Working Paper As of Month 6 on Overall Project Design

OUTPUT THREE

WORKING PAPER AS OF MONTH 6 ON OVERALL PROJECT DESIGN

Contents:

Project Plan…………………………………………………………………..pp. 2-5

Month 1-6
Month 7-12
Month 13-18
Month 19-24
Month 25-30
Month 31-36

Project Design……………………………………………………………..pp. 6-10

Research Aims
Research Questions
Interview Design
Interviewee Schedule
Analysis of Complaints and Investigations
Use of Atlas.ti

Attachments………………………………………………………………pp. 11-25

Attachment one: framework descriptive schematic for Ombudsmen, Commissioners and Regulators
Attachment two: trawl of actors in the process leading to the creation of the office of Welsh Language Commissioner
Attachment three: Ombudsmen, Commissioners and Regulators, UK
Attachment four: actors pertaining to the office of Irish Language Commissioner (An CoimisinéirTeanga)
Attachment five: framework descriptive schematic for complaint handling (including investigations)

Project plan (actions and timetable)

PI = Colin Williams; CI = Diarmait Mac GiollaChríost; PDF = Patrick Carlin (all LPPRU, School of Welsh, Cardiff University)

Month 1-6

In this period, comprising the critical review of studies of Language Commissioners (PI, CI), the PDF will familiarise himself with the context, discussions and processes which led to the establishment of Language Commissioners in Wales and Ireland and collate Parliamentary and Assembly documentary evidence surrounding the decision to establish a Welsh Language Commissioner (PI, PDF). At the same time, the technical development of the data framework and website archive (technical support with PI, CI) will be completed. Two outputs will be made available on-line on the project presence on the School of Welsh website, and designed to enable dissemination to end-users and to enable consultation with them: Impact Action 1: Working bibliography of materials and documents to be uploaded onto the project website presence; Impact Action 2: Working paper on project design to be uploaded onto project web-pages.

Month 7-12

The project data from the Canadian, Irish and Welsh Language Commissioners empirical study (PI, CI, PDF) will be collated during this period. This comprises the first round of field work in Language Commissioners’(Irish / Welsh) offices including interviews with staff, legal advisers and policy officers (CI, PDF) and the analysis of functions and organisational structures (PDF). Two further outputs will be made available on the project website for the benefits of the projects end-users: Impact Action 3: anonymised and edited transcripts of interviews; Impact Action 4: Conference paper to BAAL 2013 (Edinburgh), separate paper submitted to refereed journal on project design, methodology and anticipated outcomes (PI, CI, PDF).

Month 13-18

During this stage of the project field work will be completed in Canadian Language Commissioners’ offices (PI). Documentary evidence on the first year of operation of the Welsh Language Commissioner will be collated (PI,CI), along with contextual work on the operation of Language Commissioners’ offices (PDF). The research team will engage with a broad constituency of end-users through making a number of broadcast/media items in the Welsh, Irish and English languages in appropriate programmes. Also, two other outputs will be made available on the project website for the benefit of end-users: Impact Action 5: Colloquium at Sociolinguistics Symposium 20 Finland 2014. (CI); Impact Action 6: Working paper on source documents and considerations surrounding the establishment of a Welsh Language Commissioner (PI, CI).

Month 19-24

In this period of the project, during which the following work will be completed - the second round of field work in Wales and Ireland in relation to national standards, schemes and culture of public administration (PDF); a study of the impact of language schemes analysis including the collation of data regarding complaints and investigations, interviews in Ireland (CI) and in Wales (PI); and the delineation of key sites of innovative policy making for minority languages for comparative analysis: public administration and the delivery of services; education, the health system – a number of actions crucial to impact will be undertaken viz: Impact Action 7: PDF to present paper at BAAL 2014 (Warwick); Impact Action 8: Hosting of Cardiff University based workshop on standards and schemes; papers to be delivered by the research team, Language Commissioners’ staff, members of the project’s International Advisory Panel and others; Impact Action 9: Working bibliography of materials and documents to be uploaded onto project website; Impact Action 10: Working paper on standards and bilingual services in Wales and Ireland to be uploaded onto project web-pages; Impact Action 11: PDF presentation to School of Welsh seminar series (PDF), refined paper to be presented at BAAL 2014 (Warwick); Impact Action 12: Workshop Power Point Presentations to be uploaded to project web-site presence.

