I was pleased to see that, during the past week, in a debate in the Scottish Parliament on cuts to the education budget, Liberal Democrat Shadow Education Secretary Jeremy Purvis MSP demanded urgent clarification from the Scottish Government about how much extra money is necessary for the SNP to achieve its class size targets.This is an issue I have raised locally here in Dundee on a number of occasions, as there is concern locally at the lack of funding from the SNP government for their own policy.
Jeremy said, “The SNP provided no additional resources to deliver what, before the election, it described as the flagship education policy. Teachers, parents and pupils deserve a statement from the Scottish Government to clear up the confusion surrounding the cost of cutting class sizes and exactly how the SNP will pay for it.
“Last week, the EIS voted unanimously to support a strategy to oppose funding cuts, which included ballots for industrial action. Meanwhile, teachers have been raising significant concerns about the future of education and a Liberal Democrat investigation found that councils across the country are struggling to implement strategies to achieve the SNP’s class size target.
“The SNP is all over the place on its class size targets. SNP Ministers are sounding more and more desperate as they try to defend the indefensible.”
I'm pleased that the Liberal Democrats in the parliament condemned the Scottish Government’s complacency over the impact of its cut to the education budget. LibDem MSPs warned during the budget process that this was the worst settlement for education in Scotland since 1999.
The SNP must stop passing the buck to local authorities and start to take some responsibility for its own commitments. It must ensure that sufficient funding is in place not only to meet their own policy pledges but also to prevent job losses in our schools.
You can read Jeremy Purvis's speech by clicking on the headline above.