A meeting of the Gaelic Select Committee will take place in Committee Room 1, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Thursday 2 November 2006 at 2.00pm.

 

You are invited to attend the meeting and a note of the business to be considered is attached.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Alistair Dodds

Director of Corporate Services

 

 

Declarations of Interest – Members are asked to consider whether they have an interest to declare in relation to any item on the agenda for this meeting. Any Member making a declaration of interest should indicate whether it is a financial or non-financial interest and include some information on the nature of the interest. Advice may be sought from Officers prior to the meeting taking place.    

 

1.           Apologies for Absence

 

2.           Gaelic in the Home and the Community

 

There is circulated Report No GSC 19/06 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport, which informs Members on the recently completed research projects that focused on Gaelic, including a survey into the linguistic backgrounds of pupils in Gaelic medium primary education and two projects on Gaelic in the home and community which were commissioned by the authority with financial support from Bòrd na Gàidhlig.  Appendix 3 of the report is circulated separately as ‘Booklet A'.

 

Members are invited to note the contents of the three research reports and to consider the following recommendations arising from them, namely that:

 

(i)         the linguistic backgrounds, patterns of language usage and the attitude to Gaelic of pupils
        in Gaelic medium education should continue to be monitored regularly;

(ii)       promotional material should be produced aimed at parents and young ‘prospective
       parents’;

(iii)      two pilot ‘Gaelic in the home’ projects should be set up to try out various approaches;

(iv)     high quality CDs and DVDs should be commissioned for use by parents in the home

(v)       good news about Gaelic  should be circulated to prospective parents;

(vi)     research should continue into the factors inhibiting fuller use of Gaelic in the home; and

(vii)    a short life pilot project should be established in two areas with the aim of trying out
       different approaches to enhancing the Gaelic dimension in communities with Gaelic
       Medium Education.

 

3.           Draft National Plan for Gaelic and Guidance on Gaelic Language Plans

 

There is circulated Report No GSC 20/06 by the Gaelic Development Officer which informs Members of the Council’s response to the draft National Plan for Gaelic.

 

Members are invited to comment on the proposed reply to the questions set by Bòrd na Gàidhlig.

 

4.           Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005

 

There is circulated Report No GSC 21/06 by the Area Manager, Skye and Lochalsh which informs Members of the requirement to prepare a Gaelic Language Plan by 1 October 2007.

 

Members are invited to:

 

(i)         note that the Council has been selected to prepare a Gaelic Language Plan as one of the 
       first group of public authorities required to do so; and

(ii)       agree to seek an early discussion with Bòrd na Gaidhlig to discuss the process and the
       content of the plan.

 

5.            Update Report

 

There is circulated Report No GSC 22/06 by the Gaelic Development Officer informing Members on the progress of current issues.

 

Members are invited to comment on the work in progress.