Kate Forbes, John Swinney, Malcolm Offord and Mairi McAllan.
In an ill-tempered exchange, Mr Offord told parliament: “While I was in the BBC studio on Sunday, getting wired up for my final interview of an eventful weekend, I was forced to listen to the first interviewee droning on and on for 15 minutes without answering a single question.
“To stop myself drifting off as the First Minister talked himself into oblivion, I reached for The Sunday Times. What did I see on the front page? I saw the new column by none other than the former Deputy First Minister, Kate Forbes. Does the First Minister agree with her commonsense analysis on North Sea gas?”
Does that sound familiar? Will the First Minister look forward to reading her column in the weeks to come?”
” In August 2016, Nicola Sturgeon asked to be judged on her record in education, especially on closing the attainment gap between pupils in poor and rich postcodes. Ten years on, the results are in. Scottish pupils are now a full academic year behind their English peers in science, and Scotland has scored its worst results ever in maths and reading. Meanwhile, England scored a top 10 place in all three disciplines. That is shocking.
“All the while, Honest John has been ever present. As finance minister, he presided over devastating college cuts. As education minister, he marked down 75,000 working-class kids during the pandemic. Now, as First Minister, he has reduced our great tradition in education from outstanding to average—the ruination of a once-proud nation.”
Pulled up for his remarks by Presiding Officer Kenneth Gibson, Malcolm Offord, who lives in West Dunbartonshire, added: “My question is this: is a free school bag the only gimmick left to this hapless First Minister?”
“I accept the outcome of the PISA assessments, but they are one part of the data set for Scottish education. The curriculum for excellence levels data, which is produced by the teachers of Scotland, whom Malcolm Offord has just insulted, shows that the proportion of secondary 3 pupils achieving third level or better in literacy or numeracy is at its highest level ever.
“We have the highest level of young people leaving school and going to positive destinations, at 93.5 per cent. We have record levels of young people in Scotland going to university for the first time, including record numbers of young people from deprived backgrounds, according to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. At both national 5 and higher, pass rates were up compared with last year and also with the pre-pandemic situation, and the poverty-related attainment gap narrowed for national 5, higher and advanced higher.
“That is the full report card on Scottish education, and I am proud of Scottish education.”
He added that during the Education and Gaelic Committee meeting, Patricia Gibson had argued that it may be “impossible” to close the attainment gap, as children are starting from very different standpoints.
“Is that really the stark reality of the SNP’s lack of ambition? First destroy an internationally admired gold standard of education and then give up? Reform will never let Scotland’s children down with that acceptance of mediocrity.
“Does the First Minister agree with Ms Gibson? Does he think that closing the attainment gap is really “impossible”? Has he given up on Scottish children?”
“All the other policy measures that we have taken, such as expanding—more than doubling—the availability of early learning and childcare to ensure that children get the best start in life through their engagement with early learning, and the measures on book bug work for babies and families, ensuring that children and families have the opportunity to engage in literacy from the earliest possible stages, are justified by international evidence.
“Those are just some of the steps that the Scottish Government is taking to support families, to close the attainment gap and, most of all, to ensure that every child in our country has the best start in life. That is what children will get from an SNP Government.”