Month 25-30

At this point in the programme of work the analysis of the compliance and enforcement mechanisms of Language Commissioners’ offices in Wales and Ireland (PDF) will be completed. This work also includes the iIllustration of mechanisms by reference to the operation of service standards, and to non-compliance investigations within public administration, education, and the health system (PDF). Two further important actions will be undertaken with regard to engaging our end-users these are; Impact Action 13: Hosting a workshop for Welsh based practitioners, civil servants, language officers on the impact of the Welsh Language Commissioner in first year in office; Impact Action 14: Working paper on language schemes and related documents uploaded onto project website (PI, CI PDF).

Month 31-36

The final stage of the project comprises the integration of comparative elements derived from analysis of the Language Commissioners’ offices (PI, CI) and the assessment of the impact of legislation, Language Commissioners’ offices on delivery of bilingual services and extension of language rights (PI, CI, PDF), the contextual analysis of how the Language Commissioners’ offices fit within the language promotion and implementation framework and the comparative evaluation of implementation on both the designated users of the language and on the operation of those agencies and government departments responsible for the application of language policy and bilingual services. A number of impact actions will be completed here: Impact Action 15: anonymised and edited transcriptions of the c.130-40 interviews placed on the project website and archive; Impact Action 16: Collation of data gathered to date and submission of initial findings in a report to be circulated to members of the project’s International Advisory Panel; Impact Action 17: Draft report on interview data and substantive findings shared with Language Commissioners’ offices and government departments (PI, CI, PDF); Impact Action 18: Hosting an international conference “Language Commissioners: International Perspectives” at which the three principal Language Commissioners from Canada, Ireland and Wales will be invited as plenary speakers, together with members of the project’s International Advisory Panel. Thematic panels on Language Scheme Implementation, Language Rights, Accountability of Officers of Parliament and New Language Legislation Initiatives. Venue possibly the National Assembly for Wales for this to be a high profile event in which both logistics and some costs will be shared with Wales Assembly Government; Impact Action 19: Contributions on the results of the research to broadcast media on pertinent programmes in Welsh, Irish and English.

Project design

Research aims

The overarching aims of the research are as follows:

To conduct a comparative study of best practice principles in relation to language schemes and language service standards;
To evaluate the relationship between the appropriateness of these instruments and the development of a stronger regulation of language policy in Wales along lines similar to that which exists in Ireland and Canada;
To investigate the principal models and processes by which Official Language Commissioners operate within Wales, Ireland and Canada;
To interpret the significance of the Office of Welsh Language Commissioner within the evolving political and legislative landscape of UK devolution, with particular regard to the function of the various offices of Ombudsman, Commissioner and Regulator [OCRs] in a range of fields.

Research questions

These are being refined in the context of the following:

review of the international research literature on language ombudsmen, commissioners and regulators;
review of the international research literature on ombudsmen, commissioners and regulators as pertains to the overall research aims;
review of professional literature on ombudsmen, commissioners and regulators as pertains to the overall research aims;
review of research literature on language planning and policy as pertains to the Welsh language in Wales, the Irish language in the Republic of Ireland and the French language in Canada and as is relevant to language ombudsmen, commissioners and regulators and also to language schemes and language service standards.

Interview design

This is being refined through an iterative dialogue between the various strands of the scholarly and grey literature and involving all of the researchers. This includes the identification of the range of ombudsmen, commissioners and regulators in the UK along with their characteristic features (attachment one). The following have, so far, been identified as emergent themes:

independence and autonomy - political; institutional, perhaps related to secondments and recruitment; funding;
objectivity - fairness, proportionality ‘Wednesbury reasonableness’; natural justice;
individual and public benefit - drawing systemic issues with potential policy implications from individual cases, policy instigator; a potentially important point of comparison between ombudsman and commissioner;
institutional and organisationaldevelopment - historical background and context of the creation of the office;related to the growth of the ‘regulatory state’;
statutory powers and jurisdiction - functional competence, as defined by law;
other powers - soft power, power deriving from practice; new public management ‘leverage’;
advocacy - the duty to promote;a potentially important point of comparison between ombudsman and commissioner; also question as to whether regulators ought to ‘promote’;
adjudication - in the legalistic sense; the ombudsman as quasi-judge and as alternative to courts; binding and non-binding decisions; a potentially important point of comparison between ombudsman and commissioner;
devolution - significance of differing jurisdictions; extent to which there are contrasting cultures of governance with regard to OCRs; non-territorial bodies;
similarities and differences between ombudsmen, commissioners and regulators - scholarly and professional definitions of OCRs;
agency, personality and flexibility - extent to which different scope for this in office of commissioner in comparison to ombudsman and regulator;
accountability - to whom; formal and informal, to public constituency, also a thematic constituency;
working with other bodies - manner in which this is conceived; mechanisms by which this is managed including MoUs, Framework Agreements and Joint Statements;
internal governance - Chair vs CEO vs OCR;
other relationships to Government - institutional reciprocity, such as ‘culture of no-surprise’;
the rights of citizens - conceptions of right; social rights;justiciability; appeals to justice, moral authority;
the Constitution - point of comparison between UK, Canada and Republic of Ireland; relevance of constitutionality, ombudsman as extension of tripartite division of power, as constitutional actor.

