17/5/24 

The number of staff with Welsh language skills working for Cardiff Council has leapt by more than a third in the past year.

Figures revealed in the authority's annual Welsh Language Standards report show an increase of 35% of staff who have some level of Welsh language skills since 2022-23, representing more than a quarter of the workforce registered on its DigiGOV HR system.

Almost 1,800 members of staff participated in Welsh language training courses last year - a 11% rise compared to the previous year.

These improvements are just some of the highlights recorded in the annual report that the Council is required to produce every year to comply with the Welsh Language Standards.

Other achievements over the past 12 months include the Council's Bilingual Cardiff  team translating more than 14.2 million words in 2023-24; the launch of the  Southeast Wales Welsh Language Education Champion partnership to promote Welsh-medium education in the region; the Gyrfa Gymraeg Welsh language careers fair at Cardiff and Vale College attended by more than 300 Year 9 pupils, the St David's Day launch of a new website, Ein Dinas Ein Hiaith/ Our City Our Language - a collaboration between the Council's Welsh in Education Strategic Plan Team and Bilingual Cardiff to provide information about Welsh language education and culture, activities and opportunities available in Cardiff, and the production of a policy to support Council officers in making a conscientious effort to consider all potential impacts on the Welsh language  when policies are developed and revised.

Leader of Cardiff Council, Cllr Huw Thomas, said: "A commitment to the promotion and development of the Welsh language underpins our vision for a truly bilingual capital city, so the increases in numbers of our workforce with Welsh language skills are very encouraging.

"Not only has there been huge growth in the number of officers with some level of Welsh language skill, there's also been a significant increase - 32%, in the number of staff whose skills are sufficient to support our Welsh language services, which of course is really important in ensuring we meet the needs of residents and customers who prefer to access our services through the medium of Welsh.

"I was delighted to launch the new one-stop shop website Ein Dinas Ein Hiaith/ Our City Our Language on March 1, which is an excellent resource for residents while the Cardiff Youth Service, Menter Iaith Caerdydd and the Urdd have done a terrific job over the past year delivering CFTi, the Welsh language youth provision in the city."

Cabinet will consider the 2023-24 Welsh Language Standards report at its next meeting on Thursday May 23. The full report will be available here: https://cardiff.moderngov.co.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=151&MId=8216&LLL=0