Today, I again, asked the Scottish Government to take responsibility for the maintenance backlog which has developed across Scotland’s school estate. I made it clear to the Scottish Government that given the extreme pressure local government budgets face, the financial settlements given must be re-evaluated. If this dose not happen I believe that Scotland’s local authorities will not be able to continue to maintain many of our important local services.
As always seems to be the case with the Scottish Government they will blame anyone but themselves and are simply unwilling to take any responsibility for the need to fix the maintenance backlog in our schools; even if this means teaching our children in unsuitable or dangerous buildings.
The Scottish Government must now accept that the figures I have collected highlight the serious pressures on local authority finances, which have led to some priorities such as the need to improve the condition of Scotland’s school estate being delayed.
