Gaelic language plan 2021-2026 - draft: consultation

Chapter II: Key Principles

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting the Gaelic language and though our commitments under Section 3 and Section 4 of this Plan we will demonstrate our aims. While some aspects are small incremental increases and others are larger policy support the overall aim is simple, to ensure the sustainable future of the Gaelic language.

The following principles are key and it is our aim that these are applied throughout the Scottish Government.

Equal Respect

Under the terms of the 2005 Act, Bòrd na Gàidhlig works with a view to securing the status of the Gaelic language as an official language of Scotland commanding equal respect to the English language and the Bòrd in turn expects that public authorities will demonstrate in their plans how the principle will be achieved and maintained in practice.

Scottish Government aims to ensure that where Gaelic is included as part of our operations and services, they are of an equal standard and quality as those that we provide in English.

Active Offer

The Scottish Government has an active offer of our Gaelic services to our employees and the public. This aims to ensure that where Gaelic services are made available by us, Gaelic users are made aware of their existence, and are actively encouraged to use them.

Our aim is to ensure that our Gaelic language services are as accessible as our English language services.

Mainstreaming

The Scottish Government wishes to ensure that opportunities for the public and our staff to use Gaelic are normalised, in support of the National Gaelic Language Plan 2018-23 aim that Gaelic is used more often, by more people and in a wider range of situations.