Cole-Hamilton to make case for pupil equity funding increase at party conference

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton will use his party conference speech to call for the “real terms” cut to pupil equity funding to be addressed.

At the party’s UK conference in Bournemouth on Sunday, Mr Cole-Hamilton will take aim at the Scottish Government’s commitment to education.

According to analysis from the party, the value of pupil equity funding in 2017/18, additional funds allocated to schools to close the poverty-related attainment gap, was £1,200.

In 2023/24, the figure had increased to £1,225, however Mr Cole-Hamilton argues the figure is a real-terms cut due to inflationary pressures.

The party’s analysis, calculated using the Treasury’s GDP deflator, states the 2017/18 allocation would equate to £1,445 in today’s prices, meaning the most recent figure is a real-terms cut of £220.

Mr Cole-Hamilton is expected to tell the Bournemouth conference that he will urge Scottish ministers to increase the funding, referred to as pupil premium in his speech to reflect the fund’s equivalent in England and Wales, in the upcoming Scottish budget.

He is expected to say: “It took six years to persuade the nationalists to adopt the pupil premium introduced by Liberal Democrats in England and Wales.

“Now we have new evidence of how the Scottish Government have let that slide.

“New analysis I’m publishing today shows how the value of the pupil premium has been eroded by more than £200 in real terms for every single Scottish child from a poorer background.

“That’s money that could have been spent on breakfast clubs, on dedicated teachers and support staff, on activities that inspire and capture the imagination.

“It is a £200 stealth cut.

“They are pulling up the ladder from the poorest children in Scotland.

“Shame on them.

“If the SNP won’t address it in the coming budget negotiations, then they should get out the way for someone who will.”

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said: “The Scottish Government is determined to do all it can to ensure children and young people can reach their full potential and is investing a record £1 billion over this parliamentary term in the Scottish Attainment Challenge.

“That includes over £520 million in Pupil Equity Funding over four years for headteachers to enable long-term planning. This funding is a crucial part of the Scottish Attainment Challenge programme.”