Agendas, reports and minutes

The Highland Council

Minutes of Meeting of the Gaelic Committee held remotely on Monday 3 August 2020 at 2pm.

Present:

Mr R Bremner
Mrs I Campbell
Mr J Gordon
Mr A Henderson
Mr A MacInnes
Mr D Mackay
Mr G MacKenzie 
Mr A MacKinnon
Mrs A MacLean (substitute)
Mr C Munro
Mrs M Paterson
Mr D Rixson
Miss E Roddick

Non-Members also present:

Mrs M Davidson
Mr J Finlayson 
Mr K Rosie

In attendance:

MS D Manson, Chief Executive
Ms K Lackie, Executive Chief Officer – Performance and Governance

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

The representative of the Head of Corporate Governance was in the Chair at the start of the meeting.

In terms of Standing Order 9, the Committee AGREED to take Items 2 and 3 first.

2. Apologies for Absence

Apologies for absence were intimated on behalf of Mr G Adam and Mr A Sinclair.

3. Declarations of Interest

The Committee NOTED the following declarations of interest:-

Item 5 – Mr C Munro (financial and non-financial)

Mr R Bremner declared a non-financial interest in any item which might relate to his connection with the following organisations: Caithness & Suthlerand Provincial Mòd, Caithness Branch of An Comunn Gàidhealach, Melvich Gaelic Choir, Atomaig Piseag (Gaelic Choir) and the Local Organising Committee – Mòd Ghallaibh 2010

1. Appointment of Chair and Vice Chair

Mr A MacKinnon, seconded by Mr A Henderson, proposed Mr C Munro as Chair.  There being no other nominations, Mr C Munro was elected unopposed and took up position.

The Chair then called for nominations for the post of Vice Chair.  Mr C Munro, seconded by Mr A Henderson, proposed Mr A MacKinnon as Vice Chair.  Again, there being no other nominations, Mr A MacKinnon was elected unopposed.

At this juncture, the Chairman, together with the Chair of the Education Committee, played tribute to Ms Norma Young, Area Care and Learning Manager, who had retired recently after 40 years working for Highland Council.  Reference was made to her leadership and contributions to Gaelic Medium Education, both Highland wide and nationally.  Ms Young began her career with Highland Council as a class teacher but, over the years, had worked in various roles and her work ethos and dedication to Gaelic was to be commended.  She had helped bring the National Mod to Highland through her no nonsense approach and energy.  Members wished her well for the future.
Members also offered their congratulations to both the Chair and Vice Chair on their appointment and hoped their profile would promote the Gaelic Language and Culture.

4. Role and Remit – Gaelic Committee

There had been circulated Report No. G/1/20 dated 14 July 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer – Performance and Governance. 

Members were informed that the Scheme of Delegation, approved by the Council in December 2019, had set out the specific remits for all of the new strategic committees.  The remit for the Gaelic Committee had yet to be included in the Scheme to enable the new Committee members to consider and agree what this should be.  The following consequently set out proposed general and specific responsibilities for discussion and approval.

General

• To promote and support the indigenous Gaelic language, heritage and culture of the Highlands and to oversee the implementation of the Council’s Gaelic Language Plan.

Specific

• To monitor, scrutinise and promote the implementation of the Council’s Gaelic Language Plan, including the delivery of Gaelic education.
• To liaise with Bòrd na Gàidhlig on the strategic development of Gaelic language.
• To work with Gaelic development agencies in promoting, developing and sustaining the Gaelic language, heritage and culture in the Highlands.
• To work with the Scottish Government and Parliament in relation to legislation relating to Gaelic language.
• To monitor the implications of legislation in respect of Gaelic language and advise the Council of its impact across the Highlands.
• Budget monitoring and scrutiny of Gaelic specific funding, grants and expenditure.

Governance

• The Committee minutes will be reported to Full Council.

