cardiff where staff could drop in and use laptops with microphones already set up for them. The lunchtime drop-in sessions also served to provide staff who preferred not to undertake the speaking assessments at their desks in our open plan offices with quiet rooms in which to do so. 42. This activity provided a far more accurate portrait of the Welsh language skills within our workforce compared to the information we had previously. Sixty staff members created an account on the Welsh in the Workplace Skills Indicator website and undertook at least one of the assessments, representing around 23 per cent of the Wales Audit Office s entire workforce. 43. More information on the results of the Welsh language skills assessments can be found in paragraphs 87 to 88. Page 10 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

11 Welsh language training 44. By working closely with the HR team, the Welsh Language Officer has ensured that a number of Welsh language courses have been offered to staff during During the period in question, 19 members of staff have attended basic meet and greet language training. These courses were held in the organisation s head office in Cardiff, and provided through the Welsh for Adults Scheme. This training was initially targeted towards Business Services staff and Executive Assistants, who all cover the receptions and have regular contact with audited bodies, visitors and the public. The meet and greet language training was later extended to audit and other corporate staff. 46. During the period in question, 37 members of staff have attended formal language awareness training as part of three separate training sessions. One of these sessions was held in our North Wales office in Ewloe, and two were held in our head office in Cardiff. All three training sessions were provided by Iaith: Welsh centre for language planning. One session was specifically tailored for the HR team and focused on Welsh language considerations in relation to recruitment, as well as the challenges they may face in implementing a linguistic skills strategy. 47. During the period in question, one member of staff attended a semester-long, weekly Welsh language training course at proficiency level. This member of staff liaised with the Welsh Language Officer and used the results from his Welsh in the Workplace Skills Indicator assessments to identify the proficiency level course as the one best suited for his needs. 48. Both the meet and greet and language awareness training have continued into Preparing for the Welsh language standards 49. Between November 2014 and February 2015, the Auditor General provided a response to the Welsh Language Commissioner s standards investigation, on behalf of both himself and the Wales Audit Office. As part of this exercise, we reviewed our capabilities to comply with the proposed standards regulations and stated whether or not we considered it reasonable and proportionate to make the standards in question specifically applicable to our organisation. 50. In May 2015, the Welsh Language Commissioner released her standards report, produced for the attention of Welsh Ministers, detailing the conclusions of the standards investigation. 51. During , in preparation for when the Welsh language standards come into effect, the Wales Audit Office has strengthened its arrangements to provide a consistent bilingual service on reception at its three main offices. 52. Members of Business Services based in our Cardiff office and cover reception have attended the meet and greet language training, with aspects of the course specifically tailored for dealing with phone calls and visitors through the medium of Welsh. The Welsh Language Officer has subsequently attended Business Services meetings to Page 11 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

12 provide further informal training, offering assistance with pronunciation in order to boost confidence. The only Business Services officer based outside Cardiff (who is based in our Penllergaer office) is scheduled to attend a Welsh language training course during The Welsh Language Officer has also provided a bilingual guidance script for reception staff which includes a list of nine fluent Welsh speakers based in either Cardiff or Ewloe, who have all agreed to be called upon should any callers/visitors request a service in Welsh beyond what some of the reception staff can currently offer. The same arrangements will be put in place at our Penllergaer office during Furthermore, the post of Executive Assistant and Receptionist based in our Ewloe office became vacant early during The previous post holder was not a Welsh speaker, but the role was filled by a fluent Welsh speaker. 55. Many of the operational standards give effect to the principle of providing Welsh speakers with opportunities to use the language in the workplace. In keeping with this principle, the Wales Audit Office has created a group for Welsh speakers on its newlylaunched internal online communications platform Yammer. More details on Yammer can be found in paragraphs 76 to 77. Machine translation 56. In our monitoring report, we noted that our Publishing team was trialling Microsoft Translator with some examples of Welsh>English translations that are for internal purposes only. This was after the Welsh Language Officer attended a training seminar on The development and use of machine translation, held by the Association of Welsh Translators and Interpreters in conjunction with the Translation and Reporting Service, National Assembly for Wales. 57. We noted that we would be trialling Microsoft Translator to establish whether or not it is capable of providing an understandable translation of public bodies internal documents that are in Welsh, so that auditors are able to read those documents for audit purposes. 58. Although machine translation does not provide the same quality of translation as human translation, this software can, however, with a degree of post-editing to ensure acceptable quality, provide an understandable translation in most cases. 59. By liaising with their internal clients who request Welsh>English translations, our Publishing team has been able to establish which translation requests are solely for the internal client s own use and not for sharing widely or to be published. Microsoft Translator has been used in many of these scenarios during (with a degree of post-editing), and the Wales Audit Office has saved over 700 as a result. Page 12 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

