Glasgow Labour's schools hypocrisy exposed

Thanks to CyberNat for drawing my attention to the Joan McAlpine article in the Sunday Times. We have been hearing for weeks now how the non-arrival of the Scottish Futures Trust has been holding back plans for the re-building of Glasgow's remaining primary school estate. Bailie Gordon Matheson referred to SFT as the "damp empty sporran", but I bow to his superior knowledge of such affairs.




The reality is, local government can't borrow on the never-never now, even if it wanted to. All former off-balance sheet borrowing must now be included from April within the Council's financial statements. Therefore, whether the money comes from PFI, SFT or directly under 'prudential borrowing', it is all assessed under whether the Council can afford it or not. And the reality is Glasgow City Council has maxed out its credit cards in a follow-my-GreatBrit-leader attempt at recession economics.



And after a spending spree of £80 million for a Transport Museum that is over-budget and over-hyped and is rapidly making the Scottish Parliament over-spend look small, the £8 million bail out of the secondary schools PFI scheme for failed ventilation systems and £7 million to the Kings Theatre for structural work which resulted in 45 staff being paid off, we know what the Labour administration's priorities are. Instead of 6 new super-schools for Glasgow, Labour are bailing out failing assets and propping up white elephants. Even the National Audit Office which scrutinises local authorities in England has exposed how PFI is failing English schools - over-priced, over-budget and late delivery. So whatever the answer to the Education Estate problems are, PFI isn't the answer.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: 'Where there are difficulties in private finance, I believe the Treasury will bring forward proposals.'

But it doesn't stop there. In the SNP Budget proposals for Glasgow, we highlighted a number of efficiency savings. Firstly, over half a million pounds was paid to 47 residential social workers for over time. (Yes, I can hear you gasp, 'how can that be?'). For every £1 of efficiency savings made, a Council can borrow ten times that in 'prudential borrowing' - so there's £5 million pounds for starters.

Then we pointed out that not everyone in Glasgow is paying the Council Tax (and Glasgow has the worst record in Scotland for its collection). Experian, the credit reference agency, were able to demonstrate that people claim to live at addresses for credit purposes but don't pay the Council Tax there. Again, it is thought that £3 million in additional Council Tax collection could be created - consequently another £30 million in available prudential borrowing.



We also put in investment to the Polmadie recycling centre so that an additional waste separation could be opened up - for a little investment we could double the income from recyclates - even in these difficult economic times.



These are but three of the examples of efficiencies which the SNP put forward in a budget for schools, skills and cutting waste. Alas, Labour (and the Evening Times) ignored them, such is their blinding self-righteousness that 'we know best'.



Well, the school merger/closure programmes are going ahead full-steam but parents are gearing up for a damning demolition of half-baked ideas. I have never seen such dynamism and energy as displayed by the parents of St Gilbert's and Barmulloch Primary School in their opposition to plans for the their schools, but also their creativity in proposing credible solutions. These are just ordinary parents making sense of the data provided by highly-paid officials in Education Services. The difference is, they understand what community means to them and the importance of a school within their community. Hard decisions will be coming, but it won't be for the lack of engagement from hard-working families and parents in Barmulloch and Germiston.