Language and Literature in Scotland - Kumitat Tekniku tal- Letteratura

"Our next major enterprise..."
Final Report of the Cultural Commission, June 2005

Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a significant role in helping Scottish

communities meet their cultural, artistic and creative needs, and the importance

placed on this role is reinforced by the establishment in a number of institutions of a

Universities are powerhouses of culture for local communities providing art venues,

libraries, museums, arts training opportunities and hosting public cultural events, to

cite just a few activities. Student groups in drama, dance, music and a wide range of

activities make substantial contributions to a culturally vibrant Scotland. Academic

staff are also a major cultural force and university curricula are heavily culturally

In the field of literature alone, the effects of university initiatives have been profound.

itself in the middle of the city and has promoted the very successful Word Festival.

designation as City of Literature. St Andrew’s University has one of the strongest

creative writing teams in Britain for prose and poetry. It also teaches the only

Scottish universities teach film studies and this activity will be complemented by a

new Scottish Centre for film production jointly created by Napier University and

Edinburgh College of Art. Dundee University has sustained its valuable prize for a

first novel and Napier University, custodian of the heritage of the Craiglockart Spa,

“Literature is the creative use of language, the foundation of thought and the

“Books are a uniquely democratic art form, portable, affordable and available

Writing is a demonstrable and historic Scottish strength, covering not only fiction and

poetry but also writings on philosophy and the sciences as well as religion. That

tradition is an exciting and tangible heritage in our libraries and archives. In our

Scotland also has an extraordinary flowering of literary festivals: StAnza, Edinburgh

Book Festival, Aye Write in Glasgow, the Word in Aberdeen and the Wigtown festival

and its ambition as ‘booktown’. Canongate won the title of UK Publisher of the Year

in 2004, Edinburgh became the first UNESCO city of literature in that year and the

We have 80 publishers, most very small, a healthy number of small booksellers and

two university imprints. The universities themselves are promoting the growth of the

literary and book sectors with initiatives such as Poetry House at St Andrew’s and

Despite our rich heritage and strong literary sector, Scottish literature and history is

not taught systematically in schools. We give teachers themselves little training in

schools system. Scotland still has an industrial cycle of activity involving writers,

visual artists, publishers, printers, distributors, and booksellers. We still have the

means of designing, printing, publishing, and selling in Scotland but we need to make

sure that we retain those capabilities. Such businesses are vulnerable and it may be

It was put to us that we should secure the place of Scottish literature in both teacher

education and the schools’ curriculum and build storytelling and book culture from

Literature is also a business. The components of literary agency, design, printing,

publishing and bookselling need to be supported within Scotland and abroad. This is

a job for Scottish Enterprise, which has already done good work in promoting this

sector of the creative industries. Scotland’s publishers and their association need

funding to sell abroad at the great trade fairs in Frankfurt, Bologna and elsewhere.

International Book Festival (EIBF), The Literature Forum, the Publishers’ Association,

Edinburgh City of Literature and other partners. There should be space to house and

particular the EIBF, need visitor friendly premises as part of our tourist strategy.

literature, Scotland should exploit this asset and invest in bringing more international

literary and book-centred gatherings to Scotland. EventScotland should support this

The Commission believes that the encouragement of writing should lie with the SAC

and any new agency established to support culture in Scotland. Launching writers

into self-sufficiency should be the aim but where this is unachievable, as in the case

approach in this respect: based on the Irish model, grants for aspirant writers should

The SAC awards have been highly beneficial in the literature sector, as have the

awarding a medal to those whose achievement has brought distinction to Scotland.

Scotland now has a calendar of very high-grade book festivals around the country.

The immediate need is to ensure that this proliferation does not end up in duplication.

The Word Festival has established an audience for a literary festival in Aberdeen.

Simultaneously the new Glasgow festival of writing, Aye Write, has had a successful

launch in 2005, concentrating on ‘writing’ rather than ‘books’. The greater part of the

population experiences literature primarily through script writing for television drama

serials. There is an opportunity for this festival to mark out new ground in, say, writing

StAnza the book festival in St Andrew’s is dedicated to poetry and St Andrew’s has

celebrate the medium in the festival. This festival is set in a Scottish town but its

reputation is becoming international. Wigtown has developed itself as a ‘booktown’

Clearly Scotland has an asset in its literary and book festivals. Scottish literary

festivals are perhaps gelling to form a marketable entity to the world. A strategy for

publicising these events needs to be developed by VisitScotland, and the festival

directors will need to share experience but should not be distracted from promoting

excellence in their individual events. These festivals must also be part of the portfolio

of events for educators to offer to Scottish students in school and in higher education.

