Comhairle nan Sgoiltean Araich, the Highland-based nationwide Gaelic pre-school council, has become the first organisation to receive the Investors in People award in Gaelic, or Creideas nar Cosnaichean.

Investors in People is a national initiative that encourages organisations to develop staff skills in line with business planning.  Highland businesses have been going through the process of assessment and accreditation with the help of local enterprise companies since the early nineties.  More recently demand has increased for a Gaelic version of the IiP wall plaque for display in work premises, but this has not been available until now.

A special ceremony will be held on Wednesday 28th August in Inverness for the 36 Highlands and Islands based organisations that have achieved IiP recognition since last December.  At the event IiP Scotland chairman, Hans Rissman, will present the first Gaelic plaque.

Keith Scammell, who will be receiving it on behalf of CNSA, said:  "Clearly we are very pleased to achieve accreditation for IiP, as this demonstrates that we maintain high standards in all our activities.  Given that our business is all about Gaelic and the promotion of the language, it is entirely appropriate that a Gaelic version of the IiP plaque should be available and we certainly welcome this.   After all, investing in people cannot exclude investing in their language.  I very much hope that we will see more of these awarded in future, particularly to businesses that communicate predominantly in Gaelic."

Scott Bruce, IiP advisor and consultant for Inverness and Nairn Enterprise said:  "It is to the credit of Highland and islands businesses that 36 organisations have achieved IiP accreditation this year alone.  Each of these is to be congratulated.  We do of course welcome the introduction of a Gaelic version of the IiP plaque.  This is entirely appropriate given that Gaelic is increasingly becoming integral to much of the business culture in the Highlands and Islands and so many organisations here have such close links with the language."