13 Other actions delivered Governance and scrutiny of the Welsh Language Scheme and mainstreaming the Welsh language 60. The Welsh Language Officer monitors and manages the implementation of the Scheme internally on a day to day basis. The Welsh Language Officer reports directly to the Head of Communications and key decisions are also scrutinised by the Senior Leadership Team and Management Committee. 61. Strategic decisions regarding planning and developing staff language skills are approved by the Chair of the Welsh language task and finish group, in the context of the group s role in developing a linguistic skills strategy and ensuring that the Welsh language is mainstreamed. Annual Plan The Annual Plan, which was piloted internally during before being published on 31 March 2015, is underpinned by a range of measures and targets, including those relating to the Welsh language. Focusing on increasing our ability to communicate externally in Welsh, the three-year priority regarding the Welsh language stated in the Business Plan is as follows: Demonstrate our corporate social responsibility through our work on promoting use of the Welsh language and meeting the new Welsh language standards. 63. Success against this target is measured through a key performance measure, which is one of 35 measures reported to the Board on a quarterly basis. The overall indicator relating to Welsh language scheme compliance is described as follows: Proportion of our outputs that are compliant with our Welsh language scheme. The Auditor General and the Wales Audit Office s Annual Report and Accounts The Wales Audit Office s work in relation to the Welsh language is given a separate section in the Auditor General and the Wales Audit Office s Annual Report and Accounts. The update regarding the Welsh language for the report was as follows: Promoting use of the Welsh language The Wales Audit Office is committed to, and takes pride in, providing a bilingual service. Our Welsh Language Scheme forms the basis for our approach and highlights our determination to treat the English and Welsh languages on an equal basis. Our public documents are available in both English and Welsh, we have a fully bilingual website, and we communicate with the public, audited bodies and the media in both languages. During , the Auditor General and the Wales Audit Office submitted a joint response to the Welsh Language Commissioner s standards investigation. Page 13 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

14 The Welsh language standards will eventually replace the current system of Welsh language schemes. We also took the opportunity to further review our current arrangements. As a result, we identified a number of steps we need, and have begun to take, to strengthen our capacity to provide bilingual services in the longer term. Alongside implementing a proactive effort to recruit auditors with Welsh language skills, our staff completed online assessments to gauge their current grasp of the language and to provide us with accurate data on their level of proficiency. This information has enabled us to provide staff with training most suited to their needs. A number of staff have subsequently enrolled on Welsh language training courses, ranging from basic meet and greet to higher proficiency levels. The information will also be used to inform our workforce planning, helping us ensure we have the right people, with the right language skills, in the right places. During , we also updated our arrangements for securing effective translation services by joining a new all-wales translations framework. Internal administration arrangements Translation 65. During July 2014, the Wales Audit Office s Management Committee approved a recommendation to join the new all-wales translations framework set up on behalf of Welsh public sector bodies by the Welsh Government. In coming to this recommendation, the Welsh Language Officer and the Publications Co-ordinator liaised extensively with the Welsh Government and National Procurement Service. 66. Previously, the Wales Audit Office was using its own translations framework that was set up in The agreement lasted for a period of two years, before we started using the Welsh Government s framework in December This framework agreement runs until June The Wales Audit Office does not employ internal translators. As was the case under our previous framework agreement, the workflow of translation work is co-ordinated by the Communications team and the Welsh Language Officer. These officers also translate short, ad hoc documents and correspondence in-house as and when required. Corporate website and social media accounts 68. Prior to the new Wales Audit Office website being launched in January 2014, the Welsh Language Officer worked closely with the Digital Communications Officer to establish a publishing workflow, which includes translation. Page 14 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

