Exclusive:Key SNP-Green education pledge secretly paused due to staffing pressures
Internal memos show the Bute House environmental education plans have fallen victim to civil service staffing issues
Ministers have quietly halted a key education pledge agreed as part of Nicola Sturgeon’s power sharing deal with the Scottish Greens.
Staffing pressures have led to a pause on climate education commitments, internal government memos show.
Civil servants who should be working on the Learning for Sustainability (LfS) plan have been redeployed to the Residential Outdoor Education Act instead.
Greens have now accused the SNP of “backpedaling” on climate education commitments.
Education spokeswoman Laura Moodie said: “The LfS action plan was a major step forward for climate education when it was first announced just three years ago.
“It is disappointing to see the Scottish Government further backpedal on their climate commitments while trying to appear in public as if they are not.”
The LfS action plan was arranged under the Bute House Agreement in 2023 and aims to embed the climate crisis and social justice issues throughout Scotland’s curriculum.
A statement from its announcement in 2023 reads: “We need to accelerate the speed of change and educate our learners for the future.
“Making LfS a key driver in the future of Scottish education will not only enable us to heed the call to action from learners but will allow us to achieve much more besides.”
In July this year, education secretary Mairi McAllan responded to a written question insisting work was continuing on the critical scheme.
However, just days later officials from the Education Directorate briefed Ms McAllan that LfS staff would pivot to the Residential Outdoor Education Act instead.
A memo reads: “The LfS plan and the ROE Act are closely linked (outdoor learning being part of LfS) and so the capability to deliver both is drawn from the same area of the Education Directorate.
“In order to meet the corporate headcount reduction targets while meeting statutory commitments (i.e. the ROE Act), a different approach is needed to deliver the LfS Target 2030 plan.”
The briefing document then goes on to say: “In 26/27 we had planned to drive forward a collection of three discrete delivery themes to support delivery of the LfS plan, while complementing activity through the Curriculum Improvement Cycle, which began after publication of the plan.”
It sets out that the themes were engagement with teachers, young people and local authorities; developing national and regional success indicators; and developing a new national policy framework for outdoor learning based on recommendations from the sector.
The note then says: “This work will be paused due to current capacity.”
The new Act was introduced earlier this year to give pupils a statutory right to at least four nights and five days of residential outdoor education.
The agreement settled between the SNP and the Scottish Greens promises to “build an inspiring movement for change” and turn every education setting teaching children aged three to 18 into a Sustainable Learning Setting by 2030.
The so-called Target 2030 plan contains five key themes and 25 actions.
A Scottish Government spokesman said LfS has “not been paused”, adding that the government “remains committed to its delivery” and fulfilling Target 2030.
However, the government’s own documents contradict this.
A Freedom of Information request revealed that work on “engagement with practitioners, young people and local authorities; developing national and regional success indicators; and developing a new national policy framework for outdoor learning building on recommendations already received from the sector” will be “paused due to current capacity”.
Out of 36 agreed sub-action points, only 16 had been completed when this decision was made.
Internal documents from May show civil servants raising concerns about the pressures, saying there would be “reputational” issues if the scheme was paused.
A memo reads: “Our current thinking is that difficult decisions would need to be taken to stop LfS co-ordination and implementation (which would be a significant item to stop, and not without implications reputationally).”
Ms Moodie added: “If we hadn’t discovered this through FOI, it may have gone unnoticed, as the Education Secretary was insisting there was ‘nothing to see here’ publicly.
“The Scottish Greens are supportive of the Residential Outdoor Education Act, but important work on climate education should continue alongside it, rather than prioritising one or the other.”
The internal memos also show a senior member of staff being moved from LfD to the Residential Outdoor Education Act instead.
The staffing issues come against a backdrop of a civil service recruitment freeze, part of public sector reform plans to streamline St Andrew’s House.
The Scottish Government spokesman added: “Recent delivery activity has included the development of new sustainable learning settings guidance for educators, published by Education Scotland in March 2026.
“We also continue to fund partners to deliver climate action in schools, global citizenship training for practitioners and resources for learning outdoors."
The Scottish Greens are now calling on the government to reconsider the pause.
“It is imperative that children in Scottish schools are well equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to understand the scale of the climate crisis and how they can tackle it,” Ms Moodie added.
“Instead, the Scottish Government has paused work on engaging with teachers, local authorities and young people when half of the actions agreed as part of this plan have not been completed.
“This is extremely disappointing and I urge the Scottish Government to reconsider.”
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