Meeting of the Parliament 29 October 2015
When we started the attainment fund, we wanted to have a very targeted approach, but we always said that we recognise that there are severe pockets of deprivation in every community and that, as we moved forward, we would extend the reach of the attainment fund—we will continue to do that.
The member referred to socioeconomic disadvantage, which is the biggest aspect in the attainment gap. It is right that we focus on that here and now, but I am most certainly listening to information about other aspects of disadvantage. I have seen a lot of the briefings prepared by third sector organisations in advance of this debate that talk about needs and how we can better reflect the needs of, for example, disabled children as we move forward.
Part 2 of the bill deals with Gaelic-medium education. The Government has always been clear about its aim to create a secure future for Gaelic in Scotland and that that will be done only by increasing the numbers who speak, learn and use the language. We therefore made a commitment to explore an entitlement to Gaelic-medium education where reasonable demand exists. The bill seeks to meet that commitment by introducing a process for parents to request Gaelic-medium primary education and by a duty on councils to assess and respond.
We listened with interest to the evidence heard by the Education and Culture Committee and the views expressed that the process proposed in the bill did not go far enough to satisfy our commitment. We therefore intend to bring forward amendments at stage 2 to include a presumption in favour of Gaelic-medium education as part of the process of assessing demand. The bill also proposes a duty on councils to promote and support Gaelic education and a duty on Bòrd na Gàidhlig to prepare guidance. Those are welcome developments and we are confident that they will contribute to the growth of Gaelic-medium education.