HC Deb 15 July 1986 vol 101 cc499-500W
Mr. Wilson

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland when he intends to provide a substantive reply to the letter of 11 February 1986 from the hon. Member for Dundee, East on the subject of charges for dental bridgework at Dundee dental hospital.

Central Government funding to Gaelic organisations 1974 to 1987
Estimate
1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87
£ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £
National Voluntary Organisations 12,000 14,500 26,400 30,360 45,638 38,010 57,154 66,000 72,000 77,190 81,050 121,000 101,000
(Bilingual Education WIIC) 5,854 12,051 12,855 13,183 14,078 18,245 8,956
Stirling University Re-evaluation of the Western Isles Bilingual Project 7,987 30,803 31,327
Consultative Committee on the Curriculum Committee on Gaelic 1,180 5,470 5,240 5,440 3,320 4,400 1,470
Gaelic Books Council 10,000 12,500 22,000 18,117 23,896 36,486 29,127 43,517 45,856 49,350 50,000 52,000 58,250
Funded by SAC n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 44,000 125,000 n.a.
Direct Funding by HIDB 150 5,000 2,895 42,625 24,575 3,600 21,250 36,000 51,100 111,650 145,651 242,155 250,900
Specific Grant 250,000
Total 22,150 37,854 63,346 103,957 107,292 92,174 126,956 159,943 174,196 251,617 354,824 575,882 661,620

n.a. Figures not available.

Mr. Donald Stewart

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list the leaflets and forms which his Department prints in Gaelic or in an English/Gaelic bilingual format.

Mr. Rifkind

I shall reply to the right hon. Member as soon as possible.

Mr. Donald Stewart

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will express Government financial support for the Gaelic language in each year since 1974–75 on a per capita Gaelic speaker basis.

Mr. Malcolm Rifkind

As a rough guide, and excluding Scottish Arts Council expenditure on arts bodies, for all years except 1984–85 and 1985–86 the figures are as follows:

Year *Amount per Gaelic speaker
£
1974–75 0.25
1975–76 0.43
1976–77 0.72
1977–78 1.18
1978–79 1.21
1979–80 1.04
1980–81 1.44
1981–82 1.94
1982–83 2.11
1983–84 3.05
1984–85 4.29
1985–86 6.97
1986–87 †8.00

Mr. John MacKay

I have written today to the hon. Member on this matter and regret that it has taken some time to consider the issues involved.