Primary Schools (Hansard, 19 April 1978)

§ 10. Mr. Canavan
asked the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the percentage of primary schools in Scotland which are using buildings constructed before the First World War.

§ Mr. McElhone
On the basis of information obtained from local authorities last year, 47 per cent. of primary schools have pre-1918 main buildings.

§ Mr. Canavan
Is it not absolutely intolerable that almost half of the primary schools in Scotland fall into this category, including schools in places such as Dunipace and Kilsyth, which are over 100 years old? In view of the Chancellor's announcement last October, of £400 million for the construction industry, plus the £40 million for education announced in last week's Budget, will the Government use some of this money to replace these antiquated Victorian buildings? This would improve the quality of education for the children, the working conditions for the teachers and the employment prospects of workers in the construction industry.

§ Mr. McElhone
My hon. Friend would not expect the present Labour Government, in four years, to cure all the ills of educational buildings going back over half a century. I think that he would accept that whereas there was no specific provision for further school improvements and replacements last year, starting this year we are allocating £4.1 million. I should also say that work under 435 construction for education at the end of 1977 totalled £22.6 million for primary schools, that the number of primary schools completed at the end of 1977 was 36, and that 29 primary schools had major alterations or extensions. Something is being done, but I am not complacent about the problems that my hon. Friend has explained this afternoon.

§ Mr. David Steel
How much of the £40 million extra for education which the Chancellor announced in the Budget will be coming to Scotland?

§ Mr. McElhone
I make two points on that question. Scotland's share of this sum is to cover a higher than expected level of capital expenditure on committed work and projects to provide extra places. The sum is about £3 million.

§ Mrs. Bain
In the context of the £40 million for education announced last week by the Chancellor, does the Minister agree with the statement made by John Pollock, of the EIS, that this is a drop in the bucket compared with the cut-backs over the past several years? Over and beyond the primary school programme that has just been announced, will the Minister look very carefully at the question of nursery education, which is desperately needed in West-Central Scotland?

§ Mr. McElhone
The hon. Lady must accept that since the Second World War both Governments have provided more school places than there are children in school. It must also be accepted that there are sharply declining rolls all over Scotland, posing grave problems for local authorities. A consultative document has gone out from my right hon. Friend to local authorities so that we may discuss the problem of spare accommodation, which is rapidly becoming available in schools all over the country.

§ Mr. Alexander Fletcher
Does the Minister agree that the decline in the birth rate is the biggest single problem facing education authorities in Scotland today? May we have his assurance that this will not lead to the wholesale closure of primary schools, particularly in rural areas?

§ Mr. McElhone
The complaint from the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, which is anxious to see the closure of schools with very small roles, is that 436 I refused to close a school in the Tayside area because I felt that it had a purpose for the local community. That is an argument that I am having with the convention. But I realise its difficulties in trying to staff schools with very small rolls—often antiquated schools in rural areas.