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So, we are talking about the development of self-confidence, which can run throughout families and communities, should the opportunity present itself or be presented to them.

There are challenges in ensuring that teachers in different areas of Scotland have the resources and the skills to support education in different dialects, such as Lallans, Doric and so on. We are looking at people having the opportunity to use their acquired language to the best advantage of the children who are being taught. Are there challenges for teachers in learning in that respect? They cannot necessarily learn from a person who is 100 miles down the road.

As I said during our discussion with the first panel—I believe that you were in the public gallery at the time—the advantage of learning or developing language in school is that it frequently encourages an interest in the learning of language. Therefore, children might go on to be interested in learning Italian or German or whatever, too, and perhaps also Gaelic, if they have not had that opportunity before. Do you think that the development of such an acquired skill needs to be encouraged anyway?

Thanks very much for all the evidence so far.

The Glasgow Gaelic school in the west end is very big, and its pupils start from a very early age and go right through. It has more than teaching staff; support staff and all sorts of others work there, too, and of course they do it all in the Gaelic medium. However, some of them have been under pressure with regard to job stability, and I just wonder whether the situation is the same across the country—I am hoping that it is not. I know of people on two-year or three-year contracts, and those contracts are running out, with no intention to extend them. Is it the same across Scotland?

Yes, there is an overlap between the Gaelic school education issue and the Scots school education issue.

How are teachers supported in initial teacher education to promote Scots usage in the classroom?

As we all know, there will be a wee bit of to-ing and fro-ing in some of the sections, because they cross over each other quite a bit.

On qualifications for appointment as a judicial factor, when the Scottish Law Commission appeared before us on 16 April, it said that the court was best placed to decide who was suitable for the role. It highlighted that in the case of a farming business where two farmers fell out, for example, the person best placed to be appointed as a factor would be another farmer, because of their inside knowledge.

Section 4 of the bill sets out the qualifications required to be a judicial factor on that basis, with the main qualification being that the court decides who is most suitable for the role. The Scottish Law Commission and others, including the Law Society and Missing People, have said that the court is best placed to decide who is suitable in individual cases. Propertymark, on the other hand, wants the bill to be more prescriptive in its requirements, including by specifying certain professional qualifications. Having considered all the views that were expressed to the committee during stage 1 scrutiny, which policy decision out of those does the minister prefer? If you support any changes to section 4, will you please give us an idea of those?

Okay. Are you aware of the concerns that have been raised? Have you had a look at them?

This area can be complex for people who do not have much training, if any. What do you make of the view that the interrelationship between the two provisions in sections 34 and 38 needs to be explained more clearly in the text of the bill, for everyone’s benefit?

That is perfectly reasonable. However, you mentioned that the explanatory notes could perhaps be strengthened to give people a clearer idea of the situation, particularly those who are very concerned about the outcomes that may apply in their own cases. Could that be looked into?

On the back of that, when the Faculty of Advocates gave evidence to us on 23 April, it supported the current approach to appointments. When a judicial factor is appointed by the court in relation to a solicitor or a firm of solicitors under the Solicitors (Scotland) Act 1980, it is typically the Law Society’s in-house judicial factor who is appointed. However, the Faculty of Procurators of Caithness has suggested that the current system does not work and that the judicial factor in those types of cases should always be wholly independent of the Law Society. On the other hand, the Law Society, the Law Commission and the Faculty of Advocates expressed their support for the present system.

Having considered all the submissions that were put to the committee on the issue, what policy position does the Scottish Government prefer, and would you consider a specific statement in section 4 of the bill on the use of the Law Society’s in-house judicial factor?