Falkirk council call on Scottish Government to hand over cash held back over teacher numbers

An amendment by Falkirk Council’s Labour group, calling for the cash to be allocated “without restriction”, was accepted by all parties, including the SNP administration.

Falkirk’s share of the cash is £4.5 million, which the Scottish Government is refusing to hand over until it reaches a voluntary agreement with all councils, through their national body, CoSLA.

The Scottish Government has set a target for each local authority to maintain teacher numbers at their 2022 levels.

But CoSLA says these targets are being set regardless of changes to the pupil roll or the financial position of the council and it believes local authorities should have more power to decide how money is spent.

Falkirk Council says the target is “artificial” as the latest census shows that the number of pupils has actually fallen.

Its target, for several years, has been 1651 but falling school rolls means that the actual number of teachers needed is now more like 1620.

The council will now write to the government to say that “teacher numbers should be allocated to local councils without restrictions and they should be allowed to make the appropriate decisions on teacher numbers according to local needs”.

But while all parties could agreed on that, Labour’s proposal on overall funding from the Scottish Government was not accepted.

Labour group leader Anne Hannah wanted the council to urge Holyrood to pass on to local authorities the £1.5 billion this year and £3.4 billion next year they will receive through the Barnett formula from the UK Government.

Councillor Hannah said: “We call on the Scottish Government to ensure that these funds are passed on for local services in education, health and social care and are not spirited away for other priorities.”

But the SNP and Conservative groups on Falkirk Council did not accept this proposal.

SNP councillor Iain Sinclair said the funding, while welcome, was not enough to address the dire state of public finances in the longer term.

He added: “Like it or not, the Scottish Government can only spend the resources given to them by the UK and it’s clear that there’s still not enough to go around.”

The meeting was looking at the council’s financial projection for the year that ends in February, which shows continuing pressure from things such as rising homelessness and persistent inflation.

But the report was overshadowed by this week’s budget statement from SNP finance secretary, Shona Robison.

Members heard from the council’s finance director, Amanda Templeman, who said the budget was “the most significant uplift that’s been received in recent years”.

But she cautioned that there are still many uncertainties around what Falkirk’s final share will be and unknowns, such as how the National Insurance costs for employers that were announced in the UK budget will affect the council and its providers.

The Scottish Government budget will also need the support of at least one other party to pass, so there may be some changes to the final arrangements.