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Written Parliamentary Questions on Scots (Current Session)
All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament
S3W-13213 Malcolm Chisholm: To ask the Scottish Executive what support it will provide to Scottish Language Dictionaries when funding from the Scottish Arts Council is discontinued at the end of 2008-09.
Answered by Linda Fabiani (Thursday, May 29, 2008): I have recently commissioned an audit of the measures that are currently in place to promote the Scots language and what opportunities exist to make further progress. The Scottish Government's future funding priorities for Scots provision will be considered within the context of this audit and its outcome and I will, at that stage, examine how we can assist this extremely important sector of Scottish culture.
S3W-8781 Cathy Peattie: To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture has met representatives of Scottish Arts Council-supported Scots language organisations and, if not, when the minister plans to do so.
Answered by Linda Fabiani (Tuesday, February 05, 2008): I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-8782 on 5 February 2008.
S3W-8782 Cathy Peattie: To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to apply the provisions of the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages to the Scots language.
Answered by Linda Fabiani (Tuesday, February 05, 2008): Scots is a valuable part of our cultural life. I am keen to see its use promoted in education, the arts and literature. For this reason I have asked for an audit of what measures are currently in place to promote the Scots language, and what opportunities exist to make further progress.
The cycle of reporting for the Third Periodic Report on the Council of Europe Charter for Regional and Minority Languages has commenced and the Scottish Government will be providing information to the Council of Europe in connection with the undertakings which have been agreed for Gaelic and Scots.
In connection with the Scots language, the Scottish Government will be writing to authorities and public bodies to remind them of the Charter undertakings and to ask what provision is in place in their areas. At a later stage we will be informing the Council of Europe of the terms of our proposed audit of Scots language provision and the progress we hope to make with this in connection with our Charter undertakings.
My colleague, the Minister for Schools and Skills, and I have both met and corresponded with a range of Scots language organisations. This includes groups supported by the Scottish Arts Council and others.
The fundamental aim behind the United Nation’s International Year of Languages, 2008, is the preservation and promotion of linguistic diversity. We share this aim, welcome this initiative and will encourage local authorities and schools to engage with national and international initiatives such as this.
The proposals in the previous administration’s report, A Strategy for Scotland’s Languages, are being taken forward by a range of business areas within the Scottish Government.
S3W-8783 Cathy Peattie: To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to mark the UN’s International Year of Languages 2008, with particular reference to activities and events that promote and encourage the Scots language.
Answered by Linda Fabiani (Tuesday, February 05, 2008): I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-8782 on 5 February 2008.
S3W-5124 Tavish Scott: To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-4117 by Linda Fabiani on 26 September 2007, whether it has any plans to consult dialect interest groups and other bodies on the development of policies to support and encourage the use of local dialects and, if so, when the consultation will take place, what form it will take and which groups and bodies will be consulted.
Answered by Linda Fabiani (Wednesday, October 31, 2007): The Scottish Government is committed to promoting and encouraging the use of Scots in all its regional forms in education, broadcasting and the arts. As stated in the answer to question S3W-4117 on 26 September 2007, we have no plans for a formal consultation on the use of dialects in Scotland but would always welcome the views of groups and individuals on this subject.
S3W-5125 Tavish Scott: To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-4117 by Linda Fabiani on 26 September 2007, whether it has any policies for supporting and encouraging the use of local dialects in Scotland, including in Shetland, and, if so, what these policies are.
Answered by Linda Fabiani (Wednesday, October 31, 2007): I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-5124 on 31 October 2007.
S3W-5126 Tavish Scott: To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-4117 by Linda Fabiani on 26 September 2007, what plans it has to develop policies for supporting and encouraging the use of local dialects in Scotland, including in Shetland.
Answered by Linda Fabiani (Wednesday, October 31, 2007): I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-5124 on 31 October 2007.
S3W-4117 - Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD) (Date Lodged 7 September 2007): To ask the Scottish Executive whether its policies for Scotland's languages will reflect the diversity and vigour of Scotland's many dialects.
Answered by Linda Fabiani (26 September 2007): The Scottish Government will seek to promote the richness and diversity of the languages spoken in Scotland in their different forms. Good progress is being made in a number of areas of language activity and promotion within Scotland and we intend to build on and strengthen this. The submissions to the previous administration's consultation on a strategy for Scotland's languages have been useful and helpful but Scottish ministers have no current plans to respond to these nor to develop or consult on a single strategy for all the languages spoken in Scotland.
Bill Wilson: ... as you know, convener, at the away day I raised several times the issue of the Scots language. I would like to know fairly soon whether the Executive has any particular strategies on that and how it proposes to ensure equality for Scots language speakers. In the past, the Scots language has been neglected and its issues have not been raised -- they have been quietly dropped. I do not want them to be dropped in the Parliament. Although I accept the suggestion that there is no point in asking for the strategy just now, I would like some kind of note to be passed forward, saying that the issue of the Scots language should be raised. (col 10 Equal Opportunities Committee meeting, 11 September 2007)