Chamber
Plenary, 22 Mar 2007
22 Mar 2007 · S2 · Plenary
Item of business
Education
I start by adding to the tributes to Lord James Douglas-Hamilton. Some 30 or so years ago, Lord James was my MP, although I am afraid that I did not vote for him. Whether or not people agree with Lord James's politics, we all agree that he is a gentleman in every sense of the word.
As this might be my last speech in the chamber—this session—I hope that members will allow me to be a little self-indulgent and talk about some of the educational successes in Dumfries and Galloway. Unfortunately, Dumfries and Galloway's progress in refurbishing and replacing its schools estate has been slow and, compared with other local authorities, the ride has been rather rocky.
In 2002, the Scottish Executive offered Dumfries and Galloway Council £103 million for the refurbishment and replacement of its schools estate. Councillors could not give the ambitious original proposals political approval, because they were too controversial. The council produced a rejigged proposal, which was eventually considered not to offer best value, because it could not attract more than one interested bidder.
The council returned to the drawing board and made further proposals for rebuilding 10 schools in the region. Those proposals have been much more successful and councillors will decide on and announce the preferred bidder next week. The final contract is expected to be signed in the summer.
Lockerbie academy will be rebuilt and Lockerbie primary school—which burned down some 10 years ago—will be rebuilt on a shared campus with the academy; Moffat all-through school will be rebuilt; a new Roman Catholic primary school will be built in Dumfries; and the community of Heathhall in Dumfries will have its own primary school for the first time. That community has aspired to that goal for at least 20 years. Some people who now have children of their own had been expected to attend a Heathhall primary school. The construction of that primary school and of the Lockerbie and Moffat schools is planned to start before the end of this year.
In addition, because the PPP bid is smaller and because the Executive provided additional capital consent to the council, Troqueer primary school, Cargenbridge primary school and Lincluden primary school in my constituency will be rebuilt with conventional funding. Construction of those schools is also expected to start before the end of this year.
The only thing that can go wrong for those schools is the election of an SNP Executive that is committed to cancelling all PPP contracts that have not been signed. That would set the PPP schools in Dumfries and Galloway back to square 1, as alternative funding would have to be sought. In that scenario, how much longer would the community of Heathhall have to wait for its much-wanted primary school?
There is other news of progress in Dumfries and Galloway, where the council has embraced the Executive's determination to promote healthy eating in schools. Primary pupils are offered a healthy two-course lunch. Cafe DG, which was launched in September 2006 as part of the Executive's hungry for success programme, offers secondary school pupils a healthy meal with a pre-order facility and express food bars to reduce queueing. That is important, because when the Communities Committee took evidence on the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Bill, it heard that one factor that puts secondary school pupils off school meals is the length of time for which they must queue.
Dumfries and Galloway Council has successfully participated in the Executive's determined to succeed programme and it was one of only four councils to have received supplementary funding when its further bid for £84,000 was awarded in full. That funds the gift of the gabs speaking competition, which started in January.
The council's determined to succeed team, which Janice Rough leads, is also using the funding creatively. She has worked closely with partners to prepare a bid to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's socioeconomic fund to use the Chapelcross legacy to promote science and arts in schools. Local pupils wrote poems to commemorate the power station's 50th anniversary and I look forward to attending a presentation by secondary 3 pupils of Lockerbie academy on research that they have done into what could be located on the Chapelcross site in future. I will hear all about that on Tuesday next week.
Further up the age scale, the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council has allocated £28 million to rebuild Dumfries and Galloway College at the Crichton site. That is one reason why it is disappointing that the University of Glasgow has decided not to fund its intake of new students there this year. One reason to take the college to the Crichton site was to achieve better progression and better interaction between the college and higher education institutions. The college will be larger than it needs to be to provide dining and library facilities, for example, at the Crichton site.
I believe that the Crichton campus has a great future and I hope that we will overcome the current difficulties. We need seriously to consider how we provide further and higher education opportunities for people throughout Scotland—in rural areas as well as urban areas. For that reason, I welcome the University of Paisley's recent announcement of its merger with Bell College and of the increase in the number of courses that it will offer at the Crichton site, which will contribute much to my constituents and offer them opportunities to progress further than they could in the past.
