Welsh Language Scheme

This Scheme received the approval of the Welsh Language Board under section 14 (i) of the Welsh Language Act on 3 July 2003.

Introduction

1 The Welsh Language Scheme (the Scheme) of the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (the Agency) received the approval of the Welsh Language Board under section 14 (i) of the Welsh Language Act 1993 on 3 July 2003.

2 The Agency adopts the principle that in the conduct of its business in Wales, it will treat the English and Welsh languages on the basis of equality. The Scheme sets out how the Agency intends to give effect to that principle when providing services to the general public and to its major clientele in Wales.

3 The Agency is a private company, limited by guarantee, and is registered as a charity. The members of the company are the representative bodies of higher education institutions in the UK - Universities UK, the Standing Conference of Principals, Universities Scotland and Higher Education Wales. Representatives of the higher education funding bodies in the UK sit on the Board of the Agency (the Board); independent members are also appointed to the Board.

4 The higher education funding bodies in the UK contract with the Agency on an annual basis in order to secure their statutory duties under the terms of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. The representative bodies of higher education institutions also contract with the Agency for other services, funded through the subscription income from individual higher education institutions.

5 The mission of the Agency is to safeguard the public interest in sound standards of higher education qualifications and to encourage continuous improvement in the management of the quality of higher education. To achieve its mission, the Agency works in partnership with the providers and funders of higher education, the staff and students in higher education, employers and other stakeholders, to:

safeguard the student and wider public interest in the maintenance of standards of academic awards and the quality of higher education;
communicate information on academic standards and quality to inform student choice and employer understanding, and to underpin public policy making;
enhance the assurance and management of standards and quality in higher education and promote a wider understanding of the value of well-assured standards and quality;
promote a wider understanding of the nature of standards and quality in higher education, including maintenance of common reference points, drawing on UK, European and other international practice.

6 The Agency will consult with the Board in advance regarding proposals which will affect the Scheme, or will affect the schemes of other organisations.

7 Through the annual contract with the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), the Agency will also meet the requirements of the latter's Welsh Language Scheme. Both Schemes have been developed in parallel and appropriate liaison between the two organisations has taken place to ensure that the terms of the respective Schemes are mutually supportive in pursuit of the principle of equality for Welsh and English.

8 The Scheme describes what the Agency believes is a reasonable and practicable bilingual service to the public and its major clientele in Wales. The Scheme addresses how the Agency:

will communicate with individuals, organisations and the general public in Wales when their preferred language is Welsh;
will make arrangements to conduct institutional reviews in whole, or in part, on a bilingual basis when there is an expressed preference from within an institution, or from an individual within that institution, to communicate in Welsh for the purpose of the review;
will make similar arrangements in pursuit of providing advice to Government on the granting of degree awarding powers and university title, if there is an expressed preference by an institution to submit documentation and to conduct visits and meetings in Welsh associated with the purpose;
will make arrangements for the processes associated with formal recognition and review of Authorised Validating Agencies (AVAs) to be conducted bilingually, if there is expressed preference by the AVAs in Wales to submit documentation and to conduct formal meetings in Welsh; and
will facilitate, wherever possible, the bilingual conduct of formal meetings, seminars, consultation events, focus group meetings and suchlike gatherings in pursuit of one or more of the aims of its mission.

9 Reference throughout the Scheme to the higher education sector and higher education institutions should be taken to include all those further education establishments that work in partnership with higher education institutions in the provision of higher education programmes delivered in further education establishment in Wales. For convenience, it should also be taken to include those further education establishments that are funded directly by the HEFCW for the provision of designated higher education programmes in those establishments.

Service planning and delivery

New policies and initiatives

10 The Board, its staff, its appointed reviewers and others who contribute to the work of the Agency are fully aware of their obligations under the Welsh Language Act of 1993. The Agency, at corporate level, will assess the linguistic consequences when planning new policies or initiatives to ensure they meet the commitments given in the Scheme.

11 The Agency will ensure that when new policies are introduced they enhance its capacity to provide a bilingual service in Wales and will empower further those individuals whose preferred language in dealing with the Agency is Welsh.

12 The Agency will issue to its permanent staff and to its appointed reviewers guidance on the need to assess whether there is a Welsh language dimension or implication to a specific innovation or change in policy or procedures associated with reviewing and review reporting.

