[lg policy] UK: Gwynedd housing group urged to halt recruitment for top jobs after language row

[Harold Schiffman]

Gwynedd housing group urged to halt recruitment for top jobs after language
row

   - Dec 23, 2014 07:00 <http://www.dailypost.co.uk/by-date/23-12-2014>
   - By Hywel Trewyn <http://www.dailypost.co.uk/authors/hywel-trewyn/>

Language commissioner to investigate decision not to insist on ability to
speak Welsh

   - 29 Shares
   - Share
   <http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/gwynedd-housing-group-urged-halt-8333563#>
   - Tweet
   <http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/gwynedd-housing-group-urged-halt-8333563#>
   - +1
   <http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/gwynedd-housing-group-urged-halt-8333563#ICID=sharebar_google+>
   - Email
   <http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/gwynedd-housing-group-urged-halt-8333563#>

<http://www.dailypost.co.uk/newsletters/daily-bulletin>
Robert Parry-Jones[image: Cllr Sian Gwenllian has resigned from the board
of a housing association following a row over the Welsh Language]
Cllr Sian Gwenllian has resigned from the board of a housing association
following a row over the Welsh Language

A language tsar has urged a housing group to halt recruitment for two jobs
— where the ability to speak Welsh was deemed not essential — until she has
carried out an investigation.

The closing date for the £82,000 per year jobs is January 9. However in a
letter to Cartrefi Cymunedol Gwynedd (CCG) chair Claire Russell Griffiths,
Welsh Language Commissioner Meri Huws gives January 5 as a deadline for it
to supply evidence about how it came to its controversial decision which led
to board member Sian Gwenllian resigning in protest
<http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/cllr-sian-gwenllian-quits-housing-8291597>
.

Ms Huws said she had received “a number of comments and enquiries” from
people and organisations about the validity of the decision.

CCG, based at Parc Menai, Bangor
<http://www.dailypost.co.uk/all-about/bangor>, took over as landlord of
6,300 homes from Gwynedd Council in 2010.

It previously insisted that Welsh was essential for its jobs.

However in September the board, whose boss is Ffrancon Williams, decided to
ditch Welsh as a language requirement to try and “maximise” its chances of
getting more candidates to apply for these two jobs and thus breaking its
own Welsh language policy.

Cllr Gwenllian, a member of Y Felinheli and Gwynedd
<http://www.dailypost.co.uk/all-about/gwynedd> councils, said breaking the
policy was “unacceptable”.

She said: “The whole situation needs to be looked at again, even if this
means creating a new senior management structure which recognised the
ability to speak English and Welsh as core skills for all the top jobs.”

Arfon AM Alun Ffred Jones said: “Recruitment is a problem in all industries
irrespective of linguistic needs. There are precious few institutions and
companies where the Welsh language is extensively used in the work setting
and the Welsh Government’s policy is to encourage such use.

“Given the nature of CCG it would be logical for them to recruit senior
staff that can communicate in both English and Welsh or failing that to at
least ensure that staff are able to learn the language or improve their
linguistic skills as soon as possible.”

A CCG spokeswoman said: “It is the Board’s responsibility to agree and
approve any CCG policy, including our Welsh Language Scheme. In this case
the Board agreed an exception for these two posts only. This is a route we
could take with any policy in exceptional circumstances. We would not,
however, deviate from this or any other policy without Board consent.”

Asked if CCG could change its mind, she replied: “This is a matter which
has been raised by the Commissioner, and we are preparing our response.”


http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/gwynedd-housing-group-urged-halt-8333563

-- 
**************************************
N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its
members
and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or
sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who
disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write
directly to the original sender of any offensive message.  A copy of this
may be forwarded to this list as well.  (H. Schiffman, Moderator)

For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to
https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/
listinfo/lgpolicy-list
*******************************************
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/lgpolicy-list/attachments/20141223/4889de87/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
This message came to you by way of the lgpolicy-list mailing list
lgpolicy-list at groups.sas.upenn.edu
To manage your subscription unsubscribe, or arrange digest format: https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/listinfo/lgpolicy-list