Bòrd na Gàidhlig to fund 27 jobs in officer language scheme
Almost 30 Gaelic development officer positions were set to be lost.
After much anger from campaigners and ministers themselves, Bòrd na Gàidhlig — and the Scottish Government — reversed the decision to cut the posts in early April 2024.
Now, the body has announced the allocation of funding for Gaelic officers through a new round of the scheme. Bòrd na Gàidhlig will support 27 posts across a range of organisations as they undertake Gaelic development work in communities across Scotland.
READ MORE: Jenny Gilruth 'not content' about Bòrd na Gàidhlig job cuts proposals
Several groups will now benefit from multi-year support from the scheme for the first time.
The scheme was reopened in May and closed to new applications in June.
A range of changes were made to the previous scheme, including further support and professional development for Gaelic officers. Bord na Gàidhlig received 44 applications from a wide range of charities, with a mix of previously-supported organisations and new bodies seeking support.
Successful applicants to the scheme had to meet a range of criteria and outline how they would deliver against the key priorities set out by Bòrd na Gàidhlig, including supporting the everyday use of Gaelic in communities, supporting Gaelic centres and events, developing community Gaelic language plans and supporting partnership working across organisations delivering Gaelic services.
The Scottish Government has confirmed £510,000 in funding for 2025–26, supplemented by £90,000 from Bòrd na Gàidhlig, to finance the scheme and enable multi-year roles.
Ian MacMillan, director of development at Bòrd na Gàidhlig, said: 'Bòrd na Gàidhlig is delighted that officers funded through this scheme will now be working to make a positive impact on Gaelic in their communities. These officers will make a clear and visible difference through their activity and engagement.
"We are looking forward to seeing an increase in partnership working as we enable organisations to build connections to deliver across our communities.'
Depute First Minister Kate Forbes (above) said: 'This £600,000 investment in the Gaelic Officer initiative aims to help Gaelic to thrive in traditional areas like the Western Isles and Skye. Gaelic Officers enrich communities and support activities which bring economic benefits to Scotland.
"To support Gaelic's growth, our Scottish Languages Bill will strengthen the rights of parents to ask for a Gaelic school to be established in their area and introduce targets on the number of people speaking Gaelic.'
The new legislation specifies that the Scottish Government must promote Gaelic and Scots education in schools, while giving ministers powers to set standards on the languages within education.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scotsman
5 hours ago
- Scotsman
How Labour's NHS reforms in England pose a real threat to the SNP
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Given the Labour government's performance in recent weeks, it was refreshing to hear some genuine vision in the Health Secretary's ten-year health plan for England and Wales. Don't get me wrong, I have questions about the deliverability. The lack of social care. The expense. But when Wes Streeting opened his speech by saying, 'there are moments in our national story when our choices define who we are', I knew we were about to hear something momentous. What I had not anticipated was that the 'Fit for the Future' Plan he was about to unveil for England would not only set out a new vision and direction for the NHS there, but throw down the gauntlet for the Scottish Government. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad On the anniversary of the announcement of a National Health Service by the Attlee Government, Streeting revealed what he claimed will be a reformed neighbourhood health service. That it was largely welcomed, sometimes cautiously, on all sides of the Commons speaks not just to the plan itself but to the widespread belief that major reform is needed if we are to safeguard one of our country's proudest achievements for the next generation. Getty Images Comparing waiting lists Of course, there were questions from the Tories on detail and from my own party, the Liberal Democrats, on how it will impact on social care specifically. We have long called for free personal care, based on the model introduced by the Scottish Liberal Democrats in government, better support for unpaid carers and help for those struggling with accommodation costs. But the general feeling was that this plan has the community-based approach and ambition which is required. And as Tory Shadow Health Secretary Ed Argar put it, we need it to stick. While that ambition might currently be contained within England by devolution legislation, there's surely no doubt it will invite comparison with Scotland as waiting times and other targets often do. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It's also likely that the pressure faced by the current service and staff in Scotland and the SNP's abject failure to produce the same sort of ambitious vision will be a major issue in the 2026 election. Learning from England Given that importance, it was disappointing the only contribution from that party in the debate in parliament was an self-congratulatory comment on our medicines agency. Surely those of us who have benefited from a health service and staff coping with unacceptable under resourcing and often crumbling facilities are entitled to expect better of our Holyrood ruling party. The SNP would now do well to spend time reading what Streeting has laid out. I have a sneaking suspicion that Labour in Scotland will want to promote something similar. They may well see it as the key to electoral success, as well as the key to securing the future of the NHS. In times of crisis especially, there is nothing wrong with looking across the Border to see what is possible elsewhere. We have often examined the work of European or Nordic countries for examples of how to tackle issues with housing, education and beyond. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad To refuse to look to our nearest neighbours for a health service cure would be churlish at best. And this time, it might just be terminal for the SNP.