13 The Agency commits itself to consulting with the Welsh Language Board about any new policies or initiatives proposed, which are relevant to its clientele in Wales and to the general public in Wales that may affect the Scheme.

Delivery of services

14 In order to facilitate its commitment to the principle of equality of status for Welsh and English in its activities in Wales, and notwithstanding the specific actions described in this Scheme, the Agency will undertake a survey of the language preferences of higher education institutions in Wales with respect to the conduct of institutional review. The outcomes of this survey will determine how the Agency is taking into consideration the use of Welsh in the planning and implementation of its initial cycle of institutional reviews in Wales. The language preferences of higher education institutions will continue to be surveyed through a regular review. The Agency will consult with the Welsh Language Board on the content and form of this regular review. The outcomes of the surveys will inform decisions by the QAA about future recruitment of reviewers and will enable the Agency, if necessary, to adapt its review procedures to effect for the better its commitment to equality of status for Welsh and English in its business in Wales.

15 The Agency has strengthened the role of its Committee for Wales, which is a subcommittee of the Board. The Committee for Wales is redesignated as the Advisory Committee for Wales (the Committee). The constituency of its membership has been increased substantially and its terms of reference have been extended, among other things, to monitor and advise on the implementation of the Scheme and to report to the Board accordingly. In order to enable the Committee to do this, a sub-group of the Committee will work under the guidance of the Scheme Manager to provide the Committee with information and advice about the introduction of the Scheme.

16 The Agency has a senior member of staff who is the Officer for Wales. The Officer for Wales will be the Scheme Manager and will, for these purposes, be a member of the Chief Executive's Group and be a member of the Senior Management Committee.

17 The Scheme introduces a referral system to ensure that members of the public who express a preference to communicate with the Agency in Welsh are able to do so. The Agency has opened a call centre in Wales. Welsh-speaking members of the public, who wish to use their preferred language when communicating with the Agency, should, in the first instance, deal with the call centre. The Agency has arranged to publicise the existence of this service and its capacity to operate bilingually.

18 The Agency has a two year implementation period for the Scheme, dating from its approval by the Welsh Language Board. During this period, the Agency will ensure it is able to provide continuity and sufficiency of bilingual staffing for operating the Scheme, and that recognised protocols to guide other staff on dealing with the Welsh-speaking public are embedded adequately so that the Welsh-speaking public can be served in accordance with the Scheme in their chosen language.

19 The Agency will ensure that documents and other materials published bilingually will be available at the same time, and where feasible, as a single bound document based on guidelines published by the Welsh Language Board. In order to ensure its capacity to do so, the Agency will utilise the services of professional external translators and seek an arrangement for 'fast track' translation so that bilingual publications can be published to the same timescale as would an English-only version.

Standards of service in Wales

20 The Agency and its appointed reviewers aim to provide an equally effective standard of service in Welsh and English when dealing with the general public in Wales and its major clientele in Wales. The principle of delivering an equally effective standard of service in both languages will be stated in the Agency's Annual Report and other core operational documents.

21 The Agency is committed to the dissemination of information to the public in Wales about the performance of higher education institutions in Wales reviewed by the Agency, on the basis of equality between the Welsh and English languages.

22 When reviewing higher education institutions in Wales, review teams will address how institutions are assuring the standards of their service that allow students to use their preferred language for the purposes of assessment and examination. The Agency has published guidance to the section in its Code of practice for the assurance of academic quality and standards in higher education for institutions in Wales specifically to support this purpose.

23 The Agency will provide written guidance to its staff and contracted reviewers to ensure comparability of service standards in both languages.

Dealing with the Welsh-speaking public

Written communication

24 The public in Wales is welcome to deal with the Agency through letters and other written correspondence, for example fax, email, in Welsh and in English.

25 Correspondence received in Welsh will be acknowledged within the same time frame as correspondence received in English.

26 Full responses to correspondence received in Welsh will be provided within the same time-scale as those provided in English.

27 For correspondence emanating from Wales in Welsh, English or bilingually, the Agency will respond accordingly.

28 In order that correspondence commitments can be honoured, the Agency will contract with an approved external translation agency for a fast-track service to be provided as appropriate.

29 The Agency will purchase appropriate computer software and update, as necessary, to provide Welsh fonts and spell checking; the Scheme Manager will supervise the production of all outgoing correspondence that is Welsh or is bilingual.

