Robert Brown slams "unforgivable" delays to school building programme

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Thu 25th Jun 2009

Glasgow MSP Robert Brown has today slammed "unforgivable" delays to the SNP school building programme.

Mr. Brown was Deputy Minister for Education in the previous Government.

Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop this week announced funding for 55 new schools, but later admitted that that the first new secondary school under this much-delayed programme would not be finished until 2013.

Under the new scheme, councils will receive half of the money needed to build primary schools and two thirds of the cost of a secondary school, which has also sparked concern across the Education sector as to the balance of funding required.

Robert Brown said:

"The continuing delay on the school building programme is unforgivable.

"Many councils will now have to delay their school building project by nearly a decade - the money will be spread out over 7 years meaning the first school won't even be finished until 2013.

"What use is that to the school children of today? They have already been let down by the SNP letting teacher numbers fall by 1,000 since they came into Government. So much for reducing class sizes!

"While Fiona Hyslop has waited two years to announce this project, children are being taught in crumbling sub standard buildings all over Scotland.

"The Cabinet Secretary should be ashamed of the damage this dithering has caused to the education of children in every area of Scotland.

"And what is even more worrying is that the funding only provides a portion of the cost of each development - each local authority will have to find 50% of the cost of a new Primary School, which will not be easy to do now with the short sighted freeze on council tax"

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