Meeting of the Parliament 20 May 2015
I need to make progress.
The investment is not just in our most disadvantaged pupils, so that they get a better start in life, but in the future strength of our economy. It is right that those with the broadest shoulders should pay a little more to deliver the investment that Scotland needs to be a fairer nation. After all, that is what progressive politics is all about.
Before the general election, the SNP wrapped itself in the red flag and adopted swathes of Labour policies: the mansion tax, the bankers’ bonus clawback and the 50p rate of income tax, which, through the Smith agreement, it will have the power to deliver soon enough.
I note that the Government’s amendment removes the mention that we make in our motion of using the proceeds of a 50p rate to invest in our education system and improve attainment. Why is that? Is the SNP about to backtrack on fair taxes? Only a few months ago, SNP MSPs voted against using a higher rate of tax to invest in our education system, yet within weeks the SNP backed the move in its manifesto. Which of those is its position?
Scottish Labour is clear: we will use fair taxes to close the attainment gap in this country, because we believe in progressive politics, and we will build a fairer Scotland and a stronger economy in doing so.
I move,
That the Parliament believes that tackling Scotland’s attainment gap is crucial to future economic performance, in recognition of OECD research demonstrating that inequality has caused a cumulated loss in GDP of 8.5% over 25 years; notes with concern new analysis by Dr Jim Scott of the University of Edinburgh showing that the number of candidates gaining levels 3 to 5 qualifications in the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF), the replacement for standard grades, dropped by 20% between 2012-13 and 2013-14; notes that standards in literacy and numeracy in Scottish schools have fallen since 2012, with 75% of S2 pupils from the most disadvantaged backgrounds not having the numeracy skills that they should; further notes with concern that spending on education and training fell in Scotland between 2009-10 and 2013-14 whereas it rose across the rest of the UK; notes with concern the subsequent fall in both funding and students in Scotland’s colleges; believes that a renewed focus on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects is required from the Scottish Government; recognises the recent establishment of the Scottish Attainment Challenge; welcomes clarification from the First Minister that attainment advisers will indeed be placed in every local authority; further recognises that more must be done to address the attainment gap; welcomes proposals by Scottish Labour to tackle this with a further £25 million per year programme of investment, totalling £125 million over a five-year parliamentary session, including doubling the number of teaching assistants and 10 new literacy teachers in each of the associated primary schools of the 20 high schools facing the greatest challenges, in addition to the Scottish Government’s plans and paid for through a 50p top rate of tax; calls on the Office of the Chief Economic Adviser in the Scottish Government to undertake a distributional impact assessment of the attainment gap in Scotland’s schools, and believes that education is both key to addressing the scandal of inequality in Scottish society and a crucial investment in the future of Scotland’s economy.
14:56