Telephone communications

30 The public in Wales is welcome to speak in Welsh or English when dealing with the Agency by telephone. The Agency has a call centre in Wales. Calls are answered with a bilingual greeting.

31 There is a protocol to handle callers responding in Welsh on this number. In the first instance, they will be directed to a Welsh-speaking Agency officer. If a Welsh-speaking officer is not available the caller will be offered a choice of a Welsh speaker returning the call on the same day or at the latest the next day, or sending a letter in Welsh, or continuing the call in English with the commitment that any subsequent correspondence from the Agency will be in Welsh.

32 All Agency staff in the Gloucester Office will be provided with a protocol on how to deal with telephone calls from Welsh speakers that is the same as above. The induction of new staff will include a formal introduction to this protocol.

33 The Agency undertakes that where correspondence follows a conversation on the telephone (or in any other face-to-face situation) in Welsh between a member of the public in Wales and Agency officers, the response will be in Welsh (unless requested otherwise).

34 The Agency's voicemail service and answering machine on the call centre number will contain a bilingual message and members of the public are welcome to leave messages in Welsh or English.

Public meetings

35 The Agency rarely holds public meetings as such in Wales. Rather, it organises meetings, seminars, workshops, focus groups and informal liaison with its major clientele in Wales - the higher education sector as whole, individual higher education institutions, key personnel and academics from higher education institutions in various groupings, departmental staff within higher education institutions and other associated bodies and organisations.

36 The major clientele and other organisations in Wales listed above are welcome to conduct proceedings in Welsh, English or bilingually when dealing with the Agency. For all major conference and higher education sector wide events in Wales, the Agency will provide simultaneous translation services. Notices, invitations and associated documentation for such meetings will make it clear that simultaneous translation services are available and that participants are welcome to contribute in Welsh or English.

i For smaller events and meetings organised formally by the Agency in Wales, when the preferred language of those attending is not known, the Agency will establish the need for a simultaneous translation service beforehand and a decision will be taken whether to provide the service, having assessed the language preferences of those attending.

ii If translation services are not available at meetings, it will be made clear to participants that they may speak in Welsh or English. Participants that wish to speak in Welsh will be invited to indicate whether they prefer another person or persons, selected before the meeting, to provide a synopsis in English or whether they wish to provide a synopsis themselves.

37 A Welsh-speaking representative of the Agency will be present at all major conferences and higher education sector-wide events held in Wales to welcome delegates and to deal with any general queries in Welsh. Representatives will be identifiable through a badge indicating that they can speak Welsh.

38 Subject to the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998, the Agency will record the names of individuals and organisations that wish to conduct their business with the QAA in Welsh.

Institutional review

39 In planning, conducting and reporting on institutional reviews in Wales, the Agency is committed to treating Welsh and English on the basis of equality. The Agency is also committed to meeting the expectations placed upon it with regard to equal status for both languages. In any review in higher education institutions in Wales, the Agency acknowledges the right of any person, including students, to speak to the review team in Welsh. The Agency also acknowledges the right of any bilingual member of a review team during a review in Wales to speak in Welsh. For such situations the Agency will provide simultaneous translation facilities. If it is impractical to do so, the member of staff or the reviewer will provide a synopsis or translation of what he or she said in English.

40 The Agency ensures that in the initial review-planning meetings with higher education institutions, the designated Assistant Director identifies the language preferences expressed by the institution for the conduct of the review. The Assistant Director negotiates with the institution what elements of the review process are to be conducted in Welsh, taking into consideration the potential of simultaneous translation services facilitating this. For the purposes of the initial visit by the Assistant Director, the Agency will elicit, through bilingual correspondence with the institution, the extent to which that initial visit will be conducted bilingually.

41 The Agency will seek to recruit reviewers and review secretaries that are bilingual. Its arrangements for advertising and recruiting will be amended to support this objective for the purposes of review in Wales.

42 Following agreement with the Agency about which elements of the review will be conducted bilingually, institutions will be invited to submit to the Agency, according to the normal schedule, bilingual versions of the key documents underpinning the review process, for example the self-evaluation document. It would be a matter for institutions to decide whether any supplementary material supporting the key documentation would also be provided bilingually.

43 The Agency will make arrangements for, and meet the costs of, providing simultaneous translation of those review proceedings which the Agency and the higher education institution have agreed to conduct bilingually. Normally, these arrangements are when reviewers as a team meet with groups of staff of the higher education institution, of whom one or more prefer to participate in Welsh.

