WREXHAM Council’s poor performance in providing services in Welsh is set to come under the spotlight after 34 complaints were made in a single year.

The Welsh Language Commissioner investigated the local authority on a number of occasions after issues were raised by members of the public between April 2018 and the end of March this year.

Council staff in the county borough have previously been told to stop using Google for translations following complaints about Welsh spelling errors.

A senior councillor also made a public apology last year when the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales issued a damning report over repeated failures to correct Welsh errors in council tax bills.

It led to calls for backbench politicians to be given an overview of the problems raised.

In a report, Cllr Hugh Jones said staff had been reminded of their responsibilities regarding the need for accurate signage following issues with Welsh car parking signs at country parks which led to them being replaced.

The authority’s lead member for people said: “Ensuring that our services can be accessed bilingually is something that is important to us and we have worked hard and made good progress towards achieving this.

“It is heartening to note that following the investigation into non-compliance with signage that there were no breaches for the remainder of the year.

“However, we are not complacent and continue to ensure that our processes are robust.

“It is a concern that errors still occur in other areas.

“Many of the complaints outlined in the commissioner’s investigations are quickly and easily remedied and once we have actioned them there is no re-occurrence e.g. correcting the guest wifi.

“Where the issues are more endemic, such as errors on external portals, work is already underway to remedy this.”

Concerns over the council’s failure to comply with Welsh Language Standards have led to calls for it to bring translation services back in-house.

At present, the authority has a contract with Conwy Council for all of its written Welsh language translation.

The cost of the three year contract is £153,000 for the translation of 2.5 million words.

Cllr Jones said this equated to 0.06p per word or £60 per 1,000 words and represented a ‘competitive rate’ compared to external companies.

The Conservative politician has suggested that the service should not be brought back in-house because of costs and potential staffing issues.

He also blamed officers for some of the translation delays experienced by the council.

He added: “Members requested that we consider the option of bringing this service back in-house and recruiting our own translators.

“Based on the number of words translated last year we would have to recruit a team of 5.5 translators in addition to an administrative officer.

“In summary bringing the service in-house is likely to cost a minimum of £216,693 compared to the current Conwy contract of £153,000 and there is a substantial risk that we would not be able to recruit or retain sufficiently qualified staff.

“We are aware that there is a perception that translation work is often late and holds up council business.

“In almost all instances this is due to officers either sending work in late or not adhering to the agreed timescales.”

The report will be considered by the council’s customers, performance, resources and governance scrutiny committee on Wednesday May 15th.