Hyslop 'fiddled figures on building schools'

Published on Thursday 8 October 2009 22:06

EDUCATION secretary Fiona Hyslop was accused of "fiddling" figures on school buildings by the Labour Party.

MSPs had been told in the lead-up to a debate yesterday that 200 new schools had been built in Scotland.

However, at 10pm on Wednesday new statistics were issued, revealing plans for another 36 schools.

Rhona Brankin, Labour education spokeswoman, said: "The desperation of Fiona Hyslop knows no bounds.

"After defeat upon defeat on education, she desperately tried to change the figures on the eve of the debate, but no amount of fiddling the figures can hide the fact that her beloved Scottish Futures Trust is a complete and utter failure."

During the debate, Ms Hsylop said that, as a result of at least 2 billion of investment "from 2007 to 2012", they had "passed the 200 new or refurbished schools mark in the two and a half years since May 2007".

She added: "The previous administration only delivered 205 schools during the entire four years of their term."

Ms Brankin also criticised the Scottish Futures Trust, which the SNP had said they would use to build schools.

She said: "The Scottish Futures Trust has not raised a single penny, it has not built a single school and it will not build a single school.

"All the SNP has done is establish an expensive quango costing taxpayers 23 million."

She added: "Let's not forget that PPP under the previous Scottish Executive built 119 of our 328 schools, compared with zero for the Scottish Futures under the SNP."

Fourteen new secondaries were announced last week by the government as part of a 1.25bn investment in schools.

However, the majority are not expected to be built by 2013.