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Our ref: FOI/09/00138

24 February 2009

Dear Mr Singh

Thank you for your email of 28 January to the Scottish Government Central Enquiry Unit, concerning a request for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002:-

I would like to know how much funding has been provided specifically for Gaelic

Medium Education for the current financial year and what is budgeted for next

Year.

Also, how much of this funding has/will be allocated to Glasgow City Council and to

South Lanarkshire Council for the two financial years. If you could tell me whether

this money is ring-fenced or can be spent by local authorities as they see fit that would

be most helpful.

Gaelic Specific Grant funding is ring-fenced. The offer of grant is made under the Grants for Gaelic Education (Scotland) Regulations 1986 in respect of expenditure to be incurred for purposes approved by the Scottish Ministers in, or in connection with, the teaching of the Gaelic language or the teaching in that Language of other subjects.

Under the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Regulations 1986 grants are available to local authorities to cover up to 75% of the costs of providing Gaelic education. In 2008-09, when inviting authorities to bid for Gaelic Specific Grant funding, they were advised that funding bids would be judged against the following criteria:-

Scottish Ministers allocated £5.564 million per annum to the Gaelic Specific Grant Scheme for Gaelic Medium Education in the period 2008-09, 2009-2010 and 2010-2011, which is made up of the following:-

You also asked the question of how much funding was allocated to Glasgow City Council and South Lanarkshire Council. The table below sets out funding for 2008-09, 2009-2010 and 2010-2011.

I hope this is helpful for you.

Yours sincerely

Linda Roberts

Gaelic & Scots Unit