Nicola Sturgeon challenged over 'mixed messages' on school return

The First Minister was today challenged to plot a route map for the full return of children to schools, amid accusations of “mixed messages” and a claim that not a single laptop had been delivered by the government to children who need technology to learn at home.

Nicola Sturgeon clashed with Jackson Carlaw and Richard Leonard over the government's plans for schools.

In a series of bad-tempered exchanges at First Minister’s Questions, which saw Ms Sturgeon castigate Scots Tory leader Jackson Carlaw for “playing politics” with the coronavirus pandemic, she was also heavily criticised over her government’s plans for blended-learning when children begin to return to school in August.

Mr Carlaw said there had been a series of “half measures and buck-passing” as well as “soft words and a record of non-delivery” by the government in its support of local authorities to prepare to get children back to schools.

And Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard accused the government of failing to deliver on its pledge four weeks ago that 25,000 laptops would be delivered to children who need them for home learning, claiming “not one single device has been issued”.

However Ms Sturgeon said she was trying to move “heaven and earth” to get people’s lives back to normal, and accused opposition politicians of “over-simplifying” complex issues and “not being sufficiently interested” in resolving them.

She also hit out at Mr Carlaw’s raising of advice given by Edinburgh University’s global health expert, Professor Devi Sridhar, who was caught up in a Twitter spat earlier today over apparent conflicting views of the schools plan.

While Mr Carlaw asked if Ms Sturgeon agreed with Professor Sridhar’s analysis – that as long as Covid-19 cases are low and test and protect is fully operational, then in August, schools should reopen as normally as possible – the First Minister said: “Yes I do agree wholeheartedly. But I deprecate anyone who is casting aspersions on the integrity of an expert.

“I agree with her in the totality of what she says, not just the bits of her analysis that suits my particular argument. I want to get schools back to normal, I want to get the economy back to normal, as quickly as possible, but I also know that all of that has to be safe. We cannot have memories so short that we forget that we’re dealing with a virus that is dangerous and potentially deadly and has not gone away.”

Mr Carlaw hit back saying those who asked questions should also not be deprecated, and added: “Parents are looking for a commitment to at least try to get schools back as normal for the start of the new term. Professor Sridhar’s point is a community based testing regime would give teachers and parents reassurance that schools are safe. Will the First Minister commit to ramping up testing capacity and usage of that in summer so that by August, opening schools full-time if it’s achievable and safe to do so?”

Ms Sturgeon said she would move “heaven and earth to get this country and our lives back to normal as soon as possible” and added: “Nothing is more important in all of that in getting our children’s education back to normal and putting plans in place to allow children to catch up on missed education. But we need to get through this crisis as safely as possible.

“In common with England, Wales and Northern Ireland, we are having to bring schools back with physical distancing in place, the challenge is to maximise the time children spend in schools. The second strand is to consider alternative measures which might allow schools to operate as normally as possible, including a robust test and protect system which is what we have put in place.

“What I would say to parents and young people is that this has my total commitment. To those in this chamber and to anyone suggesting that these issues are simple, they are perhaps showing they’re not interested in sufficiently understanding them. We must move cautiously and safely. I will continue to operate every day in a way that does not focus on the politics of these issues, but in a way that gets this country through this crisis as safely as we can.”

Saying she would not “act recklessly to put the lives of children, teachers or the wider community at risk”, she said the government was working through the issues and admitted she had been “tested” by the pandemic. “People will make their own judgements on how I rise to that, but opposition politicians are tested by this as well,” she said. “And the approach Jackson Carlaw is taking perhaps reveals more about him and his party’s character and ability than it does about me, and I’m not sure people looking at that right now will see an appealing picture.”

Scottish Labour leader Richard Leonard also raised schools, and said their concerns had been made explicit to Education Secretary John Swinney in an online forum last night. He said: “Parent, teachers and young people want clarity but they’ve had nothing but mixed messages. Why can’t you publish a detailed route map and a timetable for a return to full-time face-to-face schooling?

“We’ve got one of the world’s worst records on tackling Covid-19 so we should be making sure we’ve got one of the world’s best records on supporting our children coming out of it. Parents across Scotland are crying out for a clear plan to get their children back into the classroom.

“At the start of this crisis you rightly channelled resources into the NHS, the NHS Louisa Jordan was created and new equipment was brought into hospitals right across Scotland. So where is the commitment, the energy, the drive and conviction, where is the national plan and leadership, where is the ambition to tackle this schools crisis with the same urgency – to pull out all the stops, to make the resources available, to get our schools safely reopened and to uphold our children’s right to an education?”

Ms Sturgeon said: “The commitment is there but in reality that involves putting in place the plans and doing the hard work to turn ambition into reality which is the process we’re going through right now.

“My commitment to parents and young people is as it’s always been to get normality back into education as we want to get it back into every aspect of our lives as quickly and safely as possible. I will not try to underplay or over-simplify complex issues the entire world is trying to grapple with right now.

“I recognise the stresses and strains and anxieties of parents right now – home schooling while trying to juggle work commitments. We’ve got more to do to support parents for as long as the situation continues.

“We will continue to make the investment whether that’s through laptops or tablets that we’re making available or through the resourcing of the plans to get children back to school as soon as possible. The debate around this is right and proper but fundamentally all of this involves hard graft, and that’s the hard graft I and my colleagues in government with our partners in local councils and with teachers and others will continue to do day in and day out.”

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