Chamber and committees

Thank you, convener, and madainn mhath.

We have covered a fair bit in the first questions. I just want to drill down a little more. Do members of the panel agree that there is a need to increase the focus of local authorities on Gaelic-medium education? I was interested in Donald Macleod’s response about the 32 local authorities having differing views. Can you say a bit more? You said that they think there is enough in the existing legislation.

You probably know what I am going to ask you now. Is there something in the bill that needs to change in order for us to get that balance right?

Seonaidh Charity, you spoke about the need for GME from three to 18 and rightly pointed out that that is not available everywhere. Do you think that the focus should be on having that provision from the early years right through to secondary level, perhaps in fewer locations? What would your members’ view be?

Thank you—that was helpful.

Dr Cass, I wonder if I could go back a little. You spoke about professionals’ fearfulness of discussing this area. In answer to my colleague Carol Mochan’s questions on conversion and on professionals having space to explore options with children and young people, you said that research, guidance, training and supervision were the answers. Do you want to add anything further? I know that you will have had personal experience of the heat and noise that surround this topic.

Good morning, Dr Cass. Thank you for being with us this morning. Your review is obviously a detailed piece of work that needs careful consideration. We all appreciate that it is based on services in England, but it will have implications for how children are treated in Scotland, too. There is learning for all of us in it. Can you start off by talking about the key conclusions in your work that you would want us in Scotland to draw from to do the best for children in distress?

Good morning, everyone. Following on from Willie Rennie’s questioning, I have a quick supplementary. Could the raised expectations of speaker communities who live in the areas in question about being able to access services in their own language and about seeing more of their own language be met? In practical terms, is that the sort of thing that we are talking about?

I would like to ask about Gaelic education. The bill makes changes to the statutory definition of “school education”. What is the current position on local authorities’ obligations to provide Gaelic-medium education? What will be different if and when the bill becomes an act?

Okay. I am thinking about the current practical implications of that. I will give the example of my area, Cunninghame South, in North Ayrshire. Gaelic has not been spoken widely there for a fair amount of time, but it has a Gaelic-medium education unit because there was interest from parents who wished to educate their children in Gaelic. I am trying to understand whether the bill would place an additional obligation on local authorities. What is their obligation at the moment, and would the bill place an additional obligation on them?

I am still not entirely clear—it might just be me. What currently empowers local authorities that are not in areas with large numbers of Gaelic speakers to set up Gaelic-medium education provision?