Calls for Falkirk councillors to vote down school hours cut

It is clear from speaking to parents, young people and educators that they have severe concerns about the Falkirk Council proposal to cut school hours for young people in Falkirk. I made it clear before the election my opposition to this proposal.

This was due to the prospect of damage it would do to the same fantastic educational experience I and my family enjoyed in Falkirk and the financial case for a cut of this impact clearly not stacking up. This is a position shared by many in the community and I took substantial time during the campaign to listen to and understand people’s concerns.

The argument that really stuck with me was while better off parents may be able to use their money to invest in extra private tutoring, the children of parents who do not have that option would fall further behind.

Section 7.5 of the report makes it clear that the current Scottish Government position on Teacher Numbers means £4.5m may be withheld from council coffers if this proposal goes ahead. I’ve seen no reason articulated by the council administration which suggests that their party colleagues will reverse this position soon.

This means a savings proposal that will deprive children of over a year of teaching time across their educational journey, but may only save the council slightly over a million. A figure close to the £1.1m extra the council would have saved had the Labour Group budget been voted for this February.

I do not underestimate the financial challenge Falkirk Council is under. My political opponents had no hesitation to weaponise parts of the Labour Group's budget proposal during the General Election campaign.

Our proposal suggested rejecting the council tax freeze, reflecting the specifically perilous state of Falkirk Council’s finances. This would have cut the budget gap by £1.1m this year compared to the SNP’s proposals, prevented the SNP's £600,000 cut to the social work budget and given the council a sustainable source of capital funding to invest in roads, school buildings, flood protection schemes and many other priorities that had been neglected due to underfunding.

However, the SNP administration with the support of the Conservatives passed their budget, as they have done six out of the seven times since they took control of Falkirk Council in 2017.

I’m sure in the council chamber this week we will hear a lot of noise about responsibility sitting elsewhere but this must come with an acknowledgment that their proposal created the largest budget gap of any proposal put forward this year.

The Scottish Government’s chronic underfunding of councils may have created the problem, but the decisions made by Falkirk Council in the last 7 years have not helped.

The Scottish Government have been clear about their position on a reduction of School Hours when they consulted on prescribing a minimum level of learning hours last year: “Any measures that materially reduced the number of hours children spend learning in school would be expected to reduce pupil attainment and wellbeing and undermine efforts to close the poverty related attainment gap.”

If the Falkirk Council SNP administration vote to reduce school hours their party colleagues in Holyrood are stating in black and white that they will be reducing pupil attainment and undermining progress towards closing the attainment gap. That is the reality of the choice in front of the council this week. I know how I would vote, and it would not be in favour of this proposal.

Local Government is devolved, and the Scottish Fiscal Commission have recently laid the current Scottish Government public spending challenges firmly at the feet of SNP Ministers and their choices. However, the UK Labour Government’s anticipated decision to remove the VAT exemption on Private School fees will mean £150m more for the Scottish budget. I welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to spend this anticipated extra funding on Education.

This money should be heading straight to Councils to support Education budgets, not tied up in conditionality or ringfencing as the Scottish Government are prone to do. If implemented properly I'm glad that the decisions made by this new UK Labour Government will mean more funding for teachers, books and buildings in Scotland. It is now up to the Scottish Government to deliver that funding, those of us who have been crying out for more funding for Education will be watching intently on how this additional funding is spent.

For now, I hope my former colleagues on Falkirk Council make the right choice and reject this proposal.