Scotsman
5 hours ago
- Scotsman
Sir David Murray sorry for Rangers sale disaster but defiant over EBTs and untainted trophies
Former Ibrox chief speaks out ahead of autobiography release Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Sir David Murray, the former owner of Rangers, has apologised to supporters for his part in the financial disaster that befell the club in 2012. Murray sold Rangers to businessman Craig Whyte for £1 in 2011 but within a year the Ibrox club was placed into liquidation over unpaid tax bills and forced to restart in the fourth tier of Scottish football. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The financial difficulties were exacerbated by a large debt accumulated under Murray's ownership, where £47million in tax-free loans were paid to players in staff in the form of Employee Benefit Trusts (EBTs). Rangers chairman Sir David Murray pictured at the Murray Park training ground in 2008. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602 Murray has spoken to the BBC to mark the publication of his autobiography, Mettle, and revealed he regretted his decisions and said sorry to fans and club staff. "Of course I'd apologise," he said. "I'm not one of these people who run a company and hide. It was a terrible moment, and I apologise to all the staff, good people, and I know many of them to this day. I'd hope in hindsight, they look at the facts and think I was put in a very difficult position." Murray denied failing to conduct due diligence on Whyte, who had been introduced as a 'high-net-worth individual' but was unable to pay the bills to stave off administration and subsequent liquidation after borrowing £26.7 million against future season ticket sales from the firm, Ticketus. "I went on the facts in front of me," Murray stated. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Craig Whyte bought Rangers from Sir David Murray in 2011 but within a year the club had been liquidation and demoted to the Scottish Third Division. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602 Murray also stressed that "they didn't do anything illegal" when challenged on whether it was morally acceptable to deprive the NHS and other public services of funds so wealthy footballers could pay less tax. "Footballers are getting paid too much," he added. "Not just at Rangers, everywhere. It's avoidance. People do that." Murray has accepted that his Ibrox legacy has been tarnished by the events which surrounded his sale of the club, but insists that the trophies won during his period at the helm were not tainted by the use of EBTs, denying that the scheme allowed the club to gain an unfair financial advantage.
The National
5 hours ago
- The National
SNP left wing push back against 'inertia' over independence strategy
The SNP Socialists group said that following a committee meeting on July 2, they approved proposals to work with 'progressive left organisations' and interest groups to shape the SNP's policy platform ahead of the Holyrood 2026 election. Ahead of the party's upcoming conference in October, the left-wing branch have said they want to make sure that the party membership is involved in defining the independence strategy, rather than party bosses. Co-convener Graham Campbell, an SNP Glasgow councillor, said that the group don't think the party's position has been 'strong enough', particularly in the wake of the shock by-election loss to Scottish Labour in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. READ MORE: New poll predicts Reform Westminster win with no Scottish MPs In a statement seen exclusively by The National, SNP Socialists said that the executive committee met to 'approve proposals to work jointly with other progressive left organisations within the party affiliates and interest groups in order to help shape the SNP's policy platform and election manifesto at this year's Annual Conference'. They continued: 'We're doing this for two reasons. First, to tackle the seeming inertia in some sections of the party bureaucracy towards forming a strategy for achieving our main goal of independence. 'Secondly, to ensure that the SNP membership is fully involved in defining that strategy. 'We call upon the NEC to accelerate that process since many party members and delegates clearly expressed their views to us at the National Council in Perth on June 21st and after the Hamilton by-election loss on June 5th. We want them to be heard: Loud and Clear.' Graham CampbellThe SNP National Council met in June, with First Minister John Swinney chairing an open forum for members to put their views to him on independence. But SNP Socialists insist that ahead of the Holyrood 2026 election, the party must put forward a 'progressive left, democratic socialist, manifesto'. 'We must therefore inspire hope for Independence as THE vehicle for radical change,' the statement continued, adding that changing council tax, reforming land ownership, taxing wealth, tackling the housing emergency and climate change, must be central to what the party puts forward to voters. 'We are determined to make sure that SNP members and activists are at the centre of party policy-making discussions and decisions come October's Annual Conference in Aberdeen,' the statement concluded. 'Only an SNP victory can guarantee we keep taking the necessary next steps towards an independent Scotland.' READ MORE: Details emerge of Scottish arm of new Jeremy Corbyn party Speaking to The National, Campbell (above) said: 'We don't think that the lessons have been fully learned quickly enough around Hamilton, or indeed just generally. 'Even independence supporters know that we don't have a judicial route to a referendum, they know that we can't do it that way. 'It is obviously wrong for us to call for a second mandate to do that, when it [a referendum] can be blocked. 'So then is a de facto referendum going to be the strategy? It wasn't clear from the National Council whether that's been ruled out. We're no wiser after two conferences to discuss that specifically.' Campbell argued that part of achieving independence will be 'inspiring people', but that the party needs to work on the vision it is putting forward to voters. He said that the SNP should be making clear the policies that make lives better for Scots could be at risk if the party loses power – such as mitigating the two-child benefit cap and bedroom tax. Campbell added that the party then needs to relate manifesto pledges to 'how they relate to an independent country'. 'We need to be spelling out clearly what the content [of independence] is so people know what they're voting for,' he added. 'I think if it's clearer what independence means then you have more of a means, the right to have that focus on the doorsteps, because at the moment they just see it as an abstract thing.' Campbell admitted that First Minister and SNP leader John Swinney had tried to put more 'flesh on the bones' of the content of independence, but that it needs to be set out simply and clearly to voters. Responding, SNP depute leader Keith Brown said: 'The SNP will use the period from now until the 2026 election to make the case for Scotland's right to choose its own future – offering a forward-thinking manifesto that reflects the priorities of modern Scotland. 'We welcome all ideas to that which would help create a better Scotland. 'After a year of let downs from the UK Labour Government, it's clear that real change will never come from Westminster – only the SNP will stand up for Scotland and offer a better future with independence.'
