Minutes of Meeting of the Gaelic Committee held in the Council Chamber, Council Headquarters, Glenurquhart Road, Inverness on Thursday 13 March 2008 at 2.00 pm
Present:
Mr G Farlow, Mr J McGillivray, Mrs I Campbell, Dr A Sinclair, Ms M Smith, Mr C Fraser, Mr A M Millar, Mr E Hunter, Mr J MacDonald, Mr J Finnie, Mr F Parr, Mr K MacLeod, Mr R Balfour, Mr J Holden, Mr R Pedersen, Ms J Douglas, Mr D Cameron, Dr M E M Foxley
Non-Members also present:
Mr D Mackay, Mr R Coghill
Officials in attendance:
Mr R MacKenzie, Head of Support Services, Education, Culture and Sport
Ms J Menabney, Principal Cultural Officer, Education, Culture and Sport
Mr A Campbell, Acting Gaelic Development Manager, Education, Culture and Sport
Ms M A MacLeod, Gaelic Development Officer, Chief Executive’s Office
Mr J Allison, Principal Administrator, Chief Executive’s Office
Miss M Murray, Administrative Assistant, Chief Executive’s Office
Representatives of Gaelic Cultural or Development Organisations:-
Ms D Beaton, Chief Executive, Cànan Ltd
Ms S Grant, Operations Manager, Cànan Ltd
An asterisk in the margin denotes a recommendation to the Council. All decisions with no marking in the margin are delegated to the Committee.
Business
Appointment of Chairman
In the absence of Mr H Fraser, Chairman, the Principal Administrator took the Chair and invited nominations for Chairman of the meeting. Mr J MacDonald was unanimously appointed Chairman and took the Chair.
Preliminaries
Prior to the commencement of business, there was a performance by Còisir Òg Lochabair (Lochaber Junior Choir), conducted by Mrs Chrissie MacEachen, Freeman of Lochaber.
The Chairman thanked the Choir for their performance.
Mr D Cameron paid tribute to the Choir, who had achieved success at local and national Mods, and made a presentation to Mrs MacEachen on behalf of the Committee, which Mrs MacEachen accepted with thanks.
Valedictory
The Chairman paid tribute to Catriona MacIntyre, Early Education and Childcare Officer (Gaelic Medium), who would be retiring from the Council at the end of the month.
Mrs MacIntyre started her career in 1968 as a teacher at Lochboisdale Primary School in South Uist. From 1991 to 1992 she undertook Gaelic Development duties in the Lochaber area and, as a result of her efforts, the demand for Gaelic medium education increased. From 1992 to 2000 she was a Gaelic teacher at Acharacle Primary School. She then moved on to a job providing learning support to Gaelic medium classes and pre-school groups. She had been in her current post since 2003.
On behalf of the Committee, the Chairman wished Mrs MacIntyre, who was unable to attend the Committee due to a prior commitment, well in her retirement and thanked her for her years of hard work and the important part she had played in providing young people and their families the opportunity and support to learn Gaelic.
Dr M E M Foxley expressed his appreciation for the excellent job Mrs MacIntyre had done in identifying demand for, and establishing, Gaelic medium education in Lochaber.
The Committee AGREED that the Chairman send a letter to Mrs MacIntyre, thanking her for her years of service within the Gaelic sector and her hard work and dedication in promoting the Gaelic language to young people.
1. Apologies for Absence
Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Mr H Fraser, Mrs J Urquhart, Mr H Wood and Mr A Graham.
2. Revenue Budget Monitoring
There was circulated Report No G-05-08 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport setting out the revenue budget monitoring position for the period 1 April 2007 to 31 January 2008 and the projected year end position. At the present time there was a projected underspend of £100,100 due to slippage associated with the Gaelic Language Act Implementation Fund (GLAIF), however, Bòrd na Gàidhlig had agreed in principle that any funding not utilised by 31 March 2008 could be carried forward to the next financial year.
