Good morning. It gives me great pleasure to introduce myself. I’m Alasdair Allan, MSP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar and the new Minister for Learning and Skills in the Scottish Government. 

My brief will take in various aspects of school education and the ‘skills’ part will see me work towards modernising modern apprenticeships, making training work better and helping more young Scots into work. 

I’ve been an MSP since 2007, having previously worked as press officer for the Church of Scotland. Before that, I attended Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities. In 1994 I was the first person to write his final exams in Scots. 

I’m therefore delighted to be given lead responsibility for Scots and Gaelic and I’m sure I’ll be talking about both on Engage and elsewhere over the coming months. 

But it’s not just Scottish traditional languages that I’m interested in, as the Learning part of my brief also encompasses other modern languages and one of my first events as a Minister was yesterday’s Scottish Centre for Information on Languages Conference in Glasgow. 

The Scottish Government wants to boost Scotland’s performance in languages and to enhance the opportunities for our young people to develop the confidence and skills that they will need to make their way in an increasingly globalised world. 

We want to engage with everyone with an interest in languages, including parents and  learners to develop a languages plan that encourages cultural diversity and interest in languages at every level. 

We are committed to moving forward the “one plus two” agenda, meaning that all schoolchildren are given the chance to learn two languages in addition to their mother tongue, giving Scotland a real foothold on the global stage.

I’m looking forward to seeing progress on the plan in this Parliamentary session, as well as many more interesting and informative events like this week’s conference.

Dr Alasdair Allan, Minister for Learning and Skills