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Official Report: search what was said in Parliament

The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.  

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Dates of parliamentary sessions
  1. Session 1: 12 May 1999 to 31 March 2003
  2. Session 2: 7 May 2003 to 2 April 2007
  3. Session 3: 9 May 2007 to 22 March 2011
  4. Session 4: 11 May 2011 to 23 March 2016
  5. Session 5: 12 May 2016 to 5 May 2021
  6. Current session: 12 May 2021 to 20 December 2024
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Displaying 2232 contributions

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Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 13 November 2024

John Mason

Yes, that is helpful. I will pursue that a little bit further. You mentioned consistency. Providing consistency costs money. If we have parents who are well able to afford to send their children on residentials, it seems rather a shame to subsidise them with public money when that money could perhaps be targeted at the families who need it more.

Willie Rennie will ask questions about money later on, so I do not want to tread too much on his toes. It was suggested that the cost of a week-long residential per pupil is between £300 and £400 or thereabouts. However, some of the submissions noted that the cost was £400 in 2022-23, so I assume that the average now would be up to about £460 with inflation. On top of that will be the cost of travel, clothing, equipment and so on. Even if the £460 was covered, do you feel that some families would not be able to send their children because of the need to spend money on clothing and that kind of thing?

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 13 November 2024

John Mason

I come to Mr Sweeney on the same theme. If families and schools are fundraising—that is quite good for the schools and young people enjoy it—and that money is already available, we should not replace it with public money, surely.

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 13 November 2024

John Mason

Do you not think that most workers do more than they have to?

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 13 November 2024

John Mason

Okay. I will leave it at that, convener.

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 13 November 2024

John Mason

Do you want to give us a rough idea of the percentage by which you have had to put the cost up?

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 13 November 2024

John Mason

That is helpful.

We have touched on capital funding. Mr Miller, I think that I stayed in two of your centres when I was younger.

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 13 November 2024

John Mason

None of that funding comes from the public sector.

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 13 November 2024

John Mason

Mr Bradshaw, I think that you said that around 61 per cent of young people are going on residentials. How is that paid for? How many of the residentials are entirely paid for by a pupil’s family and how many by the school?

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 13 November 2024

John Mason

Presumably, if there is a smaller number of poorer kids in a better-off area the school can cover that. However, I have schools in my constituency that cannot even come here to Parliament because they cannot afford the bus fare. What hope do they have of getting a residential? Should we be means testing for those who need support, or should provision be across the board, which is the intention behind the bill?

Education, Children and Young People Committee [Draft]

Schools (Residential Outdoor Education) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1

Meeting date: 13 November 2024

John Mason

Ms Lillis, we seem to have a lot of good will from teachers at the moment. You want to discourage that, as I understand it; they should do only what they are paid for. However, cost is a challenge. Everybody accepts that residentials are a good thing, but if we are going to argue that teachers must be paid overtime for every hour that they work on a residential, it just will not happen, will it?