Interviewee schedule

This is being refined by the following means:

trawl of actors in the process leading to the creation of the office of Welsh Language Commissioner (attachment two);
identification of the range (representative sample) of Ombudsmen, Commissioners and Regulators in the UK(attachment three);
trawl of actors pertaining to the office of Irish Language Commissioner (attachment four);
trawl of actors pertaining to the various offices of language commissioner in Canada;
identification of other actors more generally as pertaining to the offices of language commissioners in the three areas of research.

Analysis of complaints and investigations

This is being refined by means of an iterative dialogue between the relevant strands of the scholarly and grey literature pertaining to complaint handling bodies in general and involving all of the researchers. To this end a framework descriptive schematic regarding complaints and investigations has been developed (attachment five). The following, so far, have been identified in the academic literature as criteria for effectiveness as a complaints handling body:

impartiality and independence;
visibility and access;
jurisdiction;
powers of investigation;
competence;
speed;
adequacy of remedial action secured, and;
effectiveness in obtaining compliance with recommendations.

The following criteria on best practice in complaint handling arise from the professional literature, and there is some overlap between the respective sets of criteria, for the qualities of the institution on the one hand and the qualities of the process on the other:

clarity of purpose;
accessibility;
flexibility;
openness and transparency;
proportionality;
efficiency, and;
quality outcomes.

Use of Atlas.ti

The comparative approach to the qualitative data analysis will make use of some of the principal features of Atlas.ti. In order to make full use of the particular architecture of Atlas.ti the data derived from the fieldwork will be organised in the Hermeneutic Unit and a Deductive Coding Structure created from the research issues and question, will be applied to them. This coding structure will be the foundation of the analytical matrix through which the data will be analysed. The coding will include the creation of hierarchical structures of codes, grouping the codes into code families, creating inductive codes and auto-coding. The data will be explored though filters, co-occurrences and keywords in context. The coded data will be subjected to deductive interrogation using Boolean operators. A range of Boolean Queries will be formulated, based upon the identified research issues and questions. Through Network Editor, the team will create and manipulate a set of network structures identified in the data. The output of this work will be a series of Semantic Networks that will enable the team to capture the theoretical insights arising from the data. Both the CI and the PDF have been trained in Atlas.ti.

Attachment one: framework descriptive schematic for Ombudsmen, Commissioners and Regulators

Full title
Appointment (Crown, UK Ministerial, devolved Ministerial)
Ombusdman Scheme, or Other Complaint Handling Body
Pertinent legislation
Statutory responsibilties
Statutory powers
Appeals
Stated priorities (corporate mission, strategy, aims)
Reporting (mechanism, to whom)
Other relationship to Government (UK, devolved, and other)
Working with other bodies, departments and agencies
Governance (internal)
Other
Background (institutional development etc)

Attachment two: trawl of actors in the process leading to the creation of the office of Welsh Language Commissioner

Legislation Committee 2 10.03.10 (Stage 1)

Gareth Jones (Plaid Cymru)

Val Lloyd (Labour - Chair)

Rhodri Morgan (Labour)

Lorraine Barret (Labour)

Mike German (Welsh Liberal Democrats)

Keith Bush (Director of Legal Services)

Stephen Davies (Legal Advisor)

Gwyn Griffiths (Legal Advisor)

Alys Thomas (Members’ Research Service)

Legislation Committee 2 17.03.10

Lorraine Barrett Labour

AlunFfred Jones Assembly Member, Plaid Cymru (the Minister for Heritage)

Nerys Arch Legal Services, Welsh Assembly Government

Dr HuwOnllwyn JonesHead of Welsh Language and Media Policy Unit, Welsh Assembly Government

Legislation Committee 2: 25.03.10

Private meeting – under standing orders10.37(ii) ‘A committee may resolve to exclude the public from a meeting or any part of a meeting where … (ii) a particular item of business cannot be discussed without disclosing personal information relating to specific identified or identifiable individuals which ought not to be disclosed;

Some of these private meetings have transcripts on the Assembly website, e.g. 10, 17 June 2010. Others, e.g. 24 June, 01, 08, 15 July, do not.

