Meeting of the Parliament 17 June 2025
It is a privilege for me to be able to close this afternoon’s debate on the Scottish Language Bill on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives.
As I said in the stage 1 debate, as Scottish Conservatives, whose ethos is based on tradition, we believe that our customs and heritage play an important part in who we are. We are proud of our shared culture and agree that we need to uphold and encourage our traditional languages. If I can play on language for just a second, what can be more basic to a Scottish Conservative than the conservation of Scots?
Language, in all its forms, is the key to communication, but so little communication is effective. The innate understanding of the spoken and written word is not only the way to break down barriers, it is essential in fostering bonds and ensuring that traditions are there for generations to come. The Deputy First Minister will be pleased to hear that I am not going to repeat the history lesson on the origins of Scots.
Scottish Conservatives support making Gaelic more accessible. It is important that we highlight that that is not a party-centric effort. There is an awful lot of support across the chamber for making sure that Gaelic is more accessible. That is what the bill sets out to achieve. However, again we find ourselves worried about the ability of the bill to achieve its aims. We cannot legislate and forget.
It will be no surprise to members to hear that I am interested in the education, care and wellbeing of the children of Scotland. In education debates, we are often reminded of the need for our councils to have the autonomy to progress Government legislation and guidance. That suggests that, should the bill be agreed today—I am sure that it will be—the enactment of its provisions will be entirely down to local authorities. It is therefore worrying to read the briefing that COSLA issued for today’s debate. Also, as Willie Rennie stated earlier, where are the Gaelic teachers?
It is all well and good to move forward on legislation, but it is the outcomes that matter. As a former councillor I know at first hand the issues in taking forward educational changes—the 1,140 hours expansion of childcare provides a classic example.
COSLA is quite right to highlight its concerns. It states:
“Our submission to the earlier consultation referenced a report which noted that far too few Gaelic Medium Education Teachers were being trained. The pipeline of Gaelic teachers is often out with local authority control, and without concerted action from the Scottish Government and partners to increase the number of Gaelic teachers, any expansion would not be deliverable.”
That issue must be addressed.
We know from other Government projects, including the 1,140 hours expansion of childcare provision, that funding falters at the first hurdle. COSLA also highlights that issue, raising concerns in relation to the estimated costs for local government. It notes that sufficient information to allow an assessment of the accuracy of estimated costs was not provided, but that those estimates “seemed low” and that cost estimates of some implications for local authorities appeared to be missing.
It goes on to highlight that
“The supplementary financial memorandum focuses only on costs associated with Stage 2 amendments”
and that
“Concern remains that the costs of implementing the Bill have not been sufficiently captured.”
The Government must do more to ensure that the funding is provided to do that.
COSLA’s final point is that, at stage 2, there was a fully agreed amendment by the committee for Gaelic education. The Scottish Government introduced amendments to create a process for local authorities to consider requests to establish all-Gaelic schools. Local government is concerned about the time, resource and the expense of carrying out those new duties. There are a number of all-Gaelic schools in the absence of the legislation.
Local government’s view is that section 22A takes away the ability of an education authority to determine the best location for Gaelic language provision and requires them to spend officer time and effort on a process that might determine that provision is unviable.
The Scottish Conservatives recognise the good intentions behind the bill and see it as a springboard to speed up processes, but whether the legislation will stabilise or deliver a sustainable future for the Gaelic and Scots languages is far from clear. Only time will tell whether it goes the way of other initiatives for every child, such as free school meals, bikes and laptops, or whether we will see the development of our traditional speech. I wait with bated breath.