Written question asked by Calum Macdonald (Labour) on Thursday, 13 May 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 27 May 2004. It was answered by Chris Leslie (Labour) on Thursday, 27 May 2004 on behalf of the Department for Constitutional Affairs.

Dept for Constitutional Affairs

Question: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs, whether the meeting of the British-Irish Council held in November 2003 identified areas for enhanced inter-governmental cooperation in respect of indigenous, minority and lesser used languages.

Answer: Mr. MacDonald: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs whether the meeting of the British-Irish Council held in November 2003 identified areas for enhanced inter-governmental cooperation in respect of indigenous, minority and lesser-used languages. [174185] Mr. Leslie: The meeting of the British-Irish Council in November 2003 focused on indigenous, minority and lesser-used languages. It was agreed that members of the BIC should: 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 co-operating on the development of language use surveys; and share information on their experiences of the relationship between planning policy and linguistic considerations.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 174185; 421 c1785W
Session: 2003-04
Subjects: Cross border cooperation Languages Northern Ireland Minority groups Republic of Ireland British Irish Council
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk