HC Deb 30 June 1976 vol 914 cc385-6
20. Mr. Lambie

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he will make increased public funds available to the Strathclyde Region in order to increase the number of primary school places in the Troon area over the next five years.

Mr. McElhone

The regional council has not asked for additional capital investment for this purpose, and I would expect any extra accommodation that may be needed to be provided from the council's annual allocation for school building.

Mr. Lambie

Is my hon. Friend aware that Kyle and Carrick District Council has given planning permission for an additional 800 private houses and that the Scottish Development Department has given the district council permission to build 120 extra council houses in the Troon area? Will my hon. Friend arrange a meeting between the Strathclyde Education Committee and the district council to discuss the question of increasing the number of primary school places in Troon? His answer shows that the amount of money allocated for primary school places in Troon over the next five years is totally inadequate.

Mr. McElhone

It is not my duty to arrange a meeting between the regional council and the district council in Ayrshire. What I can tell my hon. Friend is that when the Chancellor of the Exchequer put forward the constraints on public expenditure he excluded roofs over heads. That is to say, where places are needed for school pupils, primary or secondary, they are excluded from any constraints on public expenditure. On the other point, with regard to the next five years, the amounts and allocations for the years following 1976–77 have not yet been settled, and there is still sufficient time for the regional authority, which has educational responsibility, to submit its estimates to the Department.

Mr. Younger

Would it not be better for the Minister to be quite open about this and admit that there is a great need for more expenditure on education and training of teachers throughout Scotland and that the Government, through their incompetence, have run out of money and cannot provide it?

Mr. McElhone

I must repeat what my right hon. Friend mentioned a few minutes ago. We have more teachers in schools than we have ever had in the history of Scottish education, and we have the best pupil-teacher ratio that we have ever had in our Scottish schools. As for accommodation, I repeat that the question of roofs over heads, where places are needed, is separate from the question of constraints on public expenditure. It is up to the Strathclyde Region to submit its application when it knows what the rolls are in the various areas mentioned. I can assure both the hon. Member for Ayr (Mr. Younger) and my hon. Friend the Member for Central Ayrshire (Mr. Lambie) that places will be found for the children that they are worried about.

Mr. Teddy Taylor

Before giving any more commitments on public expenditure will the Minister come to Glasgow, or contact Glasgow today, where the Secretary of State gave a commitment that we would have a Bridgeton scheme at no cost to the ratepayers of Glasgow and yet it was revealed this morning that the Glasgow and regional ratepayers would have to pay a lot more?

Mr. McElhone

I must confess that I am not aware of the concern expressed by the hon. Gentleman. All I know is that Bridgeton is not in Troon, and that is what the Question was all about.

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