Report of the City Solicitor

This report provides an overview of language diversity in Manchester, and particularly considers work undertaken by the Council to recognise, respond to and celebrate this aspect of the City’s diversity. It also considers how this work can be continued and strengthened in future.

The Committee received a report of the City Solicitor which provided an overview of language diversity in Manchester, and considered work undertaken by the Council to recognise, respond to and celebrate this aspect of the city’s diversity. It also considered how this work could be continued and strengthened in future.

The main points and themes within the report included:

• The Multilingual Manchester Project;
• M:4 Communication and Language Support Service;
• Multilingualism in Education, Key Stages 1 – 4;
• English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL);
• Multilingualism in the workforce;
• UNESCO City of Literature; and
• International Mother Language Day.

The Committee watched a video of the Made in Manchester Poem, which celebrated the city’s linguistic diversity.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were:

• That the Made in Manchester Poem was excellent;
• Were there any plans to make the Council’s multilingual offer, which was described as ‘disparate’ in the report, more cohesive;
• How young people with English as an Additional Language (EAL), particularly those with difficulty providing identity documentation, could be helped to access the Our Pass free bus pass for 16 – 18 year olds;
• Request for further information on the involvement of student volunteers in the Multilingual Manchester Project;
• Request for further information on ESOL provision;and
• Whether there was ongoing funding for the Talk English scheme.

The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Manager clarified that the comment in the report about the Council’s multilingual offer being ‘disparate’ was not intended to suggest that there were gaps in provision; however, it was recognised that there was no centrally-held record of all the multilingual activities being carried out by different Council services.  He confirmed that officers intended to develop such as resource which recorded the Council’s overall offer and to work with partners to develop this into a Manchester offer, which could then be analysed and strengthened, where appropriate.  He advised Members that issues such as access to Our Pass could be addressed through this work.

The Safeguarding Lead for Education provided examples of some of the ways student volunteers contributed to this work, for example, Arabic-speaking science undergraduates teaching a science lesson in an Arabic supplementary school.

The Area Adult Education Manager informed Members that her service usually had to re-apply for funding for the Talk English scheme on a yearly basis and that the current funding was due to end in March 2020.  She advised that her service did not yet know whether further funding would be available to apply for but that, if it was, her view was that the service would be in a strong position to obtain that funding; however, she reported, that the service was also developing a sustainability plan, in case there was no further funding from this source.

The Executive Member for Skills, Culture and Leisure suggested that the Committee receive a report on ESOL, including the work of Manchester Adult Education Service (MAES), at a future meeting, to which the Chair agreed.  The Area Adult Education Manager informed Members about the ESOL Advice Service which was being launched in September 2019.  She also encouraged Members to visit its website at https://manchesteresol.org/.

Decisions

1.            To receive a report on English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), including the work of Manchester Adult Education Service (MAES), at a future meeting.

2.            To ask the Scrutiny Support Officer to circulate the link to the ESOL Advice Service website to Members of the Committee.

[Councillor Hacking declared a personal interest as a governor at Manchester College.]