WHEN the Scottish Government announced its Pupil Equity Fund (PEF), the aims were explicit: the money would help schools close the attainment gap and would support youngsters whose learning experience might suffer because of their families’ poverty.

Headteachers could be flexible in how they used the money but have to demonstrate that it aided children affected by poverty. Nowhere was it said that PEF money could be used to pay for janitorial services. Yet this is what Glasgow City Council, run by a minority SNP administration, has suggested.

The settlement of a dispute means that janitors’ term-time days now end at 4pm. The council recognises that this will cause headaches for primaries but says PEF monies can be used to pay for evening janitorial cover if the school happens to be hosting an event designed to close the attainment gap: a parent/child group, for example.

Local authorities must contend with ever-shrinking funds but Glasgow’s move undermines the edict that schools can decide for themselves how to use PEF funds. North Lanarkshire, earlier this year, sought to force heads to use £1 million to pay for existing classroom assistants. How does paying for evening janitorial cover help to close the attainment gap? The council should re-think its decision; or be made to, in a telephone call from John Swinney.