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Chamber

Plenary, 28 Feb 2001

28 Feb 2001 · S1 · Plenary

Item of business

Teaching Centres of Artistic Excellence

Murray, Elaine Lab Dumfries Watch on SPTV

I point out, for the purposes of the Official Report, that I voted erroneously in the previous debate. I offer my apologies to Robin Harper; I was not paying attention when the vote on his amendment was being taken. I hope that that is sufficient to prevent me from getting a doing from the whips.

I shall talk about a related issue. I know that Kenny Gibson has worked hard on the issue of Ballet West, and the school has been in touch with me. There is a severe problem with the support that is provided to young people for dance, drama and music classes. The issue is not so much the payment of tuition fees as the maintenance payments for those young people.

The issue was drawn to my attention by the case of a very talented young woman from Langholm, who won one of the dance and drama awards in Manchester. That enabled her to have her tuition fees paid there. I imagine that a young person from my constituency would find it easier to go down to Manchester than to go up north. The problem that she faced was in getting her maintenance paid. She was advised that, if she had been a student from England, she would have received a maintenance grant from the college. Because she was a student from Scotland, she had to approach her local authority to apply for a grant. Unfortunately, Dumfries and Galloway Council is one of approximately 50 per cent of local authorities that no longer give discretionary bursaries, as a matter of policy.

Although the young woman had her tuition fees paid, she did not have her living costs paid. During the first year of her course, she attempted to support herself through employment. Her family were on a fairly low income and helped as much as they could, but they found it difficult to support her. The situation became impossible as time went on. In dance and drama courses, students are expected to undertake a lot of rehearsal and practice, and it becomes difficult for them to support themselves by means of employment. Unfortunately, the young lady had to give up her course because she was no longer able to support herself. That is a tragedy. A young Scot with a lot of talent was unable to continue with her course because of the way in which our system works.

Normally, I do not support the withdrawal of funding from local authorities to be held centrally. However, in this instance, as there is such a difference in policies between local authorities, I suggest—I have suggested this to the Executive although, so far, it has not bitten—that the element of grant-aided expenditure that is distributed for discretionary bursaries be held centrally. Young Scots from all over the country should be able to apply for that funding, to ensure that there is no longer postcode provision and that all young, talented Scots have equal access to funding—not just for tuition fees, but to maintain them as they develop their talent to the benefit of our country and our cultural identity. It is important to view the matter in the context of our national cultural strategy, and we must encourage our young people as much as we can.