Seòmar agus comataidhean

Thank you, Dr Munro. Lydia Rohmer would like to come in on that.

I have a brief question on that, Bruce. How could the Scots language standards that are spoken of in the bill be used to support greater use of Scots?

Thank you. That was an interesting response.

The final question that we have heard this morning about how education is linked to supporting communities to use Gaelic and Scots in everyday life, and I am sure that many of you will agree with that. How is that working? We heard earlier from Lydia Rohmer about the Gaelic plan and working with creative culture and heritage and the curriculum for that area. Is it an aim for education providers? If so, how would that aim be evaluated? I will bring in Gillian Munro first.

Sylvia Warnecke might want to come in on this issue, too. Do you agree that, with the exception of the right to Gaelic-medium education, many of the things that you have both outlined do not really require legislation?

I will bring in Bill Kidd. There might be a bit of overlap in the questions, but I will let him pick up whatever issues he wishes.

Ruth Maguire has a supplementary question on that theme. Perhaps we can keep this line of questioning going before I come back to you, Ross.

Thank you for that very thorough response.

I will bring in Dr Munro, before coming to Dr Birnie.

Earlier, Donald Macleod spoke about the importance of a deep and immersive experience in school, and Seonaidh Charity spoke about the need for support services to be holistic and about the challenges of support staff not speaking Gaelic. What are local authorities and others doing to support pupils to use Gaelic outside of the school environment? I turn to Donald Macleod first.

Does anyone else want to comment?

We will move straight to members’ questions. Members will direct their questions to specific panel members, but should you wish to come in, please catch my eye or the eye of one of the clerks. We have a lot going on due to the virtual nature of today’s meeting. I should say to Lydia Rohmer that if she wants to come in to please put an R in the chat, in case I do not see her waving or trying to catch my eye.

For the first questions in this session, I call Willie Rennie, who is also online. This is going to test us, I think.