44 The Agency acknowledges that some higher education institutions in Wales, more so than others, operate within a context and ethos in which both Welsh and English have equal currency in their routine activities. The Agency respects this and seeks to appoint bilingual review secretaries to facilitate the smooth operation of the review process in such institutions.

Degree-awarding powers and university title

45 The Agency provides advice to the Privy Council on applications received from higher education institutions for the granting of degree-awarding powers and of university title. The basis upon which that advice is formulated is a well developed process, normally over a complete annual cycle of academic activity, and against rigorous criteria published by Government. It involves receipt of an application, the presentation of papers, formal and informal discussions and meetings with Agency officers and, if necessary, visits by external panels.

46 In planning and conducting its arrangements in Wales for receiving such applications and their processing the Agency is committed to treating Welsh and English on an equal basis. In any such connection in higher education institutions in Wales, the Agency acknowledges the right of any person to speak in Welsh. The Agency also acknowledges the right of any bilingual member of a scrutiny panel visiting an institution in Wales to speak in Welsh. For such situations, the Agency makes arrangements for, and meets the cost of, providing simultaneous translation facilities. If it is impractical to do so, the member of staff or the panel member will provide a synopsis or translation of what he or she said in English.

47 As part of its initial response to an application, the designated Assistant Director identifies whether the higher education institution has a preference for the arrangements for processing the application to be bilingual. Normally, the Agency agrees, if there is such a preference, that all or some of the relevant documentation can be submitted in both Welsh and English and that formal meetings involving the Agency and the institutions are conducted bilingually through the use of simultaneous translation facilities.

Recognition and review of Authorised Validating Agencies

48 The Agency has developed a Recognition Scheme for Access to Higher Education. This includes explicit licensing criteria for the AVAs that validate access to higher education courses. The criteria are also the basis for the periodic review by the Agency of the AVAs. Currently there are three AVAs in Wales.

49 In planning and conducting its arrangements for review and/or licensing AVAs in Wales in the future, the Agency is committed to treating Welsh and English on an equal basis. In any such connection in higher education institutions in Wales, the Agency acknowledges the right of any person representing the Agency or the AVA to speak in Welsh. For such situations, the Agency makes arrangements for, and meets the costs of, simultaneous translation facilities. If it is impractical to do this, the persons concerned will provide a synopsis or translation of what he or she has said in English. In so much as the review and licensing process is centred around the scrutiny of documentation submitted to the Agency by an AVA, and formal meetings between Agency and AVA staff, the Agency will respect the language preferences of the AVA for these arrangements. When there is a preference for part or whole of the arrangements to be conducted bilingually, the designated Agency officer agrees to receive documentation in Welsh and English and to conduct meetings with simultaneous translation facilities being available.

The Agency's public face

Corporate image and identity

50 For the conduct of its business in Wales, the Agency will adopt a bilingual image and corporate identity. This will be reflected in the corporate name, address and standard factual information on stationery for example letter heading, fax papers and business cards. The quality symbol is the registered trademark for the Agency. Should the symbol be reviewed, the opportunity will be taken to adopt a language - neutral version.

51 For all correspondence in Wales, bilingual stationery will be employed.

Signs

52 The Agency does not have a separate office in Wales. Should it have so in the future, the Agency is committed to providing bilingual information signs, both internally and externally, for that office.

53 The Agency will encourage reviewed higher education institutions which provide temporary office accommodation for reviewers to display bilingual signage as appropriate.

54 Where bilingual or separate signs in Welsh and English are provided, they will be equal with regard to format, size, quality legibility and prominence.

Web site

55 The Agency will create a Welsh 'gateway' on its web site leading to material that has been produced in Welsh. The Agency will seek the advice of the Welsh Language Board on the design of this so as to ensure that readers wishing to browse the Welsh language pages can do so with equal ease and facility as for other pages on the web site.

56 Visitors to the web site are welcome to post messages requesting further information in Welsh and to send emails to the Agency in Welsh.

Publishing and printing material

57 The Agency is committed to providing printed material aimed at its specific clientele in Wales and for the general public in both Welsh and English. Where it will do so it will aim to publish single bilingual documents, acknowledging the guidance produced by the Welsh Language Board on style and layout.

