EXCLUSIVE: A Labour minister has been urged to apologise for spreading “false claims” about Scotland’s NHS.

A complaint has also been sent to the Cabinet Office and the statistics watchdog https://t.co/KpmEmObT1s

— The National (@ScotNational) November 21, 2025

Professor John Robertson OBA

Michael Shanks MP, now a junior minister for energy has been caught accusing NHS Scotland of presenting statistics in the same way as Labour Wales and Now Labour England do. I doubt he’ll ever feel obliged to apologise.

It reminded me of his Rutherglen election campaign in July 2024 where Jackie Baillie accused me of unethical campaigning against him when I dug up attainment statistics which seemed to suggest a downturn for his school’s Modern Studies department during his time there, working hard, to become the Labour candidate, including, famously, running along every street in Glasgow. It’s not clear what this has to do with Westminster candidacy. Was it one of Baillie’s own campaign strategies?

His performance as a teacher was surely a better guide to how he might do as an MP. Should he have spent the many many hours required to do that, preparing for classes?

Some SNP activists and followers of TuS were a bit uncomfortable with this personal attack but I take the view that we would be foolish to try to win in this dirty business only from the high moral ground.

So, the candidate had taught Modern Studies in Park Mains High School, Erskine, Renfrew, since August 2019.

I had to do a Freedom of Information request for the above data for the school. The SQA was very quick, responding in just over 24 hours.

If we ignore the different (exam-free) assessment methods which operated in the pandemic years 2020-2022 and compare the exam-based assessment in 2019 with the return of the same in those results just announced for 2023 (as I believe we should), the Labour candidate’s department has significantly failed to even maintain its pass rates across all levels other than Advanced Higher where only a very small number were submitted.

If we compare the 2022 and 2023 pass rates, as the other media have done in an effort to undermine the credibility of the Scottish Government and the SQA (as I believe we should not), then the candidate’s department has had a disastrous collapse betraying the life chances of many pupils.

Moving on to look at the national figures, how does the candidate’s department compare?

For National 4, the national pass rate in 2023 was 90.2% up from 87.6% in 2022. For reasons I may not understand or just being too tired to teach after running all night, the candidate’s department only submitted one student, who failed.

For National 5 Grade A-C, the national pass rate, was 74.5% in 2023, up slightly from 74.1% in 2022. The candidate’s department managed only 68.1%.

For Higher Grade A-C, the national pass rate, was 77.9% in 2023, down from 79.4% in 2022. The candidate’s department managed only 71.9%.

For Advanced Higher Grade A-C, the national pass rate, was 76% in 2023, down slightly from 77.7% in 2022. The candidate’s department managed only 66.7%.

The School is not in a deprived area:

I know, I know, the then Labour candidate was only one of 4 staff responsible for these results but they cannot be presented as other than disappointing in terms of temporal decline and comparative weakness. I’m not sure then how the then Labour candidate could have been presented as the kind of ambitious, energetic and demanding person, the folk of Rutherglen and Hamilton West deserve das their MP.

Sources:

https://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/105123

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