15 69. When the new Digital Communications Officer started her post in August 2014, the Welsh Language Officer established a close working relationship with her in order to ensure that arrangements regarding translation and the website remain strong and to limit the amount of webpages and documents that are published in English only. 70. Both the Welsh Language Officer and the Digital Communications Officer work as part of the same team and the number of people with access rights to publish on the external website is limited to nine. Six of these staff members work in the Communications team (and include the Welsh Language Officer), and three work in the IT team. All nine are aware of, and conform to, the need to publish bilingually on the website. 71. When conducting public surveys to inform reports and various studies, the Wales Audit Office will often create a microsite to host the online survey, which is separate from the organisation s main website. As is the case with the main website, the microsites, including the surveys themselves, are all fully bilingual and users are able to toggle between the Welsh and the English versions. All links to microsites from our main website s Welsh pages take users to the Welsh version of the microsite. 72. The Wales Audit Office launched its e-recruitment portal during Visually, the portal appears to be built into our website, but it actually takes the user to a third-party database called itrent, with the same design as our website applied to it. Users can toggle back and forth between the Welsh and English versions of the portal when browsing for jobs. However, once a job application has been started, toggling to the other language means that the user will lose all data entered up to that point. Therefore, users are made aware that they need to choose their preferred language before starting an application. Furthermore, the itrent system does not support characters with circumflexes. The Welsh Language Officer has worked with the Digital Communications Officer to limit the number of examples of where characters that should have circumflexes are used on the portal (for example, by using gyda instead of â ). 73. The Wales Audit Office uses a number of social media platforms to engage with the public and our stakeholders. They include: Twitter Facebook Linkedin Wordpress blog Vimeo Pinterest (new during ) 74. In all cases, we maintain one bilingual account rather than separate Welsh/English accounts. All posts on these platforms are fully bilingual, with posts being translated before being sent out. We answer any queries received via social media in the language that we are contacted in. Event organisers are aware that they always need to ensure that a Welsh speaker is available in order to live-tweet bilingually from events. Page 15 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

16 75. When publishing reports, the Communications team will often film a short interview with the report author in order to communicate effectively the report s key messages. Most interviews are through the medium of English, with a link to a bilingual transcript being included in the video description section on Vimeo or on the webpage if the video is embedded on our main website. 76. The Wales Audit Office launched a network on the internal online communications platform Yammer during Yammer is a private social network aimed at professional organisations that can be used to share knowledge, information and files. Users can create groups that are team/project-specific so that staff can tailor the content they share/receive and avoid information that they re not interested in. 77. In anticipation of the Welsh language standards and in particular, the principle of providing Welsh speakers with opportunities to use the language in the workplace, two Welsh language groups have been created on the Wales Audit Office Yammer network: Siop Siarad is a group for Welsh language staff to discuss and communicate in Welsh; and Dysgwyr Cymraeg is a group for staff who wish to learn Welsh, where useful tips, links and resources are posted to support staff learning. Staff business cards 78. During , the Welsh Language Officer liaised with the Design team to create a standard bilingual template for all business cards produced for senior audit staff. Previously, staff who requested business cards were asked for their language preference, with only a few requesting bilingual versions. 79. Following this development, however, all staff who request business cards are now provided with fully bilingual ones and there is no option of having English-only cards. Complaints received and actions taken 80. During the Wales Audit Office received one valid complaint in relation to Welsh language services. This complaint, which was from an audited body, was regarding a failure to correspond bilingually. The Clerk of a community council in Mid Wales complained about an that was sent to her on 24 February 2014, reminding the council to provide payment details so they could receive a repayment of 30 from the Wales Audit Office, which they were entitled to as part of a wider redistribution of reserves. 81. The initial correspondence from the Wales Audit Office s Director of Finance, informing the Council that it was entitled to this payment, had been issued bilingually. However, the more informal reminder later sent by a Finance Officer was in English only. 82. The Clerk complained about this failure to comply with the Scheme. Furthermore, according to the Scheme, the Wales Audit Office asks all audited bodies for their Page 16 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

