8
There was submitted a Notice of Motion by Councillors G Graham and Smith in
the following terms:
"Cuts to Renfrewshire Attainment Challenge Funding
This Council is appalled by the Scottish Government’s planned cuts to the Council’s allocation of Scottish Attainment funding.
The Scottish Attainment fund is a targeted fund which aims to support educational services to address the poverty-related attainment gap. As one of 9 targeted authorities for Scottish Attainment funding, Renfrewshire has made steady progress in improving the outcomes for learners and narrowing the gap, despite the exceptional circumstances of the last 2 years.
In 21/22 Renfrewshire was allocated £4.5 million. However, the Scottish Government has decided to cut the funding by 71%. This means Renfrewshire will lose out on £3.2 million over the next four years.
These SNP cuts are entirely unacceptable and will damage the learning outcomes for many of our school pupils, which our hard-working teachers and educational staff work so hard to improve.
In its report of December 2021 Scottish Government published data on literacy and numeracy levels which confirmed that the attainment gap between primary pupils from the most and least deprived areas of Scotland has widened. While national Attainment figures have reduced overall, those pupils from the poorest areas of Scotland have seen the biggest decrease. The timing of these cuts is therefore astonishing, as the Council’s Educational Services strives to recover from the impact of covid. It is clear from performance statistics that more, not less, funding is required to sustain progress in narrowing the poverty related attainment gap.
The SNP Government states that tackling inequity in order that every child can succeed in school and gain life skills is at the heart of its agenda. These cuts to Renfrewshire’s Attainment funding fly in the face of this.
Given the above, this Council rejects the proposed Scottish Attainment fund cuts and calls upon the Chief Executive, Leader of the Council and Leader of the Opposition to sign a joint letter to the Scottish Government to this affect, requesting a meeting with the relevant ministers to discuss the impact this reduction in funding will have on educational services in Renfrewshire."
Councillor G Graham, seconded by Councillor Smith, then moved the motion.
Councillor Rodden, seconded by Councillor Paterson, moved as an amendment that the motion be deleted and replaced with the following:
"Council recognises the cumulative progress made both nationally and here in Renfrewshire, to tackle the attainment gap for our nursery and school pupils. We offer our sincere thanks to the teachers, support staff and officers for their phenomenal efforts and innovative methods which have supported our children to achieve their full potential, no matter their background or family’s financial situation. We acknowledge that this has been particularly challenging within the landscape of a global pandemic and remote learning over the last two years.
Council’s Chief Officers were fully aware that the additional funding provided to Challenge authorities, was of a temporary nature and so ensured that all approaches and interventions were sustainable and built capacity into the system so that programmes would not always require similar levels of funding. Renfrewshire Council now has a wealth of knowledge and experience in utilising attainment challenge funding, the benefits of which cannot be overstated.
Council finally commends our amazing young people, who have worked so hard in difficult circumstances and are reaching positive destinations at a higher rate than ever before, upon completion of their education in Renfrewshire."
On the roll being called, the following members voted for the amendment: Councillors Adam, Airlie-Nicolson, Burns, J Cameron, Provost L Cameron, Councillors Campbell, Audrey Doig, Hughes, Innes, MacFarlane, K MacLaren, M MacLaren, McEwan, McGurk, McNaughton, Mylet, Nicolson, Paterson, Rodden, Shaw and Steel.
The following members voted for the motion: Councillors Ann-Dowling, Clark, Davidson, Devine, Andy Doig, Gilmour, Grady, G Graham, N Graham, Gray, Hannigan, Hood, Leishman, J MacLaren, McCulloch, McDonald, McGonigle, McGuire, McMillan, Montgomery, Mullin and Smith.
21 members having voted for the amendment and 22 members having voted for the motion, the motion was accordingly declared carried.
DECIDED:
That this Council is appalled by the Scottish Government’s planned cuts to the Council’s allocation of Scottish Attainment funding.
The Scottish Attainment fund is a targeted fund which aims to support educational services to address the poverty-related attainment gap. As one of 9 targeted authorities for Scottish Attainment funding, Renfrewshire has made steady progress in improving the outcomes for learners and narrowing the gap, despite the exceptional circumstances of the last 2 years.
In 21/22 Renfrewshire was allocated £4.5 million. However, the Scottish Government has decided to cut the funding by 71%. This means Renfrewshire will lose out on £3.2 million over the next four years.
These SNP cuts are entirely unacceptable and will damage the learning outcomes for many of our school pupils, which our hard-working teachers and educational staff work so hard to improve.
In its report of December 2021 Scottish Government published data on literacy and numeracy levels which confirmed that the attainment gap between primary pupils from the most and least deprived areas of Scotland has widened. While national Attainment figures have reduced overall, those pupils from the poorest areas of Scotland have seen the biggest decrease. The timing of these cuts is therefore astonishing, as the Council’s Educational Services strives to recover from the impact of covid. It is clear from performance statistics that more, not less, funding is required to sustain progress in narrowing the poverty related attainment gap.
The SNP Government states that tackling inequity in order that every child can succeed in school and gain life skills is at the heart of its agenda. These cuts to Renfrewshire’s Attainment funding fly in the face of this.
Given the above, this Council rejects the proposed Scottish Attainment fund cuts and calls upon the Chief Executive, Leader of the Council and Leader of the Opposition to sign a joint letter to the Scottish Government to this affect, requesting a meeting with the relevant ministers to discuss the impact this reduction in funding will have on educational services in Renfrewshire.