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Oral Parliamentary Questions on Scots (Current Session)
23 April 2009
Bill Wilson (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Government how many higher education institutions ensure that their teacher training graduates are competent to teach Scots. (S3O-6664)
The Minister for Schools and Skills (Keith Brown): There is no teaching q... more
Activism & Politics links
Government and Parliament Documents and Web Pages:
Scottish Government's Audit of Scots Language Provision
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Pub
The National Conversation in Scots
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Res
##Scottish Parli... more
Parliamentary Motions on the National Languages Strategy
S3M-1768.1 Hugh O’Donnell: International Education— As an amendment to motion (S3M-1768) in the name of Maureen Watt, insert at end "and calls for the Scottish Government to bring forward a comprehensive national languages strategy including a rolling programme to introduce a second langu... more
Creative Scotland
Recent written questions:
S3W-22710 Pauline McNeill: To ask the Scottish Executive when it last met representatives of Scottish Screen.
Answered by Michael Russell (Thursday, May 07, 2009): I had a meeting with the Joint board of Scottish Screen and the Scottish Arts Council on 21... more
BREAKING NEWS - Scots Audit Published
The long awaited Scots audit has been published today.
The Audit can be accessed at
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Pub
For the government's press statement visit
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/New more
Children should have the chance to rediscover Scots says Minister
Maureen Watt, the Minister for Schools and Skills, has said that children should have the chance to "rediscover" Scots. Writing in the Sunday Herald, Watt (pictured right) says it would be a good thing for people to get to know more about the language. In the article she also describes how the go... more
Conversation Now Translated into Scots
The Scottish Government’s 'National Conversation' document, published in the autumn of 2007, has now been translated into the Scots language. Ministers Linda Fabiani and Maureen Watt are to be congratulated for taking the decision to include Scots. Both of the ministers, who are currently explo... more
Kay calls on SNP to support Scots culture
Scots broadcaster and writer, Billy Kay, has urged the Scottish government to find ways to support Scots culture. In a letter to Culture Minister, Linda Fabiani, Kay, the author of Scots, the Mither Tongue describes his “shock” on hearing the news that the Scottish Arts Council is to cut fund... more
MSP insists on help for Scottish Dictionaries
On 9 April Dr Bill Wilson, MSP for the West of Scotland, lodged a Scottish Parliamentary motion calling for a stamp to be issued to commemorate the 200 anniversary of the first Scots language dictionary. He also called for funding in order to create a complete modern Scots dictionary. Wilson cont... more
Falkirk MSP urges support for Scots
Cathy Peattie, MSP for Falkirk East, has called on the Scottish Parliament to recognize the unsatisfactory disadvantage with which organisations working for the traditional arts and culture of Scotland have to labour. It is the contention of the Falkirk MSP that many organisations who work to pro... more
Bill Wilson MSP Demands Support for Scots Language and Music
West of Scotland MSP Dr Bill Wilson has called for Scotland to follow Ireland in supporting indigenous culture.
Dr Wilson is a longstanding critic of the Scottish Arts Council’s cuts in funding for the Scottish Language Dictionaries and the Scots Language Centre. Speaking on 4th September a... more
MSP Asks About the Use of Scots Language in Scottish Schools
Dr Bill Wilson, SNP MSP for the West of Scotland, has written to the education directors of all of Scotland’s cooncils to ask whether in-service days for teachers cover discrimination against Scots speakers, and/or the benefits of including the Scots language within the curriculum.
More info... more
Lib Dem Leader Calls for More Funding for Scots
Leader of the Liberal Democrats and MSP for Shetland Tavish Scott MSP has lodged a motion demanding the Government supports the Scots language.
Shetland ForWirds raised concerns with Mr Scott that Scottish Arts Council funding cuts could be catastrophic for the Scottish Language Centre and the... more
Allocate funding for Scots say academics
A group of academics have told the Scottish government that they need to do more to support the Scots language. In a letter to Culture Minister, Linda Fabiani, members of the Forum for Research on the Languages of Scotland and Ulster say they are “astonished” that the Arts Council has decided... more
Scots activists celebrate
Scots activists are celebrating after nearly one third of the Scottish parliament’s members signed a motion from Liberal Democrat leader, Tavish Scott, calling on the Scottish Arts Council to continue funding the Scots Language Centre and Scottish Language Dictionaries.
Support for Mr Scott... more
Scots Report from Holyrood
The following report appeared in Holyrood magazine. Thanks to Cera Murtagh and Holyrood for allowing us to reproduce it here.
For more information about Holyrood visit www.holyrood.com
The mither tongue
Cera Murtagh examines the changing role of Scotland’s minority languages in its ed... more
SNP Conference Calls for "fair treatment" for Scots
On 16 October the SNP conference voted unanimously for a motion that calls on the Scottish Government to "guarantee fair treatment for Scotland’s unique cultural inheritance".
The motion welcomes the Government’s audit of Scots language provision and calls it "a key area very badly affecte... more
"Encourage children to speak Scots" says MSP
Rob Gibson MSP, convener of the Cross-Party Group on Scots, called on Scotland's schools to encourage children's use of Scots. Speaking in a debate on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, he said:
"we have to allow children to express their views in their own languages an... more
“Aw human sowels is born free and equal in dignity and richts.”
