LABOUR PARTY / LIBDEM SCHOOLS PLANS EXPOSED.

LABOUR PARTY / LIBDEM SCHOOLS PLANS EXPOSED.

SNP DELIVER ON NEW SCHOOLS 1 YEAR AHEAD OF PREVIOUS EXEC.

Commenting after First Minister’s questions where it was revealed that the 1999 - 2003 Labour/LibDem Executive took three years to deliver a school building programme – a full year more than the SNP Government – SNP MSP Aileen Campbell said:

“This shoots another opposition fox. The previous Labour/Lib Dem administration actually took longer to bring forward their first school building programme than the SNP Government. Their bluster about the Scottish Government and new schools has been exposed as hypocrisy, and once again shows why they lost power in Scotland.

“The SNP Government is lifting more of Scotland’s children out of the crumbling school buildings Labour left them in for ten years – and it is doing so without the wasteful and expensive PFI costs favoured by Labour.

“Already 150 schools have been rebuilt or refurbished with at least 250 schools to be delivered by 2011.

“Yesterday’s announcement will see a further 55 schools built on top of that - ensuring as many children as possible have the opportunity to be educated in good quality schools, not the crumbling estate Labour left behind.

“It is also the SNP Government which spending more per year on the school estate that the former administration did in any of the last eight with a commitment of £700 million a year over the four years of this term. That is well ahead of the Labour/LibDem Executive contribution of only £560 million a year over seven years.

“Now we are seeing more money invested, in a much faster time, and an SNP Government backing Scotland’s school children.”

MORE INFO,

1. Details of the Scottish Government’s investment in new schools can be found at;

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2009/06/17153444

2. Labour Market statistics released today (17th June 2009) show employment in construction rose by 1.4% in Scotland, but by only 0.9% across the UK as a whole.

3. New orders in construction (according to ONS, 11th June 2009) increased from Q4 2008 to Q1 2009 by 4.1%

4. Audit Scotland’s report in to the School Estate showed the Labour/Lib Dem Executive alongside local authorities invested the equivalent of only £560 million a year in the school estate, in contrast prior to today’s announcement the SNP Government and local authorities were expected to invest the equivalent of £700 million a year over the four years to 2011.