Legislation Committee 2: 22.04.10

Emyr LewisLawyer

Professor Colin WilliamsSchool of Welsh, Cardiff University

Legislation Committee 2: 29.04.10

MeriHuwsChair, Welsh Language Board

Gwyn JonesDirector of Policy and Terminology, Welsh Language Board

MeirionPrys JonesChief Executive, Welsh Language Board

Huw RobertsDirector of Welsh Affairs, Royal Mail

Stuart TaylorHead of External Relations Wales, Royal Mail

Richard TaskerHead of Direct Debit Operations, Scottish Power

Legislation Committee 2: 13.05.10

Kay PowellThe Law Society

Legislation Committee 2: 20.05.10

Legislation Committee 2: 27:05.10

CatrinDafyddThe Welsh Language Society

Colin Nosworthy

Dr Robert DunbarExternal Adviser (under ‘Other in Attendance’)

Siân LewisCommittee Member, MentrauIaithCymru

MennaMachrethChair, The Welsh Language Society

Ceri OwenParents for Welsh Medium Education

Alun OwensUrddGobaithCymru

Legislation Committee 2: 10.06.10

Graham BenfieldChief Executive, Wales Council for Voluntary Action

Rhys JonesBritish Gas

Lynne ReynoldsWales Council for Voluntary Action

David Rosser Director, Confederation of British Industry Wales

Non RhysWales Policy Manager, Federation of Small Businesses

Rebecca ThomasSenior Policy Advocate, Consumer Focus Wales

Liz WithersPrincipal Policy Advocate, Consumer Focus Wales

Legislation Committee 2: 17.06.10

Bernat Joan i MariSecretary for Language Policy, The Government of Catalonia

Dr Robert Dunbar Expert Adviser (under ‘NAW official’)

Legislation Committee 2: 24.06.10 + 1, 8, 15/07/12 (Private Meetings)

Debate in Plenary: 21.09.10

Bethan JenkinsPlaid Cymru

Dafydd Elis Thomas Presiding Officer

Angela BurnsConservative

Janet RyderPlaid Cymru

Paul DaviesConservative

Jenny RandersonLiberal Democrat

Leanne WoodPlaid Cymru

Eleanor BurnhamLiberal Democrat

Rhodri Glyn ThomasPlaid Cymru

Peter Black Liberal Democrat

David MeldingConservative

Committee Consideration of Amendments: 14 + 21.10.10 (Stage 2)

Plenary consideration of amendments: 7.12.10 (Stage 3)

Other

Beti George (November 2010)Broadcaster

Gwion Lewis (November 2010)Lawyer

Professor Richard Wyn Jones (November 2010)Director, Wales Governance Centre

Dr Jeremy EvasWelsh Language Board

Attachment three: Ombudsmen, Commissioners and Regulators, UK

Ombudsmen

Public Services Ombudsman for Wales -
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman -
Financial Ombudsman Service -
European Ombudsman -
Legal Ombudsman -
Property Ombudsman -
Prisons and Probation Ombudsman -
Ombudsman Services: Energy / Communications / Copyright / Property -
Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland Ombudsman
Prisoner Ombudsman for Northern Ireland
Scottish Public Services Ombudsman

Commissioners (exempli gratia)

Information Commissioner’s Office -
Charity Commission -
Police and Crime Commissioners -
Equality and Human Rights Commission -
Independent Police Complaints Commission -
Law Commission (England and Wales) -
Electoral Commission -
Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales -
Children’s Commissioner for Wales -
Older People’s Commissioner for Wales -
Boundary Commission for Wales -
Competition Commission -
Care Quality Commission -
Gambling Commission -
National Lottery Commission -
Commissioner for Public Appointments -
Commissioner for Public Appointments in Northern Ireland -
Public Appointments Commissioner for Scotland -
Public Standards Commissioner for Scotland
Scottish Legal Complaints Commission
Press Complaints Commission -
Equality Commission for Northern Ireland -

Regulators (exempli gratia)