Cultural events help artists maximise their creative potential and offer young people

successful authors – not just the novelists such as Rankin and MacCall Smith

and an increasingly influential university library sector. Yet we do not require

public libraries to buy Scottish literature. There is no Scottish based library

We still have the means of designing, printing, publishing, and selling in Scotland but

strongly that Scotland must introduce its citizens to their national literature, past and

Scottish writers to the Scottish public and, in the same action, bringing support to

Scottish publishers. SLIC has been actively involved in encouraging libraries to

procure Scottish material with the development of the Scottish Bibliography. The

presence for marketing Scottish books and that will be run by the Scottish Publishers

on books published in Scotland and on books written by writers living in Scotland. We

suggest that the proposed new sector council for libraries establishes guidelines and

collaborates with the Scottish Library Network. It may be that a non-recurrent grant

from the Scottish Executive could endow each public library with a core collection of

contemporary Scottish books. As ever, the primary criterion for selection should be

world’s indivisible heritage that it is our duty to hold in trust for all humanity.”

Scotland is a linguistically diverse country. We have three indigenous languages –

Gaelic, Scots and English – many regional and local dialects, and the languages of

our ethnic and multi-cultural communities. For the purposes of this report we have

taken our lead from the Commission’s remit and focused predominately on Gaelic

We believe that Scotland’s indigenous languages, Gaelic and Scots, are national

treasures and have a central role to play in the cultural life of Scotland. We are

custodians of these languages and we should take this responsibility seriously. We

believe the distinctiveness of Scotland in the eyes of the rest of world is enhanced by

the Gaelic and Scots languages, and the identity of Scots is strengthened through

understand, however, that parity of esteem is a prerequisite for any custodian of a

With fewer than 60,000 speakers in Scotland, comprising 1% of the total population,

measures to safeguard the position of the language and its associated culture. Gaelic

is being supported through legislation, with the Scottish Executive’s Gaelic Language

Bill and Bòrd na Gàidhlig which was set up by the Executive in 2003 as one of the

responses to the Ministerial Advisory Group on Gaelic. The Bòrd advises Scottish

Ministers on all areas of Gaelic development and its primary task is to create a

“Although the language (Gaelic) is in a precarious state, it is far for dead, and

Gaelic now features at all levels of education in Scotland: pre-school, primary,

secondary, further and higher education, and as part of teacher training. Gaelic

language and education are not confined to the traditional Gaelic-speaking areas of

Scotland but are also established in the main urban areas, with people of all ages

encouraged to learn.[ii] Gaelic education in Scottish primary schools has increased

a height of 3 million or more speakers in the late 1800s. Today 30% of people are

believed to use Scots in daily life.[iv] Like Gaelic, Scots has been found to be strongest

historic negativity towards Scots persists and the public still perceives the Scots

language as inferior and that the value of the Scots language will not change unless

Scots Language Resource Centre and Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on the Scots Language, January 2005

“Scots has suffered from its proximity to English, being too often dismissed as

‘bad English’, ‘the language of the gutter’ and so on. Not surprisingly, if

bulk of the literature written in that language, and if they are discouraged from

For the past twenty years, organisations such as Scots Language Dictionaries have

endeavoured to further the cause of Scots through a variety of publications. The

Scots Language Resource Centre (SLRC) in Perth, Central Scotland was established

as a principal source of textual and archival information on Scots.[vi] The SLRC is a

that the Commission has held with Bòrd na Gàidhlig, the Gaelic and Scots cultural

groups and stakeholders from Scotland’s other linguistic communities, it would

appear that perhaps the greatest challenge facing our indigenous languages is the

communities feel their language is discriminated against and both feel strongly their

The Commission supports the valuable work of Bòrd na Gàidhlig and considers its

role essential in delivering the National Plan for Gaelic, once the Gaelic Language

A proposal for an Institute for the Languages of Scotland has been developed by a

number of academic institutions and language agencies working together since 1999.

