What Have Labour Done With The Cash?

SNP MSP, Bob Doris, has highlighted information given to the Scottish Parliament by Fiona Hyslop MSP, the Scottish Government's Cabinet Secretary for Education which showed that the City Council have £196million in capital funding this year alone and that there is also an unexpected additional boost of £6million to the city's coffers, money which could be used on the education estate rather than close schools as the council are proposing. The details emerged as Mr Doris was welcoming parents from two of the schools earmarked for closure, Wyndford and St Gregory's primary schools, to the parliament yesterday (Thursday 12th).

In response to a parliamentary question by one of the city's Labour MSP's, Ms Hyslop revealed the figures. Paul Martin MSP was reminded that Glasgow City Council had committed to delivering 1,000 new apprentices for the city and were set to fund the 1,000 places themselves. However after recent lobbying by Bob Doris MSP and his colleagues the Scottish Government stepped in and provided the  funding for Glasgow.

Of the news Bob Doris MSP said: "Labour cannot have it both ways. The City Council has claimed these closures are not due to budget cuts but yet their MSP's demand more cash from the Scottish Government. The Education Secretary's reply not only shows the significant amount of cash the City Council has and are not using on the 25 schools earmarked for closure, but also an extra £6 million which they did not even expect to get.

"If I were a parent at St Gregory's or Wyndford I'd be looking to see if that cash can fund a new joint campus. If I stayed in Cadder I'd be pushing for cash for the community school project that the local Housing Association has been working to develop as part of wider regeneration. Instead these and other communities are facing an educational axe.

"I know there is a new education spokesperson at Glasgow City Council and I very much hope he will stand up and fight for the bonus £6million given from the Scottish Government to Glasgow to be used in education rather than oversee a mass closure programme in our city which will harm both our children and our communities".

Note:

Below is a transcript of the question from Paul Martin MSP and Fiona Hyslop MSP's reply.

Glasgow City Council Education Department (Meetings)

Bill Kidd (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning last met Glasgow City Council education department and what issues were discussed. (S3O-6243)

The Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning (Fiona Hyslop): Officials from the Scottish Government regularly meet officials from Glasgow City Council on a range of issues related to the provision of education in the city. Recently, there have been meetings regarding the implementation of 16+ learning choices, enterprise in education and support for Glasgow's schools of ambition. I had the pleasure of visiting Govan high school, Castlemilk high school and St Paul's high school this week. An official from Glasgow City Council took part in two of those visits.

Bill Kidd: Glasgow City Council has decided to press ahead with the closure of 25 primary and nursery schools despite, as we saw in the demonstration outside today, overwhelming opposition among parents and Scottish National Party councillors' objections to the inadequate consultation. Does the cabinet secretary agree that the council should apply the proposed list of mandatory consultees in the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Bill, which includes pupils and teachers? Fiona Hyslop: Yes. It would not be unreasonable for the public to expect the council to do so, particularly in view of its response to our consultation paper last year on the proposal to extend the list of those who should be consulted, in which it said:

"GCC agree that children and young people should be consulted. However, younger children would need to be supported and clear guidance would be required to ensure it is the views of the children that are reflected."

The council did not comment either way on the proposal to extend the list to include teachers and other staff. Paul Martin (Glasgow Springburn) (Lab): The leader of Glasgow City Council advises me that he would be willing to postpone his plans under the school estate strategy if the Government was willing to provide additional funding to allow new schools to be built. Will the cabinet secretary make representations to Mr Swinney, the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, to allow for a new school building programme of the kind that took place under the previous Scottish Government?

Fiona Hyslop: This year alone, Glasgow City Council has received £196 million in capital funding. It is up to the council to choose whether to use that for refurbishment and capital spend on schools. Other local authorities are doing so. Those who are protesting today might rightly ask why Glasgow City Council is not spending it on schools.

The funding that the Government is providing for 1,000 of the apprenticeships that Steven Purcell wants to provide in Glasgow will free up £6 million over the next few years that would otherwise have been used for those apprenticeships. Perhaps Mr Purcell will want to invest that money in schools.

Anne McLaughlin (Glasgow) (SNP): Is the cabinet secretary aware of the challenges that face teachers of English as an additional language in Glasgow? Over three years in which an additional 3,000 to 4,000 foreign national children came into Glasgow schools, the number of such teachers dropped from 165 to 140. Does the cabinet secretary agree that, unless Glasgow City Council increases the number of EAL teachers, many children will simply slip through the net and be unable to fulfil their academic potential?

Fiona Hyslop: That issue has been raised a number of times and Anne McLaughlin is right to raise it again. The Government is providing record levels of funding for local government but is conscious of the pressures that local authorities face. The 2008 teacher census, which will provide the number of teachers in each local authority, will be published in the next few weeks, and will reflect the numbers that are employed by Glasgow City Council. There are clearly challenges in Glasgow, and I encourage everybody involved to help to support the council in delivering additional support for learning for children with English as a second language. That is one of the reasons why we provided funding for the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council to assist with family learning for speakers of other languages who are learning English.