Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reasons the Government does not respond to correspondence written in Scottish Gaelic with a reply in Scottish Gaelic.

The Government recognises and supports the cultural and historical significance of all languages spoken within the United Kingdom, and as a demonstration of its support for Scottish Gaelic, is providing the broadcaster MG ALBA with funding of £1 million in the previous and current financial years.

Given the current low levels of demand for such a service, providing official responses to correspondence in Scottish Gaelic would represent a disproportionate cost. Therefore, we have no plans to introduce a Gaelic language policy for written correspondence.