§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
In the communiqué following the recent British-Irish Council Meeting in Cardiff, what were the agreed areas where enhanced co-operation at governmental level would be beneficial; and what are the countries and languages involved. [HL861]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs (Lord Filkin)The recent British-Irish Council (BIC) meeting in Cardiff focussed on indigenous, minority and lesser-used languages. It was agreed that members of the BIC should:
Other aspects of the BIC's meeting are described in the meeting communiqué (copies of which are available in the Library of the House).
- Jointly consider outcomes of research into intergenerational language transmission;
- Carry out an assessment of structures supporting indigenous language learning in adult education in each of the BIC administrations;
- Work together to identify priorities for their respective indigenous languages in relation to information and communication technology development;
- Consider together the potential benefits of cooperating on the development of language use surveys;
- Share information on their experiences of the relationship between planning policy and linguistic considerations;
The members of the Council are the British and Irish Governments; the devolved administrations of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales; the Bailiwicks of Jersey and Guernsey and the Isle of Man. (Since the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly, Northern Ireland interests within the British-Irish Council have been represented by Northern Ireland Office Ministers as part of the UK delegation).
44WAWork being taken forward on agreed areas will embrace the following indigenous, minority and lesser-used languages:
- Cymraeg/the Welsh Language
- Gaelic in Scotland
- Gaelg/the Manx Language
- An Ghaeilge/the Irish Language
- Guernesiais/Guernsey-French
- Jèrriais/the Jersey Language
- Ulster Scots
- Cornish