First Minister sets out plans for Tartan Day

Published on Friday 14 March 2008 09:21

FIRST Minister Alex Salmond will today set out the Government's programme for Tartan Day.

He will outline the plans at a speech to the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) 37th international forum in St Andrews.

There was no ministerial programme running alongside Tartan Week last year as it took place in the run-up to the elections.

But the then-Executive invested 344,000 in funding Scottish organisations to stage events at the week. An additional 70,000 was invested in marketing.

But a report earlier this week recommended changing the name of the US-based Tartan Week to Scotland Week.

The event has been held in the US since 1998, after the Senate designated April 6 Tartan Day.

The study, commissioned by the previous Executive, also suggested that in future there should be more events in other American cities, rather than just New York.

The report claimed there was confusion among some taking part about what tartan was.