29 April 2005
The Scottish Executive has warned that it will take action against councils that fail to pass on cash allocated for the employment of extra support staff in schools to tackle bullying and antisocial behaviour.
Education minister Peter Peacock told a conference in Edinburgh this week that councils would in future be required to sign outcome agreements spelling out how the cash was spent. If it were not spent as intended, the money would be clawed back.
His statement follows concerns voiced by head teachers and others that some councils are not passing on the money to schools as intended by ministers. The Executive recently allocated an additional £35m for the employment of more classroom support staff.
Peacock told the conference that he had found that schools had markedly different levels of support. 'I am taking a very close look at how the extra cash we have been giving to local authorities for support staff is, or is not, getting through to school level,' he said. 'Head teachers need to ask questions of their local authorities and teachers ask questions of their schools if they don't have access to the resources or techniques to improve behaviour that others are getting.'
An Executive spokesman said that, as a result of an evaluation of proposed outcome agreements, it would be able to track how the money had been spent.
Ewan Aitken, education convener of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, said there would be problems if outcome agreements laid down exactly how the money should be spent. He admitted he had concerns about 'one or two of our councils not delivering where they said they would'.
Aitken added: 'That does make life difficult for the rest of us. I will always defend local government because it is constantly unfairly criticised, but my ability to do that is made more difficult when one or two authorities fail to meet a commitment we have agreed to collectively.'
PFapr2005
