Councillors to consider Highland’s second generation Gaelic Language Plan.
Over forty members of The Highland Council have signed up to attend a workshop at which they will consider the preparation of the Council’s second generation Gaelic Language Plan on Thursday 16 June.
Members of the Council’s Gaelic Committee welcomed progress in the preparation of the Plan which is scheduled for approval in May 2012.
Councillor Hamish Fraser, Chairman of The Highland Council’s Gaelic Committee said: “I am delighted that more than half of the Council’s elected members will be attending the workshop to discuss the details of our second Gaelic Language Plan. It is important that as many views as possible are fed into the process as we prepare the Plan for implementation in the coming years.”
The Highland Council’s current Gaelic Language Plan (2007 – 2011), as required under the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 was the first Plan produced by a public body in Scotland formally approved by Bòrd na Gàidhlig. The Plan’s intentions were to boost the status and use of the language throughout the Highlands.
The actions proposed in the second Gaelic Language Plan will be linked to Gaelic in education; the community; in the home; in the workplace; and in the arts, culture and media. Council members will consider these five themes in relation to the Plan at the workshop next week.
Highland Council’s Gaelic Development Manager Kenny Murray explained to Members of the Gaelic Committee that all Council Services would have a stake in the Gaelic Language Plan. He added that the Plan, as one of the Council’s suite of corporate performance plans, would be subject to quality assurance, scrutiny and monitoring throughout its lifespan by the Council’s policy and performance section.
As was the case with the first Plan, members of the public will have the chance to air their views on The Highland Council’s second Gaelic Language Plan during a series of public consultation meetings which are planned later this year.
Following internal and external consultation, the draft Plan will be; considered by The Highland Council in March /April 2012 and then submitted to Bòrd na Gàidhlig for final approval.