Renfrewshire Council’s education and children’s services policy board will meet today to discuss school provision for children in Dargavel following the council’s catastrophic school roll miscalculation. When I previously raised the issue, the expected cost to fix the mess was £20 million; it is now an incredible £75 million.

Parents are looking for the Scottish Government to help to resolve the situation. Does the First Minister agree that no child in Renfrewshire should have to pay for the council’s incompetence and lose out because of the resulting shortfall in school budgets? If so, what will the Scottish Government do to ensure accountability for this failure and ensure that the appropriate primary and secondary provision is urgently put in place?

I will ask the current Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills to have discussions with Renfrewshire Council when they can. I know that the previous education secretary was involved in discussions. It is a local authority matter. Neil Bibby has asked me to take money out of the school building programme and redistribute it to another project. He must say what school we would take that money from, because every single penny is accounted for in the current budget.

We will continue to have discussions with Renfrewshire Council, as we have done. I will ask the education secretary to touch base again with the council, because I agree with Neil Bibby’s premise that no child should feel that their education or their educational attainment has suffered as a result of any decision that has been made in national or local government.