The rationale is that Scotland is lacking an important resource that has been shown

in other countries to play a central role in supporting and leading on language policy.

language interest groups. The proposal is currently with the Scottish Executive. The

concerns of the people of Scotland”. The National Cultural Strategy (2000) also

The study suggests the Institute works in association with such organisations as Bòrd

§ work with existing language organisations to coordinate activities at a national level

§ a single access point for expert knowledge and reliable information on all Scotland’s languages, including for policy makers

The proposed Institute would perform an advocacy role on behalf of the sector and

would provide information resources to assist and coordinate the advocacy efforts of

The proposal for the Institute has received significant support from many Gaelic and

groups. The range of partners involved in the proposal highlights the level of demand

in the sector for an umbrella organisation such as the Institute. Special status would

be afforded by the Institute to Scots, Scottish English and Gaelic as indigenous

languages in need of conservation. However, the Institute could be also all-inclusive

We believe a representative body for the indigenous languages of Scotland should

be created. Such a body should primarily seek to develop standards of good practice

We believe there is also an important developmental role to be undertaken (such as

that outlined for the proposed Institute) and, depending on the chosen infrastructure

model (as set out in Section 10) it may be appropriate for this new representative

body to undertake that role. If not, then an organisation/s should be clearly identified

status, and for these languages to have parity of esteem with English. There have

also been calls for “equal levels of funding to be given to each of Scotland’s

is seen as a useful step [ix] and there is considerable support for Scots to have its

submission calls for “efforts to be put in place which will address the present

aimed at raising the status and profile of Scots to that of Gaelic is an Indigenous

There is unanimous belief within the Gaelic community that the Gaelic Language Bill

once enacted will bring about a step change in attitudes towards the language and

ensure its development is undertaken consistently across Scotland. We understand

there may be some concern at the potential financial consequences of such a step,

Languages Bill is that this would begin the process of increasing the status and

indigenous languages. We believe a practical way of elaborating the consequences,

represents the views of many of the Commission’s consultees, including the Scots

there are calls for not only the option of Gaelic being available for all school children,

but for children to receive their full formal education through the medium of Gaelic.[x]

There have also been calls, particularly from the Scots speaking community, for state

schools to encourage respect for linguistic diversity and provide opportunities for

pupils to learn about the variety of languages and dialects used in Scotland[xi] and that

consultees has taken this proposal further and, in addition to calling for Scotland’s

indigenous languages to be in the schools curriculum, called for them to be a national

priority in education under the Standards in Scotland’s School’s Act 2000.[xii] It should

languages forward historically and can play a significant role in education in the

Turnbull and Murray Tyrrell, in their January 2005 submission are very clear on the

implications when they say that the “Scottish Executive needs to provide resources to

enable the training of teachers across Scotland who can deliver Scots language and

literature education into our schools”.[xiv] Furthermore, they propose that every local

The Commission supports calls for all schools in Scotland to encourage respect for

linguistic diversity and provide opportunities for pupils to learn about the variety of

subsidies and support from the Scottish government, and both industries are trying to

develop and expand their capacity and sales. Those publishers that do specialise in

Gaelic titles are generally small. Despite these issues, the inclusion of a Gaelic

language option in the Scottish school curriculum in Scotland has created a demand

for educational materials and Scotland’s specialist publishers have experienced

We understand that the absence of a popular reading culture is a challenge for the

diversification of the Gaelic publishing industry away from educational titles. There is

no doubt that a strong publishing sector in Gaelic and Scots is important to the

survival of both languages. There is a need for both high quality educational reading

The Commission supports the work already being undertaken by Bòrd na Gàidhlig in

working with the SAC, Comhairle nan Leabraichean, Stòrlann Nàiseanta na Gàidhlig

and others in developing material for not only educational purposes but for general

diversification of Gaelic publishing and to increase the range and quality of books,

magazines and articles. This could be achieved by Bòrd na Gàidhlig encouraging the

creation of new publications in Gaelic and by developing the existing support by the

The power of Scottish storytelling has been revived by the Scottish Storytelling

We believe the Scottish Storytelling Centre is key to the successful development of

storytelling in Scotland and that it should be resourced adequately to ensure it can

functions of Bòrd na Gàidhlig. It does this by promoting information schemes and

events, initiatives that raise the profile of Gaelic and by increasing the use of ICT.

