Seòmar agus comataidhean

That is one of the things that we were speaking about. I am learning about the language and the grammar—particularly the grammar that makes Scots different fae English. I will give an example. Where I come fae, there is a place called Portpatrick and Lochans, but everybody calls it “the Port” and “the Lochans”, or they say, “Ah’m goin tae the toon.” When I was speaking to Joe FitzPatrick about it the other night, he said that that is replicated in Dundee, where folk use “the” in front of whatever place they are talking about.

That shows that Scots is broad and is spread across Scotland, including Orkney and Shetland. It is not that we have got all these different minority languages; it is because that is the way that Scots evolved out of Old English and Danish, with Norse influence, even. We have a language that is vibrant and needs to be promoted. When we start speaking to each other about the history and grammar that makes Scots different fae English, it reinforces to me the need to promote it.

That is right.

As well as men, we have people from diverse backgrounds. We have people whose first language mibbe wisnae Scots or who moved to this country from South Asia or wherever. We hear them every day when we are out and about. There is an opportunity to make it not just for the lassies, but for a wider audience as well.

My understanding is that the Scottish Government is proposing legislation relating to the Scots language. There is currently a consultation on Gaelic and Scots and how to—I suppose—revive Gaelic. Part of the conversation is about how we have a Bòrd na Gàidhlig and whether we need an equivalent for Scots or whether we should take a different path that helps to promote Scots in another way.

Over the past couple of years, I have met loads of experts who have ideas about how we should take Scots forward, whether that is in schools, in public or at cultural events. The CPG would allow us to have discussions about the best way to suggest how the Government can support Scots.

I am aware that there are already 118 cross-party groups. I tried to merge a few of them, so that we would have better capacity. If we plan carefully, we will make the diaries work. We have already identified that Jackie and I can be co-conveners. Ariane Burgess and Sarah Boyack will be deputy conveners. We therefore have capacity for others to step in if there are problems with our diaries. We plan to meet four times a year, which seems realistic to me.

Of course, there are also cultural events throughout the calendar that will help to promote the work of the cross-party group. I am confident that it will be a fun cross-party group for any member to join, whether they are a native speaker or not—or a learner.

Thanks for that question. We have worked with the Scots Language Centre to see the work that it does and how it promotes and supports raising awareness of Scots. We also have a Scots language policy in the Parliament. We have members of the official report staff who are really supportive of ensuring that the words that we use in the chamber, in debate or in questions—or even in committee—are transcribed properly, so that, when we look back at the Official Report, we can see that Scots is used here.

I met the chief executive of the Parliament before the recess, because I was keen to talk about how we could promote the use of Scots in the Parliament. We now have a wee poster with a QR code that takes you directly to the Scots Language Centre website, so that folk who are in and about the campus can learn about the resources out there to help to raise awareness. There are loads of folk working together, such as Wee Windaes, Oor Vyce, the Scots Language Centre and many others. If we help to share their information on social media, the people who are using everyday Scots might realise that that is what they are doing, even though they were not aware of it.

We have had a couple of meetings online. Because Scots is spoke fae Shetland tae Stranraer, we find that meeting online, rather than bringing everybody here, means that people can participate and engage. We have had great attendance so far, and we disseminate information through email engagement and support.

Our secretariat, which is the Scots Language Centre, helps to supply us with all the connections and the people. It already has contact with the 128 potential individual members and groups. I am confident that we will be able to continue to support online and electronic engagement, to make sure that we keep folk up to date with what is going on.

That is for Vicky or Judith.

Good morning. I have a question for Gordon Arthur about the “Changing the Boundaries” review, which, as the convener mentioned, recommended producing an action plan by 30 September. I understand that the action plan has not been published yet and that it has been delayed because there has not been adequate anti-racism expertise—perhaps there has been none—to scrutinise the plan prior to publication. I am interested in your comments about the delay. What action is being taken to embed anti-racism expertise in the plan? When will the action plan be published?

The report was published in July 2022 and the action plan was meant to be published by the end of September. Has it just grown arms and legs and got bigger as you have uncovered issues that need to be dealt with? Have you therefore had to not exactly prolong the publishing process but take a more in-depth approach to tackling racism in Scottish cricket?

Good morning everyone, and thank you for coming today. I have a couple of questions about performance. Integration authorities have been required to report on a core suite of integration indicators within their annual performance reports. The indicators were developed to allow integration authorities to review progress towards health and wellbeing outcomes. The frameworks and the papers seem to be pretty straightforward.

I am interested to know whether appropriate measures and indicators are in place to track progress in integration. If not, could you suggest something that should be added that might be more appropriate?