6. To ask the Scottish Government what funding it is providing through the next phase of the learning state investment programme for schools in the South Scotland region. (S6O-02709)

The Scottish Government’s learning estate investment programme is a £2 billion investment project supporting Scotland’s school estate. Phase 3 supports a priority project in those councils that have not thus far benefited from LEIP funding, so it treats councils fairly and equitably.

Although it is the duty of councils to manage and maintain their school estates, we are supporting eight projects in the South Scotland region through phases 1 and 2 of LEIP.

Additionally, through the previous Scotland’s schools for the future programme, we awarded councils with funding of almost £171 million towards 20 priority projects in the South Scotland region.

As a result of investment by the Government, the proportion of schools in good or satisfactory condition in Scotland has increased from 61 per cent in April 2007 to almost 91 per cent in April 2023.

The question was about the next phase of the programme, not the one that happened three years ago. The short answer is that there is nothing—not a penny—for a single school in South Scotland. It was bad enough that projects were delayed and costs rose because of the dithering of the Cabinet secretary in making a decision on funding, but now every project in the region has been rejected. What message does the cabinet secretary have for parents at schools such as Dumfries academy, which is classed as condition B and C, which are not worthy of funding, when schools that have been classed as condition A have had funding?

I remind the member of the vast improvement in the school estate that I mentioned in my previous answer. It was a vast improvement that was made necessary by his party’s pathetic record on our schools while it was in office, which left us in a situation whereby almost 40 per cent of our schools were in a substandard condition.

I want to work with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to consider how we build on the progress, but if we had gone even further with LEIP funding at this stage, as I hear the member suggesting, that money would have had to come from somewhere else. Where is the member suggesting that that extra budget should come from? What cuts would he make to the education budget to fund extra schools? That is the reality of the situation that we face, thanks to an austerity agenda brought in by the Tories, and now supported whole-heartedly by Keir Starmer and the Labour Party.