The Commission supports this work and believes that there is a continuing need to

highlight the importance of both Gaelic and Scots as part of Scotland’s national

We understand that the Scottish Executive is currently preparing an internal strategy

The status of Scots could also be enhanced by key institutions and bodies making

use of the language in a variety of physical and virtual spaces, and staff could be

employed whose job it is to promote and protect Scotland’s indigenous languages.[xv]

speakers and that it should be included as part of the Census. Broadcasting is an

important part of maintaining use and visibility of the languages, and enhancing their

status. The Scottish Executive and Bòrd na Gàidhlig should encourage the extension

as a national charity for storytelling, proved so popular that in 1997 a dedicated

Scottish Storytelling Centre was created. Situated on Edinburgh’s historic Royal

The Storytelling Centre acts as a gateway to Scotland’s oral traditions through

stories of Celtic saints and Vikings as well as tales of Scottish heroes and villains.

oral culture of the Scottish Travellers. Stories are also related in Norse as well as

Storytelling Festival celebrating oral traditions from around the world and featuring

1) That ‘national’ status should be defined by Parliament, that the cohort of bodies/organisations with ‘national’ status should be open to change and that ‘national’ status be subject to continuing ability to meet the terms defined by Parliament.

3) The establishment in legislation of a Board of Scottish National Performing Companies and a Board of National Institutions with Collections.

4) Clear, simplified funding contracts between the Scottish Executive or its appointed representative and the national companies and institutions detailing performance expectation and level of public investment.

5) A single funding source for the national performing companies and national collections.

6) A ‘best value’ review of the national performing companies including; built estates, administration, repertoire planning system, and orchestral provision

7) That on satisfactory completion of the best value review, and prior to establishing the National Board, that the national performing companies have increased baseline investment and any outstanding deficits cleared.

8) A Youth Arts Strategy Forum be created with representatives from each of the National Youth Performing Arts Companies and appropriate Scottish Executive Departments.

9) The national youth companies should develop a nationally recognised ‘kitemarking’ service for trained instructors.

10) There should be a forum for the National Companies and National Youth Companies, to create a co-ordinated strategy for educational and youth arts in Scotland.

12) That a consortium led by the lead agency (or the SAC preceding the adoption of the new infrastructure model) should develop the shape and operation of the Touring Exchange.

13) That an International Unit should be established within any new cultural infrastructure. Its main functions would be to:

§ develop range and type of international events, including Capitals of Culture

14) That a national council for the creative individual be created and an inspiring name adopted

15) That support for creative individuals becomes a discrete part of a single agency.

17) A scheme of fiscal support for creators and for creative individuals (interpretive artists) should be developed and promoted to the UK government by the Scottish Executive.

18) That the creation of a National Estates Forum with representatives of the cultural estate, to include Scottish Executive, its relevant agencies, local authorities, National Trust for Scotland, A+DS, The Lighthouse and the Church Estates.

19) That the National Estates Forum commission a national audit of Scotland’s cultural estate, devise and propose national standards of good design and good practice, develop a national strategy for maintaining and developing the cultural estate and prepare a case for investment.

20) That early referral to A+DS for advice on good practice should become an accepted part of the procurement process and that the Scottish Executive should consider developing this into a statutory role.

21) That a guideline for good practice in design of the public estate should be prepared and implemented.

22) That the programme for raising awareness of architecture and design issues in schools and colleges should be extended and early advice sought by local authorities from the facility proposed by The Lighthouse.

23) That a report should be commissioned by the Scottish Executive to consider how to involve the best Scottish talent in the design of the public estate, and to address issues of good practice.

24) The management of properties in the care of Historic Scotland and NTS is reviewed to assess the viability of joint administration.

25) That a representative body for the indigenous languages of Scotland should be created. This body would develop standards of good practice, advocate and ensure cooperation and collaboration between existing bodies and initiatives.

26) That there should be a national indigenous language strategy. This could be a responsibility of the proposed new body.

27) That the Scottish Storytelling Centre should be resourced to develop and implement a national strategy for developing storytelling.

1) That existing relevant international, European and UK rights (as outlined above) are acknowledged and endorsed in legislation.

2) That there be four cultural rights, prepared by Scottish Ministers and recorded in legislation as follows:

3) That these rights should be considered as permissive and reviewed on a statutory cycle.

4) That national cultural standards be established for direction and guidance in the provision and delivery of publicly-funded services in:

5) That these national standards be proposed by a body whose membership is demonstrably representative of its sector and Scotland’s geography, and includes the voluntary, private and public sectors. This body should be endorsed by the Scottish Executive or its appointed substitute.