In response to questions, Members were advised that the post of Gaelic Development Manager had been advertised but had not yet been filled. Members requested that they be kept informed of the position with regard to vacant Gaelic posts.
The Committee:-
i. NOTED the report and monitoring statements which showed the revenue
budget monitoring position for the period 1 April 2007 to 31 January 2008;
and
ii. AGREED that Members be advised of the current position with regard to
vacant Gaelic posts.
3. Supporting Gaelic Developments – The Gaelic Toolkit
The Chairman welcomed Ms D Beaton, Chief Executive, Cànan Ltd, who gave a presentation to Members on the Gaelic Toolkit, which had been developed by Cànan for the Council, to provide information on Gaelic language, on-line language courses, phrasebooks, glossaries, dictionaries, templates and beginners e-learning. The Gaelic Toolkit would form part of the Council’s website and would primarily be a resource for Members and staff across all Council Services.
Ms Beaton stressed the importance of the ground-breaking project and praised those who had been involved in its realisation. She then handed over to Ms S Grant, Operations Manager, Cànan Ltd, who gave a demonstration of the Gaelic Toolkit as it would appear on the Council’s website.
In response to questions, Members were advised that there would be a link to the Gaelic Toolkit on the Council’s website homepage and that it could be accessed by the public.
The Committee NOTED the presentation and expressed support for the project, which would promote Gaelic both within and outwith the Council.
4. Gaelic Language Plan – Translation Services
There was circulated Report No G-06-08 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport suggesting how the Highland Council might take a lead in establishing and managing a co-ordinated inter-authority Gaelic translation service providing a quality translation service to the Council and other Highland-based public authorities. The report advised that, at present, the Council’s translation needs were met through freelance service and existing staff resources, however, as full implementation of the Council’s Gaelic Language Plan commenced, the demand for translation would increase significantly and it was critical to the successful delivery of the Plan that an efficient and professional Gaelic language translation service was made available as soon as possible to Council Services.
Members expressed support for the proposals, which would lead to economic benefits and would reaffirm the commitments in the Gaelic Language Plan with regard to guaranteeing a Gaelic reply to correspondence written in Gaelic and producing bilingual reports, documents and forms.
The Committee AGREED that work take place to cost a Gaelic Translation Unit and that appropriate charges be determined for the Service Level Agreements which would be offered to other public authorities who would then be approached to agree Service Level Agreements commensurate with their projected translation needs.
5. Study Visit to St Fagan’s Museum, Wales
There was circulated Report No G-07-08 by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport providing feedback on the recent Council delegation study visit to St Fagan’s Musuem in Wales, the purpose of which was to investigate the presentation and interpretation of Welsh language and culture to inform putting Gaelic language and culture at the heart of the visitor experience at the Highland Folk Museum. The report also invited Members to comment on a visioning document for the Highland Folk Museum which had been developed over recent months but which had been significantly influenced by the visit.
Mr R Pedersen advised that both he and Mrs M E Paterson, accompanied by the Council’s Community Development Manager and Principal Cultural Officer, had visited St Fagan’s and met with National Museum Wales senior staff. He commented that the visit had been extremely informative and that St Fagan’s, where all written material was bi-lingual and staff were encouraged to use Welsh amongst themselves and with visitors, should be used as a model for the Highland Folk Museum. He encouraged Members to support the proposals to develop the Highland Folk Museum as a national centre for Gaelic language and culture.
The Committee:-
i. NOTED the outcomes of the study visit to St Fagan’s and the visioning
document “Highland Folk Museum – A National Centre for Gaelic”; and
ii. AGREED that discussions commence with the Scottish Government about
entering into a partnership to take the vision forward.
6. Appointment of Representative on the European Bureau for Lesser-used Languages (EBLUL)
* The Committee AGREED to recommend to the Council that Mr H Fraser be
appointed as the Council’s representative on the European Bureau for
Lesser-used Languages.
The meeting concluded at 3.10 pm.