Agenda item

            The Committee was reminded that, at its meeting on 23rd April, it had agreed to establish an All-Party Working Group to take forward the Council’s Language Strategy.

            The City Solicitor reported that officers had met on a number of times since then, in preparation for the inaugural meeting of the Working Group in November and that nominations had been sought from each of the Political Parties. The Working Group would be asked at that meeting to agree its Terms of Reference and would be provided with an overview of the Language Strategy. A facilitated workshop would be held in December to enable the Working Group to agree the overall approach for taking forward the Strategy.

            He pointed out that the officers involved in this work were also co-ordinating the public consultation on the Dual Language Street Sign Policy and the accompanying Equality Impact Assessment during this period, which could affect timelines due to resourcing issues. The Elected Member Language Strategy Working Group would, he added, be kept updated on the progress of this consultation and any emerging issues effecting the planned timelines. 

            He went on to state that the Department for Communities had recently established an Irish Language Strategy Expert Advisory Panel and an Ulster-Scots Language, Heritage and Culture Strategy Expert Advisory Panel to advise the Department on the direction and development of two new strategies. This work would be cognisant of developments in this area and the Council’s Irish Language Officer had already been invited to engage with the Irish Language Strategy Expert Advisory Panel.

            He concluded by recommending that the Committee approve the following Terms of Reference for the Working Group on the Language Strategy and endorse the proposed approach:

Draft Terms of Reference for the Elected Member

Language Strategy Working Group

Introduction and Purpose

A Language Strategy Member Working Group has been established to provide Members with a forum within which to discuss the implementation of the Belfast City Council Language Strategy 2018-2023 and agree action plans in relation to the languages in the Strategy. 

Whilst the Working Group will not be a decision-making body, it will be required to report into the Council’s Strategic Policy and Resources Committee on progress against the strategy and associated action plans.

The Strategy has 5 strands: Irish; Ulster Scots; Sign Languages; New Communities’ Languages and Languages and Communications for People with Disabilities. The Strategy commits to examining the use of languages in the following areas:

·        Documents

·        Communications

·        Translation and interpretation

·        Signage and Branding

·        Council meetings

·        Development of Website/social media

·        Media

·        Support for the community

·        Support for schools

·        Council staff

Terms of Reference

The Language Strategy Member Working Group Terms of Reference will be:

·        to provide elected members with a forum to discuss the impact of the languages in the Strategy across the above areas of work;

·        to support the development of action plans in relation to the Language Strategy;

·        to seek updates and monitor the delivery of work emanating from the action plans;

·        to oversee the investigation of emerging policy development in relation to the Language Strategy; and

·        to report on progress to the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee on a regular basis through reports and minutes of meetings

Membership

·        All political party groupings should be represented

·        Each political party grouping should have one representative

Ways of Working

·  The Working Group will decide on arrangements for chairing the meetings.

·  The Working Group will meet quarterly or as required

Governance

The Working Group will not have decision-making powers. The minutes of its meetings will be presented to the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee.

            The Committee adopted the recommendation.