Scottish Liberal Democrats secure an extra £2 million for North East education

Posted by Jamie Mackie | Updated 2021-03-09

The Scottish Liberal Democrat's top candidate for the North East region, Rosemary Bruce has today welcomed additional education funding secured by the party's leader Willie Rennie in this year's Scottish budget.

In negotiations with the Scottish Government, the party secured an additional £497,758 for Aberdeen City, £465,559 for Aberdeenshire, £349,451 for Angus, and £810,969 for Dundee, to provide more in-class support to children who need it by topping up the Pupil Equity Fund.

This is money paid directly to headteachers to provide additional support to pupils from less well-off backgrounds. This represents a 16% increase on the current year.

Rosemary, who is also a Councillor for Aberdeenshire and vice-chair of the Education and Children's Services Committee, said:

"I am delighted that the Scottish Liberal Democrats have secured this extra money to help pupils in the North East. Everyone deserves the best possible start in life and with this money we will provide more in-class support to children who need it.

"At the forthcoming election Scottish Liberal Democrats will put the recovery first by focusing on the issues that affect people day in, day out. If you elect me as your MSP I promise to stand up for education, jobs and mental health."

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie said:

"People expect parties to work together in the middle of a pandemic. Our focus has been to put recovery first.

"We have highlighted the need for business support, an education bounce back plan, and better mental health services, given the pressure we know that the virus crisis has put on people.

"These proposals show the impact that Liberal Democrat MSPs can make, balancing important national matters with targeted local support for our constituents and putting the recovery first.

"That's what you get with Scottish Liberal Democrat MSPs."

ENDS

Notes to editors:

COLUMN A	COLUMN B	COLUMN C
	Total for current year	Additional funds secured by Scottish Liberal Democrats	New total with additional funds secured by Scottish Liberal Democrats
Aberdeen City	£ 3,110,988	£ 497,758.06	£ 3,608,745.94
Aberdeenshire	£ 2,909,745	£ 465,559.14	£ 3,375,303.78
Angus	£ 2,184,071	£ 349,451.31	£ 2,533,521.99
Argyll & Bute	£ 1,330,813	£ 212,930.15	£ 1,543,743.59
City of Edinburgh	£ 7,265,551	£ 1,162,488.10	£ 8,428,038.70
Clackmannanshire	£ 1,527,827	£ 244,452.38	£ 1,772,279.78
Dumfries & Galloway	£ 2,870,271	£ 459,243.42	£ 3,329,514.78
Dundee City	£ 5,068,557	£ 810,969.14	£ 5,879,526.26
East Ayrshire	£ 3,503,019	£ 560,482.98	£ 4,063,501.62
East Dunbartonshire	£ 1,663,869	£ 266,219.08	£ 1,930,088.32
East Lothian	£ 1,542,160	£ 246,745.59	£ 1,788,905.55
East Renfrewshire	£ 1,353,017	£ 216,482.75	£ 1,569,499.91
Falkirk	£ 3,659,972	£ 585,595.51	£ 4,245,567.43
Fife	£ 9,880,538	£ 1,580,886.07	£ 11,461,423.99
Glasgow City	£ 22,201,370	£ 3,552,219.26	£ 25,753,589.66
Highland	£ 4,007,948	£ 641,271.63	£ 4,649,219.31
Inverclyde	£ 2,396,357	£ 383,417.13	£ 2,779,774.17
Midlothian	£ 2,209,916	£ 353,586.60	£ 2,563,502.88
Moray	£ 1,394,840	£ 223,174.41	£ 1,618,014.45
Na h-Eileanan Siar	£ 292,290	£ 46,766.44	£ 339,056.68
North Ayrshire	£ 4,297,771	£ 687,643.33	£ 4,985,414.17
North Lanarkshire	£ 9,110,457	£ 1,457,673.04	£ 10,568,129.56
Orkney Islands	£ 237,780	£ 38,044.72	£ 275,824.24
Perth & Kinross	£ 1,699,113	£ 271,858.12	£ 1,970,971.36
Renfrewshire	£ 4,360,388	£ 697,662.03	£ 5,058,049.71
Scottish Borders	£ 1,798,854	£ 287,816.60	£ 2,086,670.36
Shetland Islands	£ 227,676	£ 36,428.20	£ 264,104.44
South Ayrshire	£ 2,398,707	£ 383,793.06	£ 2,782,499.70
South Lanarkshire	£ 8,262,368	£ 1,321,978.94	£ 9,584,347.34
Stirling	£ 1,417,866	£ 226,858.58	£ 1,644,724.70
West Dunbartonshire	£ 3,166,556	£ 506,648.95	£ 3,673,204.87
West Lothian	£ 5,009,817	£ 801,570.74	£ 5,811,387.86
Sum of Local Authorities	£ 122,360,472	£ 19,577,675.46	£ 141,938,147.10

Grant-Maintained	£ 107,847	£ 17,255.46	£ 125,102.10

Total	£ 122,468,318	£ 19,594,930.92	£ 142,063,249.20

Across Scotland the party has secured:

An extra £120million for mental health services to pay for new services in communities.
An extra £60million to help education bounce back with smaller class sizes.
Additional support for businesses and the release of money for local authorities.
Fair funding for the internal ferries in Orkney and Shetland.
An extra £20million to provide more in-class support to children who need it by topping up the Pupil Equity Fund. This is money paid directly to headteachers to provide additional support to pupils from less well-off backgrounds. This represents a rough 16% increase on the current year.
£15million in special allocations to the North East to pay for skills training, upskilling and business support in a region particularly under pressure given its reliance on fossil fuel industries.
The addition of compensation for the council tax freeze into the baseline of local government funding, worth around £90million, which will remove the risk that councils would face a cliff edge on funding next year.
£5million more for agriculture transition funding, which rewards farmers for environmental stewardship and helps our climate change priorities.
A clear commitment that specialised eye services in Lothian will be protected.