17 language preferences every three years the Clerk also noted that the council in question had never been party to any such survey. 83. The Welsh Language Officer provided a response on behalf of the organisation, apologising for the failure to provide a Welsh version of the she had received and assured her that the Wales Audit Office takes its Welsh language obligations very seriously. In his letter dated 27 March 2015, the Welsh Language Officer also explained that the Council had never been part of the Wales Audit Office s triennial language preference survey because hitherto the Auditor General had not been auditor of the accounts of Welsh community councils (the Auditor General becomes the auditor of community councils in the autumn of 2015). These audits are undertaken on behalf of the Auditor General by the audit firm BDO UK. The firm asks the Council to confirm its language preferences every year. 84. The Clerk was provided with a Welsh version of the reminder and was also informed of the steps taken internally to ensure such failures are not repeated. 85. These steps included: a half-day formal Welsh language awareness training course provided to the entire Finance team, followed by further informal training provided by the Welsh Language Officer; an sent to all audit and corporate managers reminding them of the requirements regarding all kinds of correspondence, under the Scheme, to be disseminated to their respective teams; and a news item posted on the intranet drawing staff members attention to what had triggered the complaint and reminding them of the requirements regarding bilingual correspondence. 86. The complainant thanked the Welsh Language Officer for his letter and noted that she was glad to learn of the steps being taken in response to her complaint. Welsh language skills Welsh language skills of the workforce 87. As detailed in paragraphs 35 to 43, the Wales Audit Office undertook an activity to assess staff language skills during , using online assessments provided though the Workplace Welsh website. 88. Sixty members of staff assessed their skills using the Welsh in the Workplace skills Indicator between September and November While each did not complete all four assessments reading, writing, speaking and listening all 60 did complete the reading assessments, with the following results: entry level Welsh: 26 foundation level Welsh: 5 intermediate level Welsh: 6 advanced level Welsh: 18 Page 17 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

18 proficiency level Welsh: 5 Investment in Welsh language training 89. As detailed in paragraphs 44 to 48, the Wales Audit Office has provided a variety of Welsh language training courses to staff during The two suppliers used were Iaith: Welsh Centre for Language Planning and Cardiff University Welsh for Adults Scheme. The expenditure on Welsh language training during the period in question is listed below, according to each supplier: Cardiff University Welsh for Adults Scheme: 2, Iaith: Welsh Centre for Language Planning: 1, , (= total expenditure) Performance analysis Maintaining networks to share and learn from examples of relevant good practice 90. The Welsh Language Officer, who is based in our Cardiff office, is a member Grŵp DEDDF, a network of Welsh language officers based in South-East Wales. The group meets on a monthly basis, and provides valuable opportunities to learn from and share advice, information and good practice. 91. Internal communications is an integral part of the Welsh Language Officer s role in terms of promoting the Scheme internally. The Welsh Language Officer is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and CommsCymru, and attends conferences and training events to gain valuable knowledge regarding internal communications. 92. In January 2015, the Wales Audit Office s Communications team hosted a shared learning meeting with the Welsh Language Commissioner s Communications team to share advice, information and good practice relating to bilingual communications and new mediums and platforms. The Wales Audit Office s Head of Communications continues to meet with her counterpart in the Welsh Language Commissioner s office in order to keep abreast of best practice regarding bilingual communications. Page 18 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

19 Targets for The priorities for next year are: Publish and implement the linguistic skills strategy. Conduct a language preference survey to acquire information on the linguistic preferences of our audited bodies. We conduct this triennial survey as part of our Scheme and the most recent survey was conducted in Manage the transition from the Scheme to the new standards and strengthen our arrangements accordingly. Page 19 of 20 - Annual Report on Implementing the Welsh Language Scheme - Auditor General for

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