Question reference: S6W-13380
- Asked by: Rhoda Grant, MSP for Highlands and Islands, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 20 December 2022
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Current status: Answered by Shirley-Anne Somerville on 22 December 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government how it plans to increase community engagement for strengthening Gaelic in communities, in light of reports that the post of Gaelic Development Officer at Community Land Scotland has been discontinued.
Answer
The Scottish Government has provided additional funding of £200k in 2021-22 and 2022-23 to Bòrd na Gidhlig to support the network of Gaelic Development Officers across Scotland. These officers are supporting the Gaelic communities by providing a range of c ommunity-based activities through a variety of different schemes.
The focus of Bòrd na Gidhlig’s evaluation review of the Community Land Scotland Gaelic Development Officer post is to develop, and put in place, a more comprehensive and sustainable framework for delivering community based developments in Ga elic . At the core of this framework is the move towards a multi year funding arrangement to better support the work of development officers and to strengthen the network of officers to maximise the benefit to their communities. There are currently a total of 58 officer posts that have been supported by the Bòrd in communities this financial year with an investment of over £1.1M.