Local members of Cymdeithas yr Iaith have raised concerns about an advertisement for Carmarthenshire County Council's new Assistant Chief Executive because the Welsh language skills demanded for the post are significantly lower than the English language requirements.
 
The Assistant Chief Executive will be responsible for implementing the language standards, communication and press strategy, customer service and many other areas of the council's work. Cymdeithas has questioned where this leaves the organisation and the implementation of its language strategy.
 
Richard Vale, local spokesman for Cymdeithas yr Iaith:
 
"The job advertisement is misleading because it says: 'it is essential that you are able to work confidently in the medium of Welsh and English for this post'. But from reading the job specification the level of spoken Welsh needed is lower than the English and there is no specific requirement for the ability to write in Welsh, although the highest level of written English is needed."
 
According to the spoken skill levels noted by the council, the requirement is that someone is able to discuss in their own field of work but may have trouble with some 'unexpected' elements in Welsh while needing to be able to deal with all aspects of daily work in English.
 
Richard Vale added:
 
"Of course, setting language levels is important but the main thing is that the new officers work in Welsh on a day-to-day basis. To do so would require the work of the council to take place in Welsh – at present English is the language of work, even though plenty of staff members speak Welsh. Seeing senior level staff working in Welsh would give other staff confidence and demonstrate clearly that the Welsh language is important to the County Council. This is an opportunity for the council's new leadership to set a new direction for the county, and ensure that the language is truly at the heart of its agenda.
 
"The Advisory Panel on the Welsh language has discussed the administrative language of the council at a recent meeting and said that there is an opportunity, when recruiting new staff, to 'increase the bilingual skills within the workforce.' They're missing an opportunity here and the question is when things will start to change - when will the Council take positive steps to begin working in Welsh? "