Education minister Jenny Gilruth defends campaigning for SNP instead of answering school violence questions

The Education Secretary has defended campaigning for the SNP instead of taking questions on school violence at Holyrood.

Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth has refused to apologise for skipping ministerial questions to campaign “on the stump for SNP votes”.

Ms Gilruth has defended her junior minister answering questions at Holyrood last month in her place after Scottish Conservative MSP Douglas Ross questioned whether the Cabinet secretary was “deliberately misleading” Parliament.

Jenny Gilruth and Douglas Ross | PA

Responding to Mr Ross’s question in Holyrood, Ms Gilruth explained the questions “were answered by a minister in the education and skills portfolio” - with higher education minister Graeme Dey responding to queries in the chamber.

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But Mr Ross called on Ms Gilruth to issue an apology for not taking part in the session herself, instead campaigning for the SNP for the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election.

Mr Ross said: “There were issues in the Cabinet Secretary alone’s portfolio on teachers who were experiencing physical violence and verbal abuse, vaping in schools and teachers stuck on temporary contracts.

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“If this Cabinet secretary is going to be honest with this chamber, she will say she was on the stump for SNP votes when she should have been here doing her job.

“So will Jenny Gilruth, not in her usual condescending way, give an apology to this Parliament for missing this session, but more importantly an apology to our pupils, our parents and our teachers for the disrespect she showed by missing it.”

Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills Jenny Gilruth | Andrew Milligan/PA Wire

In response, Ms Gilruth said: “Oral questions may be answered by any member of the Scottish Government or a junior minister. Mr Ross had the opportunity today to raise any issue pertinent to the children and young people of Scotland. What a pity, although not surprising, that he chose not to do so.”

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But Mr Ross suggested Ms Gilruth was either “deliberately misleading” Parliament or did not know which questions “she would have answered” if she had turned up.

SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald accused the former Scottish Tory leader of “hypocrisy”.

Mr MacDonald suggested it was rich for Mr Ross to be “questioning anyone’s attendance at Parliament”, given he previously “ditched the Justice Committee to officiate a football match between Sporting Lisbon and Real Madrid” and “missed a Universal Credit debate at Westminster to be at Barcelona vs Olympiacos”.