6) That these national standards be used as guidance for the preparation of local entitlements, and assessed and reviewed on a rolling basis at intervals of no less than five years.

7) That the responsibility for proposing and endorsing these national standards is specified in legislation.

8) That cultural entitlements be established in each local authority area to specify the level and nature of cultural provision by publicly funded bodies.

9) That these cultural entitlements be provision based and formulated by a local partnership, led by the local authority, whose membership is demonstrably representative of the cultural sector in that area and includes the voluntary, private and public sectors. This body should be endorsed by the Scottish Executive or its appointed substitute.

10) That these entitlements, and their means of delivery, are presented in a Local Cultural Strategy.

11) That these entitlements are formally assessed and reviewed on a rolling basis at least every five years.

12) That the responsibility for proposing, endorsing, assessing and reviewing these entitlements is specified in legislation.

13) That these measures replace the current legal obligation on Local Authorities to provide ‘adequate’ cultural provision.

14) That the First Minister invites Parliament to adopt an appropriate means of acknowledging the centrality of cultural life in Scotland.

15) Responsibility for the National Archives of Scotland should rest with the Minister with responsibility for Culture to ensure joint working with the other national collections and to develop further its citizen focus.

16) A long-term strategic plan for the development and sustainable financing of museums and galleries, linked to the development of national standards by the sector, is created and implemented.

17) That ‘national’ status should be defined by Parliament, that the cohort of bodies/organisations with ‘national’ status should be open to change and that ‘national’ status be subject to continuing ability to meet the terms defined by Parliament.

18) The establishment in legislation of a Board of Scottish National Performing Companies and a Board of National Institutions with Collections.

19) On satisfactory completion of the best value review, and prior to establishing the National Board, that the national performing companies have increased baseline investment and any outstanding deficits cleared.

22) That legislation is required to amend The Local Government In Scotland Act 2003 in order to make culture a specific key strategic theme within the Community Planning system.

23) That local government should be represented in any new model of cultural infrastructure.

24) That Cultural Enterprise Offices should be developed further, and integrated with any new cultural infrastructure development

25) That the Think Tank function should be a discrete element sponsored by the new cultural infrastructure model.

26) That the lead agency should be tasked to improve the collection, coordination

29) That the proposals outlined in Option I be used as the basis for reconfiguring the organisational infrastructure of the cultural sector in Scotland.

30) That learning in and through the arts be given a higher profile in the implementation of the Curriculum Review, any re-examination of Initial Teacher Education and in the development of Quality Improvement Frameworks in schools.

31) That cultural activity be recognised and adopted as the key methodology for all children and young people aged 3 to 18 and that priority be given to early learning from 3 to 8 years.

32) That entitlement schemes such as the Culture Vouchers or Cheques should be piloted by the Scottish Executive.

35) The funding of the visioning and design process as proposed by The Lighthouse for every school building and refurbishment project.

39) That a review to consider improvements in community and parent access to schools, while taking into account school security and the impacts of the Disclosure scheme on cultural workers.

40) Support for the creative industries initiative in the University of St Andrews.

41) Courses in Scottish HE and FE that relate to art, music, the performing arts and writing as well as the creative, scientific or technical industries should include a module on intellectual property.

42) That the Minister with responsibility for Culture and the Department should lead on ensuring that all Scottish Executive Departments and public agencies are aware of their responsibilities to deliver cultural activity and review regularly their opportunities and capability to do so.

43) That the Scottish Executive identifies and implements means of bringing the cultural and tourism sectors together more effectively.

44) That Scottish Enterprise issue specific guidance to its LECS on proactive support creative micro-businesses, individuals and the cultural sector.

45) That the SAC, SLIC and SMC should pursue the ideas promoted to develop the various sectors contained in the submissions to the Commission.

46) That a Board of National Collections is established to ensure more effective and strategic operation of the national collections.

47) A national council for libraries be created to shape and propose national standards for libraries, and that the National Librarian should have a formal locus in this.

48) A scheme to identify library collections of particular significance in Scotland should be undertaken by the National Library of Scotland.

50) Clear, simplified funding contracts between the Scottish Executive or its appointed representative and the national companies and institutions detailing performance expectation and level of public investment.

51) That a national awards scheme for creative individuals should be introduced.

