- Spending per primary pupil down over £400 since 2010

22 April 2019

The SNP has failed to protect our schools from Tory austerity, Labour said today, as new analysis shows a huge fall in per pupil funding since 2010.

Analysis of the Local Government Benchmarking Framework by Scottish Labour, reveals that real terms spending per primary pupil has fallen by £427 per head since 2010/11, and £265 per head for secondary pupils.

Labour analysis includes additional spending commitments made since Nicola Sturgeon became First Minister, such as the Pupil Equity Fund and the Scottish Attainment Challenge; showing that these policies do not come close to reversing the cuts that preceded them.

Labour Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Education, Iain Gray, said:

“For almost a decade now the SNP has failed to stand up to Tory austerity, and instead turned Holyrood into a conveyor belt for cuts.

“The consequences of that is huge falls in per head spending for our school pupils, with spending per primary pupil over £400 less in real terms than it was in 2010.

“We can’t give our young people the best chance to get on in life while cutting school budgets and we will not see the attainment gap close with overworked teachers facing increasing class sizes.

“Labour would make the richest pay our fair share to invest in our pupils, teachers and schools to make Scotland a world leader in education again.”



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