Question S3W-38364: Bill Wilson, West of Scotland, Scottish National Party, Date Lodged: 14/12/2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding has been allocated to Scots language education in each year since 1990.

Answered by Michael Russell (19/01/2011): We do not hold a full breakdown of funding for Scots language education since 1990.

Today, the value of Scots is recognised within the Curriculum for Excellence guidance, which indicates teachers should promote and encourage the use of Scots in developing young people''s literacy skills. In order to support practitioners with this, our ongoing programme funding for Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS) across a number of curriculum areas has enabled the production of Scots resources, including the Scotland''s Songs and Stories website and the online Scots Knowledge of Language Module.

Other recent funding which supports Scots language education includes the provision of £8.6 million to the National Trust for Scotland to develop the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, due to open in January 2011, which will be the first development in the country to use the Scots language to explain its collection. Also, the Scots Language Centre and Scottish Language Dictionaries, have been in receipt of funding since 2009-10, with £70,000 provided in 2009-10 and 2010-11 for to the Scots Language Centre and £200,000 in 2009-10 and 2010-11 for the Scottish Language Dictionaries.

Question S3W-38365: Bill Wilson, West of Scotland, Scottish National Party, Date Lodged: 14/12/2010

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding will be allocated to Scots language education in 2011-12.

Answered by Michael Russell (19/01/2011): Our commitment to national languages will remain in the financial year 2011-12, including the place of Scots within Curriculum for Excellence. We expect to continue supporting educational practitioners on Scots through our continued programme funding for Learning and Teaching Scotland (LTS).

We are considering the recommendations of the recently published Scots Language Working Group report, including those relating to education, and I will meet with LTS shortly to consider the implications for their work.

Question S3W-37490: Pauline McNeill, Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour, Date Lodged: 11/11/2010

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will appoint a new Scots Makar.

Answered by Fiona Hyslop (24/11/2010): Arrangements to appoint a successor to Edwin Morgan are currently being finalised. I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-37491 on 24 November 2010 (below)

Question S3W-37491: Pauline McNeill, Glasgow Kelvin, Scottish Labour, Date Lodged: 11/11/2010

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there will be changes to the appointment of the Scots Makar.

Answered by Fiona Hyslop (24/11/2010): Discussions are ongoing to agree a new process for appointing the next Scots Makar. An announcement will be made once the process has been finalised.

Question S3W-33470: Bill Wilson, West of Scotland, Scottish National Party, Date Lodged: 30/04/2010

To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to raise awareness of the Scots language question in the 2011 census.

Answered by Fiona Hyslop (12/05/2010): The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) has, and will continue to, engage with Scots language organisations who can provide guidance on completion of the question on the Scots language in the 2011 census.

The intention is to provide context-specific help which will be available both via the census website www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk and the census helpline, in due course.

The Scottish Government will, with GROS, consider options for raising awareness of the question.