Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop came under scrutiny from MSPs today on the education budget for the coming year. 

MSPs were given the opportunity to cross-examine the Cabinet Secretary on the Scottish Government’s draft budget at Holyrood’s Education Committee.

While Labour Members Karen Whitefield, Claire Baker and Ken Macintosh challenged Hyslop on education cuts, the Cabinet Secretary maintained that, on the contrary, education budgets have increased in local authorities around the country.

Political happenings outwith the Parliament came into play at one point with a disagreement arising over the education budget of Fife Council. Hyslop cited the examples of Glasgow City Council, where she said Labour Education Convenor Gordon Matheson has indicated a budget increase, and Fife Council where the education budget has risen by 10 per cent.  The assertion was refuted by Baker, however, who claimed that Fife schools had experienced budget cuts in the last year and challenged the Cabinet Secretary to give evidence of her statement. Hyslop responded that 27 additional primary school teachers had been employed by the education authority to reduce class sizes this year but added that it was for Fife Council to give details on this and she was “not sure that we should replay election issues that are happening elsewhere during the budget inquiry”.  

Modern Apprenticeships was another issue of dispute as Committee Convenor Whitefield asked the Cabinet Secretary what proportion of new skills body Skills Development Scotland’s (SDS) budget will be spent on MAs. Hyslop responded that the Scottish Government’s target of having 50,000 people in training would be delivered but through a variety of qualifications and not solely MAs. The Government has increased MAs in construction and engineering by 1,000, maintained the number of MAs for under-21s and introduced MAs in life sciences and food and drink, but it would not be imposing national targets, Hyslop told MSPs. The budget for training has been transferred to SDS and they are best placed to respond flexibly to Scotland’s skills and training needs at a local level, she said. This Government is outcome driven rather than volume driven and it was not a numbers game, the Cabinet Secretary commented. “You might want to deal with things on a volume basis and a numbers basis. We prefer to deal with things on an outcome basis.”

Unsatisfied with the Cabinet Secretary’s response, Whitefield argued: “If you can’t tell the committee how many MAs you’re going to fund how can you at all be confident that there’s sufficient money there? You’re just saying yes and passing the responsibility on to somebody else.”

Macintosh challenged the Cabinet Secretary again on the issue of local authority budget cuts and where the funding for free school meals and cutting class sizes would come from. He urged Hyslop for an assurance that the 65 per cent of the education budgets spent on teachers’ salaries would not be affected by the Government’s 2 per cent public sector efficiency savings. The Cabinet Secretary reiterated that these savings should not affect front line education services, and local authorities received sufficient resources in the local government settlement to maintain teacher numbers despite falling school rolls.