As this might be my last speech in the chamber—this session—I hope that members will allow me to be a little self-indulgent and talk about some of the educational successes in Dumfries and Galloway. Unfortunately, Dumfries and Galloway's progress in refurbishing and replacing its schools estate has been slow and, compared with other local authorities, the ride has been rather rocky.
In 2002, the Scottish Executive offered Dumfries and Galloway Council £103 million for the refurbishment and replacement of its schools estate. Councillors could not give the ambitious original proposals political approval, because they were too controversial. The council produced a rejigged proposal, which was eventually considered not to offer best value, because it could not attract more than one interested bidder.
The council returned to the drawing board and made further proposals for rebuilding 10 schools in the region. Those proposals have been much more successful and councillors will decide on and announce the preferred bidder next week. The final contract is expected to be signed in the summer.
Lockerbie academy will be rebuilt and Lockerbie primary school—which burned down some 10 years ago—will be rebuilt on a shared campus with the academy; Moffat all-through school will be rebuilt; a new Roman Catholic primary school will be built in Dumfries; and the community of Heathhall in Dumfries will have its own primary school for the first time. That community has aspired to that goal for at least 20 years. Some people who now have children of their own had been expected to attend a Heathhall primary school. The construction of that primary school and of the Lockerbie and Moffat schools is planned to start before the end of this year.
In addition, because the PPP bid is smaller and because the Executive provided additional capital consent to the council, Troqueer primary school, Cargenbridge primary school and Lincluden primary school in my constituency will be rebuilt with conventional funding. Construction of those schools is also expected to start before the end of this year.
The only thing that can go wrong for those schools is the election of an SNP Executive that is committed to cancelling all PPP contracts that have not been signed. That would set the PPP schools in Dumfries and Galloway back to square 1, as alternative funding would have to be sought. In that scenario, how much longer would the community of Heathhall have to wait for its much-wanted primary school?
There is other news of progress in Dumfries and Galloway, where the council has embraced the Executive's determination to promote healthy eating in schools. Primary pupils are offered a healthy two-course lunch. Cafe DG, which was launched in September 2006 as part of the Executive's hungry for success programme, offers secondary school pupils a healthy meal with a pre-order facility and express food bars to reduce queueing. That is important, because when the Communities Committee took evidence on the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Bill, it heard that one factor that puts secondary school pupils off school meals is the length of time for which they must queue.
Dumfries and Galloway Council has successfully participated in the Executive's determined to succeed programme and it was one of only four councils to have received supplementary funding when its further bid for £84,000 was awarded in full. That funds the gift of the gabs speaking competition, which started in January.
The council's determined to succeed team, which Janice Rough leads, is also using the funding creatively. She has worked closely with partners to prepare a bid to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's socioeconomic fund to use the Chapelcross legacy to promote science and arts in schools. Local pupils wrote poems to commemorate the power station's 50th anniversary and I look forward to attending a presentation by secondary 3 pupils of Lockerbie academy on research that they have done into what could be located on the Chapelcross site in future. I will hear all about that on Tuesday next week.
Further up the age scale, the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council has allocated £28 million to rebuild Dumfries and Galloway College at the Crichton site. That is one reason why it is disappointing that the University of Glasgow has decided not to fund its intake of new students there this year. One reason to take the college to the Crichton site was to achieve better progression and better interaction between the college and higher education institutions. The college will be larger than it needs to be to provide dining and library facilities, for example, at the Crichton site.
I believe that the Crichton campus has a great future and I hope that we will overcome the current difficulties. We need seriously to consider how we provide further and higher education opportunities for people throughout Scotland—in rural areas as well as urban areas. For that reason, I welcome the University of Paisley's recent announcement of its merger with Bell College and of the increase in the number of courses that it will offer at the Crichton site, which will contribute much to my constituents and offer them opportunities to progress further than they could in the past.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Trish Godman):
Lab
The next item of business is a debate on motion S2M-5775, in the name of Hugh Henry, on celebrating success in Scottish education.