58 If it is more appropriate due to the size and length of the material, the Agency will publish separate Welsh and English versions and will issue them simultaneously with a note in each indicating that a separate Welsh/English version is available.

59 The key publications that the Agency will issue bilingually are:

review handbooks and any associated supplementary guidance that describes the review methodology, processes and protocols for review in Wales;
review reports on higher education institutions in Wales;
documents and associated materials providing guidance on applications for the granting of degree-awarding powers and use of university title;
documents and associated material describing the criteria and arrangements for licensing and reviewing AVAs in Wales.

60 The Agency will not normally publish bilingually materials or reports intended for a UK wide audience other than those referred to in para 58 above. However, all forms, questionnaires and similar materials associated with the Agency's core activities in Wales will be bilingual whether they are printed or available electronically.

61 In determining which other documents might be published bilingually, the Agency will take into consideration factors such as the size and nature of the document and the target audience, how widely it will be distributed, the cost of translation and the likely demand.

62 When the Agency publishes a bilingual document that is priced, its cost to the purchaser shall be no greater than the price of a single language version would be. Where separate English and Welsh versions of a document are published, the price will be the same for both.

Consultation and research

63 From time to time the Agency conducts consultation exercises with its main clientele in Wales. Occasionally, the Agency will require specific information on data from higher education institutions on an all-Wales basis. The consultation documents and the questionnaire associated with these activities will be produced bilingually and respondents are welcome to answer in either Welsh or English.

Circulars and press releases

64 The Agency will issue simultaneously and bilingually all circulars and press releases relating specifically to higher education matters in Wales.

Recruitment advertising

65 If the Agency advertises for staff vacancies in the local or national press in Wales it will do so bilingually, with the Welsh and English versions shown together and equal in terms of size, format, legibility and prominence.

66 If the Agency advertises for staff vacancies for which the ability to speak Welsh is deemed essential, it will do so in Welsh only, with a footnote in English explaining the purpose of the advertisement.

Implementing and monitoring the Scheme

Staff

67 The Board and the Chief Executive's Group will establish criteria by which the language requirements of the Scheme will be met. This will include determining what bilingual capacity the Agency will need in the workplace to deliver its services in Wales through the medium of Welsh.

68 The Agency has a designated Officer for Wales and regards the ability to speak Welsh fluently to be advisable for the post. For the longer term, the Agency will seek to ensure that among its senior staff there will be at least one officer who is bilingual. As part of its implementation policy, it will identify other posts where fluency in Welsh would be desirable. Appropriate changes will be made to the job descriptions to reflect these commitments.

69 The Agency has conducted a language audit of those among its staff who can speak Welsh fluently. As an outcome of its contingency planning and also in order to sustain its current bilingual capacity, arrangements will be made to encourage persons that are bilingual to apply for posts in the Agency. Statements will be included in recruitment advertisements and literature that the Agency is committed to providing its services bilingually to the public in Wales and welcomes applications from Welsh and English speakers. Where Welsh Language skills are deemed essential for a post, the Agency will seek a Welsh speaker on the occurrence of a vacancy.

70 In monitoring its capacity to meet the terms of its Scheme in the first 18 months of its operation, the Agency will review specifically the extent to which the current bilingual capacity of the staff and its other arrangements are sufficient to provide a comparable standard of service in Welsh, when that is the preferred language of the public with which it deals. Agency staff wishing to learn Welsh or improve their ability to communicate in Welsh will be given encouragement and support.

Administrative arrangements

71 The Scheme has been endorsed by the Board and is the policy of the Agency. It meets the requirements of the Language Scheme of HEFCW to whom the Agency is contracted for the provision of services in Wales.

72 Guidance will be issued to all Agency staff and its contracted reviewers to identify how the Scheme will be implemented and to specify responsibilities of the relevant staff in that process.

73 Commitment to the Scheme is reflected in the fact that the Chief Executive will have strategic management responsibility for implementation of the Scheme and the Scheme Manager will be the Officer for Wales - a post currently at Assistant Director level.

74 The Agency will use its normal contractual procedures and monitoring arrangements, to ensure that translators used by it are qualified and able to provide an appropriate service.

75 The Agency will ensure that, in contracting with its reviewers and others, they will implement all relevant elements of the Scheme on behalf of the Agency when dealing with higher education institutions in Wales. Recruitment information and contract documents for reviewers working in Wales will be explicit about reviewers delivering an equally effective standard of service in both languages in pursuit of the overall purposes of review. Service expectations will be specified and compliance will be monitored.