52) The creation of a National Estates Forum with representatives of the cultural estate, to include Scottish Executive, its relevant agencies, local authorities, National Trust for Scotland, A+DS, The Lighthouse and the Church Estates.

53) Early referral to A+DS for advice on good practice should become an accepted part of the procurement process and that the Scottish Executive should consider developing this into a statutory role.

54) That a guideline for good practice in design of the public estate should be prepared and implemented.

55) That the programme for raising awareness of architecture and design issues in schools and colleges should be extended and early advice sought by local authorities from the facility proposed by The Lighthouse.

56) That a report should be commissioned by the Scottish Executive to consider how to involve the best Scottish talent in the design of the public estate, and to address issues of good practice.

57) That community planning be adopted as the operational cornerstone for delivery of culture locally and nationally and best practice should be shared.

58) The Scottish Executive should establish and support a Commission, or similar body, to consider further cultural diversity in Scotland and how best to achieve the successful balance of different cultures within a united country.

59) That local authorities should take the lead in establishing and servicing Cultural Planning Partnerships which include the voluntary, private and public sectors.

60) That the research undertaken by Bonnar Keenlyside on the Commission’s behalf should be shared widely.

61) That a national online resource providing information and advice, and the opportunity for the sector to develop a collective voice and to provide peripheral and remote communities with a reference point.

62) Funding for the voluntary cultural sector to participate fully in cultural community planning.

63) That public sector agencies should review their funding procedures to ensure that they are straightforward and clear.

64) That the Scottish Executive’s International Strategy should include liaison with, and encouragement of, The Scotland Funds project.

65) That the Scottish Executive promotes to the UK Government improved measures to encourage private sector donations and contributions to cultural

66) That the Scottish Executive supports the Goodison proposals for tax breaks for donations to museums.

67) That the cultural infrastructure should develop a facility to encourage individual and corporate giving, and ensure appropriate recognition in return.

68) That partnership with business should be integrated at all levels of cultural planning and government across Scotland.

69) That a national creative industries sectoral council should be created. Its functions would include: developing national standards for the sector, a more coherent approach to development of the sector, improving the public profile and status of the creative industries, assisting strategic coherence between existing initiatives and identifying areas of the sector requiring new initiatives.

70) That schools should be encouraged to make visual and design literacy prominent and present cultural and creative industries as viable career choices.

71) That the Scottish Executive should develop a digital media strategy. It should address connecting professional training with the needs of the industry, promoting and rewarding excellence, encouraging the use of home-grown

talent, retention of skilled individuals; encouraging partnership work with private sector investors.

72) That the Scottish Executive should continue to lobby for commissioning by broadcasters to be located in Scotland.

73) That the Scottish Executive should explore options for using Scotland as a digital broadcasting test bed, with the support of the broadcasters and DCMS.

74) That the principles behind the CultureScotland.Com proposal are examined further by the Scottish Executive.

75) The First Minister considers the introduction of a Deputy Minister’s post for the current Tourism, Culture and Sport portfolio.

76) That the Scottish Executive undertakes a full analysis of the one-off costs involved in implementing the proposed organisational infrastructure.

78) The creation of a body to provide bespoke financial, investment, advice and brokerage services for the cultural sector.

79) A permanent and nationally consistent Cultural Coordinators scheme, akin to the co-ordinators sports programme Active Schools, with responsibility for coordinating delivery of cultural entitlements, both strategically and operationally.

80) That quality standards, monitoring, and evaluation of cultural projects are developed as a reference point for cultural coordinators.

pilot a programme to produce a e-archive album for each child, and to pilot individual workspaces on the internet.

82) That a national strategy for educational materials, visits and experiences supported by companies and institutions across Scotland and co-ordinated by Learning Teaching Scotland.

84) Support for the proposal from SHEFC to generate community benefit from a new outreach strategy that might take the form of cultural coordinators.

85) An audit of the CPD short courses open to teachers under the revised conditions of service and thereafter the creation of a market supported by a national system for promoting these courses.

86) Support for enhanced capacity for RSAMD and strategic planning between RSAMD and the national performing companies.

87) That the differential in the funding of places for drama teachers in England and Scotland be rectified.

88) That there should be an increase in the funding for undergraduate and research places in Scottish schools of art.

89) That the Scottish Executive should address the disparity in funding for Scottish theatre revealed in the Boyden report.

90) A strategy for support of the creative industries be developed by government and its agencies together with a commitment to identify the resources to implement it.

