MINISTERS are threatening to withhold nearly £9 million for disadvantaged pupils in an escalating row over a flagship scheme to close the attainment gap.
Yesterday, The Herald revealed North Lanarkshire Council had effectively top-sliced some £1.3m from its allocation from the Scottish Government’s Pupil Equity Fund (PEF).
It wants to use the money to pay for existing classroom assistants and an administrative team at local authority headquarters.
However, government guidelines state money should go direct to schools with headteachers deciding where best to spend it in partnership with councils.
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In a letter to The Herald, Jim Logue, the council leader, said the government had been in contact “threatening to withhold the entire fund”.
He said: “It is entirely unacceptable and disproportionate for the government to play games with young people’s futures in this way while our discussions are ongoing.
“We absolutely agree with the Scottish Government that headteachers should make decisions about their own schools.
“We have chosen to work with school leaders to develop options and support them fully in closing the attainment gap.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said it was a condition of the ring-fenced funding that all conditions had to be met before it was released.
He said: “Ministers are aware of the issues raised in relation to North Lanarkshire.
“They are clear funding must be used at the discretion of headteachers, be additional and cannot be top-sliced.”
He added: “These issues have been raised with the council and discussions are continuing. It is a requirement that all conditions of funding must be met for the funding to be released.”
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Clare Adamson, SNP MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw, added: “These proposals from Labour-led North Lanarkshire Council are absolutely abhorrent and unacceptable and show yet again that Labour is incapable of making decisions to improve our children’s futures.”
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon launched the Scottish Attainment Challenge in February 2015 to bring greater priority to the issue of closing the attainment gap between rich and poor pupils.
The Scottish Attainment Challenge is focused on improvements in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing in specific areas of Scotland and is funded through the £750m Attainment Scotland Fund.
The fund is targeted on supporting pupils in the local authorities which have the highest concentrations of deprivation including Glasgow, Dundee, Inverclyde, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, East Ayrshire and Renfrewshire.
Each school receives an allotted share through the PEF which is to be spent at the discretion of teachers and school leaders.
North Lanarkshire received £8.8m under the scheme with 120 primaries and 7,000 pupils to benefit.
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The key principles of the fund set out by the Scottish Government are that headteachers “must have access to the full amount” and that it must enable schools to deliver activities which are “clearly additional to those which were already planned”.
Further guidance states that headteachers and local authorities should work in partnership to agree the use of the funding.
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