Meeting of the Parliament 24 February 2016
Individual local authorities must make their choices within the resources that are available to them. I am also entitled to insist on the need to freeze the council tax and the need to invest in health and social care and their integration, with £250 million of new investment having been announced. Is Dr Simpson against that investment that the Government has made? I am also committed to ensuring that the Government takes steps to protect the delivery of education at the local authority level, to which I now turn.
Education lies at the heart of the Government’s inclusive growth agenda and is central to our efforts to tackle inequality and improve educational outcomes. Under this Government, 607 schools have been replaced or refurbished—that is nearly a quarter of the whole school estate. We have introduced free school meals for all children in primary 1 to 3, benefiting almost 130,000 pupils and saving families important resources.
Our young people achieved a record number of higher and advanced higher passes in 2015, and the number leaving school for a positive destination in education, employment or training is now at a record high of 93 per cent. Almost 11,000 more students in 2014-15 than in 2008-09 successfully completed full-time college courses leading to recognised qualifications—an increase of 24 per cent. This year, record numbers of Scots have applied to go to university here and 18-year-olds from our most deprived communities are now 65 per cent more likely to apply than they were in 2006. The percentage of newly qualified teachers in employment after their probation period has also increased. That is the effect of the Government’s investment in education.
We have not scrapped the education maintenance allowance; we have expanded it, enabling more young people from low-income families to stay on at school or in college. We have not scrapped maintenance grants for the poorest students; we have increased the level of the bursary. We have not scrapped disabled students allowance; we are continuing to provide that vital support. We have not made and will never make education dependent on the ability to pay. There will be no front-door tuition fees or back-door taxes. We will keep tuition free, saving 120,000 students in Scotland up to £27,000 over the course of their degree.