SNP accused of £9m maintenance allowance cutsBy John Bynorth
LABOUR leadership contender Iain Gray (below) yesterday promised that the talents of not one single school-leaver would be wasted if his government were in power, announcing ambitious plans for public-private sector scholarships.
Gray's FutureScot scheme will aim to cut the numbers of untrained, poorly educated 16 to 18-year-olds. Scotland has the highest proportion of school leavers in the UK without jobs, education or training at 23,500 (12.1%), 3% more than in England.
His plans would see scholarships funded by private companies and government to encourage more students to take degrees in science and IT-related subjects to fill skills shortages in the marketplace, with extra funding for work placements and graduate jobs. Additional support would also be provided for access courses and deprived university students.
However, the SNP government angrily denied Gray's claims that it has cut spending by £9 million from the educational maintenance allowance that supports young people from deprived backgrounds to continue in education and training.
Gray, who is in a three-way fight with Andy Kerr and Cathy Jamieson to succeed Wendy Alexander as Labour leader at Holyrood, said: "It's a travesty for more than one in 10 of our young people to leave school with nothing to go to.
"We need to provide more opportunities for young people in Scotland. The FutureScot programme would invest in key areas to provide more opportunities for our young people, to ensure that every young person in Scotland can reach their full potential.
"The SNP have failed to act on this. If I am elected leader of Scottish Labour, I will work to ensure that we don't waste the talents of a single Scot."
The former finance minister said the 23,500 figure was a loss to Scottish society and damaged the nation's confidence.
His programme would also improve funding for access courses to enable people to move from further to higher education, provide a literacy specialist in each primary school and enlist volunteers to organise summer schools to help those behind in reading and writing.
He also promised that every young person would be guaranteed an apprenticeship in the same way as a school, college or university place, and funding for university students from the poorest backgrounds would increase by £1700 a year.
The Scottish government said Gray's figures were incorrect because almost all central education spending is channelled through local authorities, which are guaranteed £34.7m over the next three years, 13% more than under Labour. It said 250 schools would be built or refurbished, and almost £3 billion invested in schools infrastructure during that time.
"The Scottish government is matching and funding the previous administration's building programme brick for brick," a spokesman added.
Meanwhile, an SNP MSP has revealed Scotland faces being out of pocket after the UK government refused to make funds available to cover a multi-million pound pensions shortfall for the fire and rescue services.
Brian Adam's claims come after last week's revelations in the Sunday Herald that the Scottish government's target of recruiting almost 1000 new police community officers is unlikely to be met unless it makes up a huge pensions gap.
The Scottish government is unable to prevent the changes, which have been initiated by the Home Office and allow police and fire and rescue workers to convert a larger part of their pension to a single lump sum paid out upon retirement.
Justice secretary Kenny MacAskill, in a parliamentary question, revealed that the government had not received extra money under the Barnett consequentials - the formula for providing additional funding in Scotland to cover government spending in England and Wales - to pay for the changes.
Adam revealed the Treasury had provided extra funding for the deal to be put in place in England and Wales.
He said: "The Treasury's refusal to provide Scotland with the funds to implement the new pension scheme for the police and fire and rescue services is bewildering. This is a clear-cut case of spending rising in England and Wales in a devolved area due to a decision taken on a UK-wide basis, and thus Scotland should receive its fair share of extra funding via a Barnett consequential."
Last week Paul Rooney, convener of the Strathclyde Joint Police Board, warned that the force would be severely restricted in its ability to recruit more staff after predicting its pensions deficit would rise to £24.1m between 2009 and 2010.
Talks have currently stalled between the groups representing the police and local authorities and the Scottish government on the police pensions issue.