91) That procurement funds for public libraries should be extended to allow the purchase of a substantial proportion of quality books and professional recordings published in Scotland and by writers living and working in Scotland.

92) That procurement of material for libraries should be coordinated on a regional or, where possible, national basis.

93) That as part of curriculum based school activities young people of all ages should be able to visit museums and galleries of assured quality.

94) That everyone should have reasonable access to museums and galleries of assured quality and that the provision and development of museum and gallery services should be responsive to community needs and aspirations as articulated through community planning.

95) The introduction of a national approach to the measurement and evaluation of museums and galleries as a means of developing policy and recognising achievement.

96) The introduction of a national approach based on curatorial excellence to collecting, disposal, storage and access.

97) The introduction of a national approach to the development of curatorial talent in Scotland and to the attraction of curatorial expertise to Scotland.

98) The development of a process for recognising collections of particular significance. This process should lead to the development of policy and standards (with accompanying funding) for the preservation and enhancement of the most important collections.

99) Investment in a national on-line portal capable of displaying the collections of particular significance and providing the public with access to information about the museums and galleries housing them.

100) That a ‘best value’ review of the national performing companies including; built estates, administration, repertoire planning system, and orchestral provision.

102) That a consortium led by the lead agency (or the SAC preceding the adoption

of the new infrastructure model) should develop the shape and operation of the Touring Exchange.

103) That a national council for the creative individual be created and an inspiring name adopted.

104) That the National Estates Forum commission a national audit of Scotland’s

106) That there should be a national indigenous language strategy. This could be a

108) That financial incentives to encourage cultural planning should be provided by

111) The creation of a local cultural voluntary sector development officer position in each local authority.

112) That local authorities assume a development role, supporting and facilitating the voluntary sector.

113) Increased public sector investment in indigenous creative industries to deliver

114) That existing cultural research and development work should be coordinated and, where gaps exist, new work commissioned as appropriate.

115) That the cultural sector should apply its effort to the development and implementation of a tailor-made system for the performance, measuring, monitoring and benchmarking of cultural information.

116) That key bodies in the sector should be required to adopt standard methods of recording and collating information.

117) Acknowledgement of the scale of the current funding gap in capital and revenue provision at almost £100m, and a strategy to address it by the Scottish Executive setting a target of 1% of their annual budget as a floor for their allocation towards cultural provision.

118) An audit to re-define cultural assets of ‘national significance’ and a consequent investment of central government funds to support them.

119) That a systematic audit to re-define collections and organisations of national

120) The development of joint-use libraries, particularly with schools and cultural

centres, and the inclusion of library services in the development of public services hubs.

121) More use of permanent and temporary loans of the significant collections around Scotland.

122) A single funding source for the national performing companies and national collections.

123) A scheme of fiscal support for creators and for creative individuals (interpretive artists) should be developed and promoted to the UK government by the Scottish Executive.

124) Introducing incentives, including tax incentives, to encourage public and private sector investment.

[i] Writers’ Centre for Scotland, Scottish Arts Council (2000).

[ii] Data extracted from Scottish Executive archive data at www.scotland.gov.uk/publications.

[iii] Data extracted from Scottish Executive archive data at www.scotland.gov.uk/publications

[iv] http://scotsyett.com/anent/attitudes.asp 2004

[v] The Scots Leid Associe website at http://www.lallans.co.uk/furthsettins/info.html 2004

[vi] Why Scots Matters, McClure and Derrick (1997) Saltire Society

[vii] The proposal has also been recommended to the Commission in submissions received

from: the Scots Language Resource Centre and the Scottish Parliament Cross Party

Group on the Scots Language; Catriona Black, Robert Seaton, Lis Smith, Ron Turnbull

and Murray Tyrrell; Scottish Language Dictionaries; Faclair na Gàidhlig; and the SNP.

[viii] The Scots Language Resource Centre and the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on

the Scots Language.

[ix] SNP Submission, February 2005.

[x] Bòrd na Gàidhlig, March 2005.

[xi] The Scots Language Resource Centre and the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on

the Scots Language.

[xii] Catriona Black, Robert Seaton, Lis Smith, Ron Turnbull and Murray Tyrrell, January 2005.

[xiii] Alasdair MacKenzie, September 2004.

[xiv] Itchy Coo Education, January 2005.

[xv] The Scots Language Resource Centre and the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on

the Scots Language.