Language campaigners and academics from around the British Isles and outside have issued a call fro the Scottish Executive to give more support to the Scots language. At a language conference held at Queens University, Belfast in September, it was agreed to send a letter to Patricia Ferguson, the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport, asking her and the Executive to "produce a (language) strategy as a matter of urgency". In the letter which was signed on behalf of the group by John M Kirk an Prof. Dnall P. Baoill, the campaigners say, "we trust that the strategy will include an over-arching plan for the promotion and development of the Scots language, based on the provisions contained in Part III of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Without such a comprehensive and fully funded plan, Scots will be deprived of the benefits of promotion and planning activity, which are so desperately needed.".