Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the parity of esteem under the 1998 Belfast Agreement, whether any change of status for the Irish language would also be granted to the Ulster Scots language.

Although the recent talks have not yet delivered a devolved power-sharing Executive in Northern Ireland, the Government’s priority is to see a functioning Executive in place at Stormont.

Under the devolution settlement, the majority of responsibility for language issues rests with the Northern Ireland Executive, including policy relating to the promotion of minority languages.

As the Government has previously made clear it is committed to affording due respect and parity of esteem to the cultural traditions in Northern Ireland.