Monitoring

76 The Chief Executive and the Scheme Manager will be advised by a Monitoring Group. This will meet bi-monthly during the implementation period to ensure there is compliance with the terms of the Scheme by Agency staff, its appointed reviewers and others with whom it contracts for its core services in Wales.

77 The Monitoring Group will:

monitor the overall implementation and the effectiveness of the arrangements for providing services in Wales on the basis of equality for Welsh and English;
ensure that new policies, procedures and publications are compatible with the terms of the Scheme;
monitor, in association with functional groups and administrative centres within the Agency, response times for correspondence received in Welsh, assess the quality of translation services (including simultaneous translation) and evaluate arrangements for meetings that involve the Welsh-speaking public;
monitor the development and implementation of the Agency corporate image;
monitor the arrangements, when appropriate, for institutional review to be conducted bilingually;
monitor the adherence to the implementation timetable;
monitor the incidence and nature of any complaints relating to aspects of the Scheme;
monitor adherence to the expectations in relation to provision of bilingual services as described in the HEFCW Language Scheme.

78 The Chief Executive will, in the first instance, report annually to the Committee on the progress of implementing the Scheme. The Committee will advise the Board accordingly. The Agency's Annual Report will have a standard section on the Scheme and its implementation.

79 The Agency will receive an annual compliance report that will enable them to answer the two following basic questions:

Is the Agency complying with the Scheme?
How well is it doing that?

By doing this the report will deal with:

the Agency's Welsh language service; and
the Agency's responsibilities when assuring quality in the higher education sector.

If the report finds any weaknesses, the Agency will prepare an action plan that will remedy any weaknesses identified.

80 A copy of this report will be sent to the Welsh Language Board.

81 The report will be available bilingually to the public upon request and it will also be published on the Agency's web site.

82 During the third year of operating this Scheme, the Agency will:

i evaluate their performance in implementing the Scheme over the first three years; and
ii review and update the Scheme.

The Agency will summarize the findings of their evaluation in a report that will:

provide an overview and a thematic analysis of conformity and performance while implementing the Scheme over the three years; and
outline priorities for the following three years which stem from the evaluation, along with a revised timetable for implementing the measures in the Scheme.

As part of this evaluation, the Agency will survey its major clientele in Wales for views on the scope and quality of its bilingual services. The Agency will do that at the end of the first year of implementation, with the aim to continue every three years after that.

The Agency will also review and update the Scheme during this period in order to receive approval for the second period of implementation.

Targets

83 The timetable and targets for implementation have been agreed by the Board and in consultation with higher education institutions and HEFCW. The Agency will measure the implementation of the Scheme against specified targets and will review these targets annually. The annual report to the Board will be cast against these targets. If, for whatever reasons, the targets are not met, the report will explain why and identify the action to be taken to address the matter.

84 The inauguration of the Scheme is timed to coincide with the introduction of the new institutional review arrangements in higher education institutions in Wales in the academic year 2003-04. For practical purposes the Scheme becomes effective on 1 October 2003.

Publishing the Scheme

85 The Agency will ensure that the general public in Wales and its major clientele in Wales will be aware of the Scheme and its contents. A separate document will be produced informing the public of what level of bilingual service is available from the Agency.

86 The following methods of publicising the Scheme will be adopted:

the stand-alone document informing the public about the level of bilingual service available will be distributed to all public libraries in Wales;
the stand-alone document will be distributed in multiple copies to all the Agency's major clientele in Wales. The Agency will also inform its major clientele on an annual basis about the level of bilingual service that is available;
text in the Agency's reports and other standard documentation will refer to the Agency's bilingual policy (as described in the Scheme);
guidance will be given to all its staff and contracted reviewers about the Scheme;
text will be prepared and located on the Agency web site;
a copy of the Scheme will be sent to the Welsh Assembly Government;
bilingual stationery (letters and faxes) used in Wales will indicate that the Agency has a bilingual policy (as described in the Scheme);
there will be a public launch of the Scheme to coincide with a meeting of the Agency Board to be held in Wales.

Improving the Scheme

87 The Agency welcomes improvements to the Scheme. All comments or suggestions should be addressed to the Officer for Wales and will be considered as part of the monitoring process. All complaints regarding the implementation of the Scheme will be investigated and the action taken will be highlighted in the reports to the Welsh Language Board. The confidentiality of complaints will be respected.

Implementation timetable and key targets

The Scheme will be implemented over a two year period commencing October 2003. The main features will be put in place during the first year (October 2003 - September 2004), the second year (October 2004 - September 2005) being concerned in the main with review, evaluation and, if necessary, modification of the Scheme in light of experience.

Objectives: October 2003 - September 2004
1	Pre-implementation:	No later than
	establish membership of the internal implementation and monitoring group and agree dates for its bi-monthly meetings;	May 03
	complete arrangements for the formal launch and publication of the Scheme;	June 03
	produce a separate statement to publicise the Scheme;	June 03
	publicise the Scheme;	July 03
	complete initial survey of language preferences of higher education institutions in Wales.	Sept 03
2	Secure adequate supplies of stationery in order to promote the bilingual corporate image of the Agency in Wales.	Oct 03
3	Establish a 'gateway' on the Agency web site leading to material that has been produced in Welsh.	Oct 03
4	Establish the Agency call centre and complete the induction and training of the call centre staff in order that they can meet with the agreed protocols.	Oct 03
5	Produce a document describing the protocols and procedures for staff in the Agency to follow, in order to meet the commitment to bilingual written and telephone communication.	Oct 03
6	Conduct an induction seminar for all Agency staff in pursuit of the above.	Oct 03
7	Amend existing internal guidance notes and instructions for all staff to ensure the commitment to a bilingual service can be met with respect to higher education institutions in Wales.	Oct 03
8	Amend all existing documentation with regard to the recruitment and induction of staff so that new appointments are informed of the Scheme and its implications.	Oct 03
9	Amend existing recruitment documentation with regard to contracted reviewers to better effect the selection of bilingual reviewers.	Oct 03
10	Amend contract documents for reviewers working in Wales such that review teams will be expected to deliver an equally effective standard of service when reviews are conducted bilingually.	Oct 03
11	Complete arrangements for the induction and training of reviewers for reviews of higher education institutions in Wales such that the implications of the Scheme are understood clearly.	Oct 03
12	Tender for, and contract with, translation services for the first year of the operation of the Scheme.	Oct 03
13	Produce guidance for all permanent staff to assess whether there is a Welsh language dimension/implication for any new policy or innovation in procedures associated with the Agency's core activities in Wales.	Oct 03
14	Set dates for the sub-group meetings of the Agency's Advisory Committee for Wales.	Oct 03
15	Complete the necessary arrangements to conduct bilingually as agreed institutional reviews and other core activities scheduled for the academic year 2003-04.	Dec 03
16	Design a template for reporting by the monitoring group on the first year of implementation of the Scheme.	Mar 04
17	Review and report on the performance standards of the translation services during the first year of implementation and report accordingly.	June 04
October 2004 - September 2005
18	Tender and contract for translation services for 2004-05.	Sept 04
19	Set dates for the bi-monthly meetings of the implementation group in 2004-05.	Sept 04
20	Chief Executive to report to the Advisory Committee for Wales on the implementation of the Scheme in 2003-04.	Oct 04
21	Advisory Committee for Wales to report to the Board on the implementation of the Scheme in 2003-04. .	Nov 04
22	Produce a report on the implementation of the Scheme for the Agency's Annual Report on 2003-04.	Jan 05
23	Submit a report to the Welsh Language Board on the first year of implementation and complete arrangements for the report to be made available publicly.	Jan 05
24	Conduct a survey, and report to the Advisory Committee for Wales, on the scope and quality of the Agency's bilingual services to date and make recommendations to the Board accordingly.	Jan 05
25	Establish the framework for the formal evaluation and reporting of the two year implementation of the Scheme.	Jan 05
26	Publish bilingual reports of institutional reviews and any other outcomes of the Agency's core activities in Wales that were undertaken during the academic year 2003-04.	Feb 05
27	In light of the report's findings, adjust the Agency's recruitment literature and procedures, if necessary, in order to sustain its bilingual capacity.	Mar 05
28	Report, through agreed channels, to the Board and the Welsh Language Board on the formal evaluation of the implementation.	Sept 05
29	Review and report on the capacity of the Agency to sustain a bilingual capacity among the staff sufficient for it to meet the terms of the Scheme.	Dec 05