Hansard

::I agree with the sentiment behind Mr Rennie’s question, but I return to the points that I made to Mr Burnett. Consider the kingdom of Fife, in which Mr Rennie and I represent our respective constituencies: in the previous financial year, Fife Council was in receipt of significant additional investment from the Government of close to £13 million. It took that funding and cut teacher numbers. Fife Council is run by a minority Labour administration that is supported by the Conservatives, Reform and, of course, Mr Rennie’s Liberal Democrat colleagues. I accept the points that Mr Rennie raises, but it is politically incoherent to come to the chamber to ask for additional investment for hard-to-fill subjects while his council colleagues are taking funding from the Government and voting to cut teacher numbers.

I agree that we need to work on the issues in relation to where there are gaps. Those will be identified in the work that we are doing via the marketing campaign. There is also the work that I spoke to in relation to the role of the GTCS, which is very clear that there are opportunities for people to have further qualifications in subjects and to teach in secondary where we know that there are subject gaps.

I encourage Mr Rennie to work with his Liberal Democrat councillor colleagues, who I am sure will be considering whether they are able to vote for the upcoming Labour budget in Fife Council. Last year, they supported it, which resulted in teacher numbers falling.