All but two per cent of Gwynedd Council staff can now communicate in Welsh, a new report has revealed.

Of 3,897 members of staff, 3,674 (94 per cent) were listed as being fluent Welsh speakers.

With several staff undergoing training and able to speak and understand the language to varying degrees, only 63 were unable to communicate whatsoever in the language that the last census found was spoken by 76.1 per cent of the county’s population.

But while Gwynedd, like all Welsh local authorities has a duty to comply with Welsh language standards, the report to the council’s cabinet found that it was already operating in accordance with, or beyond, the requirements of many of the standards that have been imposed by the Welsh Language Commissioner.

The report said: “As a result of years of setting language requirements when recruiting, and of offering training to improve skills and learning Welsh, we have ensured that the vast majority of council staff are able to speak Welsh and are able to act in accordance with this policy, thus normalising the use of Welsh and ensuring that Welsh services are available without having to ask.”

But despite Welsh being the authority’s main administrative language, eight complaints were received in terms of its provision, ranging from planning documents not being available in English, an on-line questionnaire not available in Welsh and staff not using bilingual answer phone greeting messages.

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