PDE Column, 5th July 2010 – Education Cuts, Boiler Scrappage, Student Debt, Knife Crime

“Must do better”

Schools have now finished for the summer and pupils and teachers are now enjoying a well earned holiday. But our local schools continue to be short-changed by the Governement at Holyrood and the powers in Renfrewshire Council.

“More NATS: Fewer Teachers” – that will be the epitaph of this administration as they near the end of their four year term.

They have overseen the loss of 2,500 teaching posts across Scotland – 245 in Renfrewshire, the deepest cuts of any council of our size. Leaving us with the worst secondary school pupil teacher ratios in all of Scotland. On education the  end of term report is a fail. The Scottish Government have failed on class sizes of 18, failed on free school meals for P1 to P3, failed on PE, failed on student debt, failed us on nursery education – and now they are failing us on the Curriculum for Excellence.

Boiler Scrappage

July may seem an odd time to talk about boilers – but the summer is a good time to get the replacement installed. Following the axing of Labour’s scheme for free central heating systems for pensioners – we finally succeeded in getting a boiler scrappage scheme for Scotland to match the English scheme. The scheme awarded £400 towards the cost of a new boiler. But such was the demand for the small number of £400 grants available, added to the fact they were advertised to be released on a certain date, it created a race situation not unlike the frantic clamour for a T-in-the-Park festival ticket!

It came as no surprise that the 5000 Scottish Boiler Scrappage applications were snapped up in just over 24 hours! There were only 211 successful applicants in Renfrewshire – that’s less than one in twenty of those who applied. Given Labour’s free central heating systems went to over 14000 households each year, I am pressing for a relaunch of the boiler scrappage scheme before the autumn.

Student Debt Rising

In 2007 the current Scottish Government made a lot of promises. One was a pledge to students to “dump the debt and reintroduce student grants” (page 6 of the SNP Manifesto 2007)

But the “DUMP THE DEBT” promise made to students is in tatters as student debt increases again. The figures for 2009-10 reveal a 7% increase in the total amount students in Scotland owe. The previous year showed a 9% increase in the total debt.

“Dumping Student Debt” was a cynical and hollow promise made to students and the current  Scottsh Government should apologise for misleading them. Most students I know are struggling to find summer jobs – and are even more worried about what happens when they graduate. With unemployment in Scotland overtaking England again, local job seekers face a double whammy from Tory cuts and the Salmond slump.

Knife Crime

Well done to Kelly McGhee and her family for the way they have risen above the personal tragedy of losing their beloved Paul to argue for tougher laws against knife criminals. The Scottish Government may not have listened to Kelly, but the rest of us tried to reflect the views of the victims in the legal reforms we voted for last week in Holyrood. The vote for mandatory sentences for knife crime may have been lost – but the campaign goes on.

Congrats to Renfrew Old

I am pleased that in its most recent set of grant awards, the National Churches Trust has agreed to contribute £40,000 for repairs to the Old Parish Church, Renfrew. This was the largest grant given in this set of awards.

I know Renfrew Old and other local congregations have a huge task on their hands to preserve historic buildings so every little bit of assistance helps. Well Done!