Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ

Standards which deal with Supplementary Matters

In accordance with the Standards dealing with Supplementary Matters contained in the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Ministers' Compliance Notice, the following information is provided to meet compliance requirements.

Standards 155, 161, 167, 175

The Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Ministers' Compliance Notice, which provides details of the Service Delivery, Implementation, Policy Making and Record Keeping standards imposed on Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Ministers by the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Language Commissioner, has been published on the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖwebsite, as well as on the staff intranet.

Standards 156, 162, 168

The Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Government's Customer Complaints Policy provides the procedure for complaint. The policy details the process we will follow if a complaint is made about an issue relating to Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ language standards.

We have provided staff with a guide to inform them of the process of dealing with complaints relating to Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ language standards, which is also available on the intranet, and dealing with complaints is included in our induction training for all our new staff.

Standards 157, 163, 169

Oversight of Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Ministers' compliance with Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ language standards is ensured in a variety of ways.

Regular reports are provided to the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖBoard on the implementation of the Standards.

Complaints relevant to the standards and the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ language more generally are monitored as part of the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Government's wider complaints monitoring activities, with an annual paper on data prepared for the attention of the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖBoard. A section is included in the paper on complaints relating to the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ language standards and the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ language more generally. The nature of the complaints is scrutinised along with data on the number of complaints attributed to each Group.

Performance indicators regarding the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Government's compliance with its statutory requirements are included in the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Government's Performance Framework. The Performance Framework, introduced in 2019, contains various indicators about the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Government's performance in 19 specific areas, including the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ language. Performance is reported to the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖBoard every 6 months. 4 areas are looked at from a Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ perspective: organisational support for the language, compliance with the standards, the use of Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ by the workforce and the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ language skills of the workforce.

Through the Internal Controls Questionnaire, which forms part of the remit of the Centre of Excellence for Corporate Governance, a detailed report is provided to the Government Board on the organisation's performance in management and governance on an annual basis. There is a dedicated section within the questionnaire on compliance with the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Language Standards to scrutinise the arrangements of Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖGroups and Directorates to ensure compliance with their statutory duties.

More broadly the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Government's Network of Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Language Coordinators is a key part of providing assurance on compliance. The Network meets bi-monthly and a full report is provided by each Coordinator on the activities of their business district during the last two months. Network meetings are key for discussing barriers to compliance, good practice and sharing information on key developments and interpretations of compliance requirements.

Information is also provided annually to the Commissioner in the form of a self-assessment questionnaire to provide an overview of the organisation's arrangements for compliance with the requirements of the standards.

Standards 158, 164, 170

An annual report is drafted in relation to each financial year. The report deals with how the Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ Ministers complied with the standards (service delivery, policy making and implementation) that they were under a duty to comply with during the year.

The report contains information regarding:

1. Annual complaints relating to compliance with the standards
2. The number of employees who have Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ language skills
3. The number and percentage of staff who attended training courses offered in Îʶ¦ÓéÀÖ
4. The number of vacancies advertised with the language skills category of those positions.

The current Annual Report on GOV.WALES