Anas, patron saint of private schools, attacks SNP Government on building schools

Has David Bols had a sleepover at Sarwar Mansions? He’s on a roll with stories based on limited and laughable feeds from Scottish Labour today.

Yes, they’re going to go on schools! Really:

SNP ministers have been accused of putting planning schools upgrade projects in jeopardy after it was revealed the next wave of funding may not be available for another 12 months.

Labour have claimed the hold-ups show “our do-nothing Education Secretary doing nothing”.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19806324.snp-ministers-putting-school-building-projects-jeopardy-funding-delays/

This is like shooting fish in a barrel:

From the Scottish Government statistics section in September 2021:

The proportion of schools reported as being in good or satisfactory condition has increased to 90.2% (89.9% in 2020). This is 29 percentage points higher than in April 2007 (61.1%).

The publication of ‘School Estates Statistics 2021’ by Scotland’s Chief Statistician also showed that the proportion of pupils educated in schools in “poor” or “bad” condition has decreased from 36.6% of all pupils (around 257,000) in 2007 [after a decade of Lib Lab rule] to 8.4% of all pupils (around 59,000) in 2021.

Since 2007-08, 1,000 schools have been built or substantially refurbished (includes those with cost of at least £500,000 for primary and at least £1 million for secondary and special).

https://www.gov.scot/news/school-estates-statistics-1/

Readers may also remember Scottish Labour’s performance on schools was problematic when their PFI schemes put local authority inspectors out of the loop leading to walls without cavity ties collapsing: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-38907714

And from 2017:

SNP insist Labour apologise for ‘staggering’ PFI bill after it breaks £1billion barrier

The huge sum covers schemes favoured by the previous Scottish Labour-led administration including schools and hospitals.

The cost of repaying privately funded public building construction broke the £1billion barrier for the first time last year.

The huge sum covers PFI schemes favoured by the previous Scottish Labour-led administration, including schools and hospitals.

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/snp-insist-labour-apologise-staggering-11073405

If I was a Labour adviser, I’d say: ‘Shut up! At least that way we might keep what support we have.’

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8 thoughts on “Anas, patron saint of private schools, attacks SNP Government on building schools”

  1. When I saw the story in the Herald I could not believe that Labour were bringing up the issue of school buildings given their abysmal record in that area.

    But then given their abysmal record in so many areas they are not exactly spoiled for choice when choosing a topic on which to attack the SG.

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  2. Travelling across Scotland over the past 10 years one can’t help but notice the presence of new school buildings in so very many locations. And then there are the many new buildings for FE colleges – transforming this sector. And then there are the many new local health centres and hospitals.

    And as well as benefiting those that work in and/or use these facilities, each build has of course employed people in construction and resulted in multipliers benefitting supply chains and local economies. And all these new builds leave a physical legacy behind lasting decades.

    (That’s before we think about new/improved roads and railway lines and rail stations, and affordable housing and ….)

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    1. And some of these new hospitals have won awards in International competitions eg The Balfour in Kirkwall and, if I remember correctly, East Lothian Community hospital in Haddington.

      In both cases the new hospital replaced a disparate number of buildings on different sites thus giving better facilities and increasing the range of facilities on offer. In the case of the Balfour it reduced the need for people to travel to Aberdeen for tests and some treatments.

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      1. Yesterday on Reporting Scotland Nicola Sturgeon was accused of being too cautious and here we have again another accusation levelled against her. It would be more apt more appropriate to report Douglas Ross has been complaining the First Minister’s record on the pandemic in supporting the public and businesses is much better when compared to the Prime Minister’s record on dealing with the pandemic in England, and Anas Sarwar has been complaining the First Minister’s record on school buildings is much better than when compared to when the Scottish Labour and Scottish Lib-Dems coalition government was running Scotland.

        Simple.. Factual.. Honest..

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      2. Many of the schools built over the past decade have also won architectural awards – too numerous to list. Here are just two:

        Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (2018) – Boroughmuir High School, Edinburgh

        Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (2019) – Broomlands Primary School, Kelso.

        When Scottish Government’s ‘Scotland’s Schools for the Future’ programme was launched in 2009 it was valued at £1.25bn and was planned to deliver 55 new or refurbished schools. The SG subsequently increased the number of schools to 112 and the value of the programme to £1.8bn.

        In April 2021, the 117th and last school in the programme opened – Lossiemouth High School in Moray.

        (The latter was a £42 million campus development, jointly funded by Moray Council and the SG/Scottish Futures Trust. It has capacity for up to 800 pupils for a school roll currently c. 520. The three-storey school incorporates a community centre, library, swimming pool, games hall and 3G sports pitch. Legacy!)

        (https://www.scottishfuturestrust.org.uk/page/current-schools-for-the-future )

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  4. It’s questionaable whether there would be many schools fit for purpose or still standing had the UK London HQ’d Labour party still been at the helm at Holyrood, going on their legacy of neglect to upgrade many older school buildings, and their shambolic, costly, ‘private finance’, their PFI scams, which failed to meet basic building standards in some cases and for which Scottish councils are still paying for.
    Perish the thought that Labour as they exist now, and the way that they operate in Scotland should ever be allowed near the levers of power in Scotland ever again.

    Which brings to mind, when Scotland votes for independence, their London HQ’d party will be surplus to requirements, as will the other BritNat parties, unless they reform themselves and start to function as genuine Scottish parties. Anyway, Sarwar and his pals will be out of a lucrative job unless they do buck up their ideas and reform, no?

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  5. There is so much wrong in Scotland which originates from and is propagated by it’s media.
    He make talk a load of Bols, but David has only one…

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