SNP fails to meet target on school nurses

Published on Monday 11 May 2009 18:56

THE SNP has been accused of breaking another manifesto promise after new figures revealed it is failing to meet a target on school nurses.

A written answer to Lib Dem health spokesman Ross Finnie showed the Scottish Government recruited only an extra 17 school nurses between 2007 and 2008, taking the number to 329.

In its manifesto, the SNP pro-mised to double the number of school nurses to 624, but so far it has only managed a 5 per cent rise.

Last night, Mr Finnie said: "Unless the health secretary has planned a massive recruitment drive for the last two years of the SNP's term of office, it's likely that the school nurse promise is more kindling for the bonfire of SNP manifesto pledges."

The is the latest in a list of unfulfilled manifesto pledges, including ditched plans for a local income tax, 2,000 for first-time buyers, scrapping student debt, reducing P1 to P3 class sizes to 18 and a minimum of two hours of PE per week for schoolchildren.

But a spokesman for health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said: "The Scottish Government is delivering right across the policy spectrum…We have already implemented 50 manifesto headline commitments – over half – at the mid-term point. The number of school nurses is increasing under this administration."