PRIVATE schools across Scotland are facing a new challenge to their charitable status.
The Scottish Parliament's public petitions committee is seeking evidence from teaching unions, councils and the independent sector.
The move follows the lodging of a petition with the committee calling for private schools to be stripped of their charitable status - awarded to them because they are a provider of education.
Petitioner Ashley Husband Powton told the committee charitable status allowed private schools to claim an 80 per cent discount on non-domestic rates, pay no corporation tax and claim gift aid on tax donations, while state schools pay a full tax liability.
This, she said, allowed Fettes College in Edinburgh to pay just £41,828 tax, while nearby Wester Hailes school, where two-fifths of pupils receive free school meals, pays its full tax liability of £261,873.
"To put this in context, the average pay in Scotland is £26,472.
"So, it is undeniable that for the vast majority of the Scottish population the privilege of a private education is far outwith their reach. It's impossible to argue that access to these schools is not unduly restrictive."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article