During discussion, Members made the following points:-

• the loss of the previous Gaelic Implementation Group was disappointing but the formation of this Committee would strengthen Gaelic in Highland Council;
• a series of engagement sessions with internal and external stakeholders was proposed to discuss and agree priorities for the Committee and information was sought as to who these stakeholders would be;
• it was important not to underestimate the importance of taking Gaelic forward to a stronger position in the Council but there would be resource implications to do this;
• there would be positive community implications if Gaelic was placed at its heart and Members had a role to encourage and make Gaelic visible in such locations;
• the report contained a list of areas where it was proposed the Committee would consider in the future and these were likely to throw up other challenges;
• the Committee needed to concentrate on working with Gaelic development agencies in promoting, developing and sustaining the Gaelic language, heritage and culture in Highland and this would require better communication;
• it was important to strengthen the relationship and work collaboratively with Bòrd na Gàidhlig to promote the Gaelic Language;
• the 2021 Census would determine the focus and funding of Gaelic going forward, particularly in relation to the Scottish Government and Parliament, and it was important work collaboratively with other local authorities, particularly Argyll and Bute and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar;
• the work of the Committee could quite possibly require the formation of Working Groups and the involvement of other Elected Members would only strengthen its profile and role;
• Highland Council received specific grants from the Scottish Government for the delivery of Gaelic and the Gaelic Team were commended for their successful attempts to ingather sources of funding.  It was important to build on this;
• the excellent work taking place at Sabhal Mor Ostaig (SMO) in developing Gaelic was highlighted and the opportunity was there for Members to see this for themselves; and
• fellow Members were encouraged to attend Gaelic Language classes.

The Committee AGREED:-

i. the general reporting requirements set out in Section 4 of the report; and
ii. the specific remit as set out above.

5. Highland Council Gaelic Language Plan 3 – 2018-23 

There had been circulated Report No G/2/20 dated 17 July 2020 by the Executive Chief Officer – Performance and Governance. This was augmented by an overview by the Interim Head of Education of what had been taking place in Gaelic Medium Education (GME) since the Covid 19 outbreak, the planned return to schools and the plans to increase the number of Gaelic speakers in Highland.

During discussion, Members made the following points:-

• Members had received the Agenda and Papers in both English and Gaelic and this was to be welcomed;
• the Gaelic Team was small but they did a phenomenal amount of work.  Looking to the future, it was important to assess their structure, identify exactly what they did and their ability to deliver with a view of strengthening the Team and incorporating them into all areas of the Council. This was particularly important following the retirement of Ms Young and the possible need for a Gaelic Development Manager;
• in response to a query, the Chief Executive confirmed that the Executive Chief Officer – Performance and Governance would have ultimate responsibility for the Gaelic Committee;
• the resource implications were not only the funding that the Council could secure but the level of funding Highland Council was willing to identify itself;
• Members to the Gaelic Committee with no previous involvement with the Gaelic Strategy Implementation Group or Gaelic Implementation Group were encouraged to read the Gaelic Language Plan 3 (GLP3);
• the delivery of the themes of the GLP3 remained a challenge.  For example, there needed to be a consistency and continuity of delivery of GME.  At present, many parents could send their children to Gaelic Nurseries and Gaelic Medium Primary Schools but there was difficulty in providing Gaelic Medium secondary education through a lack of teachers.  This remained a disappointment to Members given the GME opportunities for tertiary education and careers involving Gaelic.  There would be significant resource implications for the Council to address this but, meantime, it was important to lobby for additional resources to be specifically targeted at this;
• better collaboration with other agencies was needed to deliver the 6 themes of GLP3 as was clearer quantification of how the Council was delivering on these;
• for parents of children in GME it was important that they had, at least, an awareness of the language.  Gaelic television had an important role to play in educating learners at all levels and it was hoped there would be opportunities for Members and staff to learn the language.  Ulpan classes had proved effective in the past and it was disappointing they were no longer available.  However, intensive week long courses at SMO had also proved useful.  These could perhaps be delivered through MS Teams;
• there were many good projects taking place but which Members were unaware of.  In particular, attention was drawn to the series of shinty videos produced by Iomain Cholmchille, supported by the Gaelic Team, providing Gaelic language resources for pupils in GME and pupils learning Gaelic.  Such projects brought shinty and football to a real living vibrant language and needed to promoted and, by working with Argyll and Bute Council and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, greater benefit of such initiates would benefit all; and
• there was much engagement activity taking place which was to be commended in areas such as education, the arts and sport.

The Committee AGREED:-

i. the report; and
ii. to bring an update back to Committee Members details of the structure of the current Gaelic Teams together with their roles and remits.

The meeting concluded at 3.35pm.