Amnesty International Scotland is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by presenting the First Minister, Alex Salmond, with a framed copy of a Scots translation of the UDHR. The presentation, which takes place on 10th December, is part of a series o... more
"Scots Education is a Human Right"
Dr Bill Wilson, SNP MSP for the West of Scotland, has lodged a motion stating that a recent pronouncement by the EU Parliament Civil Liberties Committee clearly implied that it was a human right for the children of Scots and Gaelic speakers to be educated in these languages.
He said, “The EU... more
"Give Scots and Gaelic equal status" says MSP
West of Scotland MSP Dr Bill Wilson has called on the Scottish Government to make representations to the United Kingdom Government to give speakers of Scots and Gaelic the same rights as it gives to speakers of Welsh an English.
In a supplementary question to his question on the European Chai... more
Scottish Government to hold conference on Scots
The Scottish Government is to hold a conference to discuss plans to support and encourage the Scots language. The conference will be held in Stirling on the 9th of February. At present there are no details of the programme though it is believed that Culture Minister, Linda Fabiani, will attend an... more
MSP "Incensed" by Scots Omission from Draft Census
Dr. Bill Wilson, SNP MSP for the West of Scotland, has criticised the omission of the Scots language from the draft of the 2011 census questionnaire.
In a letter to the Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, Dr. Wilson pointed out that Question 16 asks which language one speaks, reads,... more
Equal Opportunities Committee to Assess Audit
Tomorrow's meeting of the Scottish Parliament's Equal Opportunities Committee will assess the Scottish Government's audit of Scots language provision, which reported recently.
Find out more about the committee's work at: http://tinyurl.com/bzns48
Watch the committee meeting at: http://www.h... more
Equal Opportunities Considers Audit
Last week, the Scottish Parliament's Equal Opportunities Committee considered the Scots Government's recent audit of Scots language provision. The committee agreed to refer the audit to the Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committee and to draw that committee's attention to three points: ... more
MSP asks for more resources for Scots education
Dr Bill Wilson, SNP MSP for the West of Scotland, has encouraged the Scottish Government to ensure the adequate resourcing of Scots language education.
In General Question Time on 5 March, Dr Wilson said that, despite the benefits of teaching Scots, anecdotal evidence suggested that the expan... more
Homecoming Blog Brands Scots as Slang
Highlands MSP Rob Gibson has forced a Homecoming Scotland blog to change references to Scots as “slang”. Mr Gibson, convener of the cross-parity group on Scots, took witnesses from VisitScotland and the Scottish Government to task about the blog post at the most recent meeting of the Economy,... more
Scottish Government Considering Research into Scots in Schools
Last Thursday, the Minister for Schools and Skills, Keith Brown MSP, revealed that the Government is thinking about comissioning research into Scots language provision in our schools. Responding to a question by Bill Wilson MSP, Mr Brown said that Scottish Government officials met on 18 March to ... more
Concerns grow over 2011 census
In recent weeks Scots language users, campaigners and organisations have contacted the General Register Office for Scotland, and the relevant minister, Jim Mather, to express their concerns about the place of the Scots language in the 2011 census.
Under current proposals respondents in Scotlan... more
Third European Charter Report Released
The Third periodical report relating to the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages has been released in accordance with Article 15 of the Charter. This Report, which relates to languages in the United Kingdom, runs to 364 pages and will interest any one wishing to learn what officald... more
Scots Conference report published
A report of the meeting held in February by the Scots government to consider the contents of the Scots Audit was published on Saturday.
Full details of the report can be accessed on the Scottish government’s web site at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Pub
more
Government to set up Scots advisory group
Further to the government conference held on the Scots language, at the University of Stirling on 9 February 2009, and the publication of those proceedings, the Scottish Government is now seeking to establish a working group to take advice and make suggestions how best to move forward from the Sc... more
Burns Nicht
Hello aw, howp ye'r daein weil. Dinna ken about ye, but I'm fair leukin forrit tae Burn's Nicht. Haggis aye gaes doun weil in ma hous. Say whit ye like about cliches an tartanry; guid fuid an guid poetry mak for a guid nicht in ma buek.
While ye'r at it, mind an tak in the braw veidios an B... more
New fundin, internet, Dictionars
Weil, first o aw, I maun say weil duin tae the fowk at the SLC an the Dictionars that haes at lang an last got the govrenment tae fund thaim direckly raither nor through the Airts Council. Gin ye missed it, tak a keik at the News section an ye'll see that frae this October, baith o thir organisa... more
Nps n tatties
Ok, back again - been a while syne I wis at this...
Been that thrang wi this an that, ne'er got time tae sit doun tae ma blog. First, I'd like tae gree wi Bill Wilson an wir verra ain Iain Mcgregor about Scots labels on fuid... whit maks the Scots names for things wrang? Is "tatties" wrang a... more
Meeting of Cross-Party Group on Scots Language
The meeting of the Cross-Party Group on the Scots Language will be held in the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Those wishing to attend should notify the Parliament in advance. more