The Minister for Education and Young People (Hugh Henry):
Lab
I am delighted to open a debate that gives us an opportunity to put on record all the significant developments that are taking place in Scottish education.As...
Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP):
SNP
If such substantial progress has been made since the Labour-Liberal Executive came to power, can the minister explain why in 1997 there were 1,707 teachers i...
Hugh Henry:
Lab
The Executive has delivered on its commitment to bring in more teachers. Indeed, by August, we will have met our target of 53,000 teachers in Scotland. As th...
Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con):
Con
The minister is not the only one who visits schools in Scotland; as he would expect, we all do. Secondary schools have been telling us that a quarter of prim...
Hugh Henry:
Lab
We can address some of the issues that still have to be tackled. The fact is that Scotland's performance ranks in the top third of Organisation for Economic ...
Richard Lochhead (Moray) (SNP):
SNP
Does the minister agree that it is unfortunate that many of the rural schools in Moray that have received excellent inspection reports in recent years have b...
Hugh Henry:
Lab
Any such decision—and, indeed, the quality of education in the area—is a matter for the local authority in Moray. However, we are determined to raise standar...
Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP):
SNP
I greatly appreciated the minister's list of visits to schools in marginal constituencies with Labour members who are in their final days in office.The SNP i...
Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (Ind):
Ind
Does the member have any information on the geographical location and sociological demographics of the classes that she describes as being too big?
Fiona Hyslop:
SNP
Margo MacDonald makes a good point. Indeed, in the debate on the Crichton campus at lunch time, the issue was raised in relation to Dumfries and Galloway. Pe...
Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD):
LD
Will the member give way?
Fiona Hyslop:
SNP
I want to move on.We should be introducing a baccalaureate as a group award in highers for top performance, first in languages and then in science, to encour...
Mr Davidson:
Con
Will Ms Hyslop enlighten us on the science baccalaureate? What plans does the SNP have to fill the current shortages in science teachers at the top end of sc...
Fiona Hyslop:
SNP
The SNP plans to maintain teacher numbers in the face of falling school rolls. We will encourage people to become teachers, particularly early years, science...
Hugh Henry:
Lab
Will the member take an intervention?
Fiona Hyslop:
SNP
I am in my last minute.The extra cost of PPP finance means that schools will lose at least £900,000 that could be spent on more books, better equipment and m...
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con):
Con
Like Fiona Hyslop, we all believe strongly in the pursuit of educational excellence. I thank her for her kind words about the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. I...
Hugh Henry:
Lab
I pay tribute to Lord James for the contribution that he has made to public life in Scotland over many years. He has played a distinguished role not only in ...
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton:
Con
There have been substantial improvements to Scottish education since before that time. Those improvements have been steady and we must learn from them. Howev...
Margaret Smith (Edinburgh West) (LD):
LD
Will the member take an intervention?
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton:
Con
I will take a brief intervention, but I have quite a lot to say.
Margaret Smith:
LD
Does the member agree that it is important that Scottish history be taught in our schools, if for no other reason than to remind children of the important ro...
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton:
Con
I thank Margaret Smith and Hugh Henry very much for their kind words.I support the teaching of history in schools, although not for the reason that Margaret ...
Iain Smith (North East Fife) (LD):
LD
I am pleased to follow Lord James Douglas-Hamilton in the debate, because that gives me an opportunity to pay tribute to him after his final speech in this p...
Margo MacDonald:
Ind
Will the Treasury have an interest in whether the PPP-style mechanism can be replaced with another one, or will it be something that is just for the Scottish...
Iain Smith:
LD
My understanding is that the Scottish Parliament does not have the power to create the bonds that the SNP proposes to have, which means that the policy would...
Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
We are going to abolish the council tax, not cap it.
Iain Smith:
LD
Whether it is the council tax or the local income tax that is capped, it will starve local authorities of resources. Worse than that, the SNP will put all th...
Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab):
Lab
I start by adding to the tributes to Lord James Douglas-Hamilton. Some 30 or so years ago, Lord James was my MP, although I am afraid that I did not vote for...