Must do better on rich-poor attainment gap as Sturgeon pledge 'in tatters'

Daily Record

16 hours ago

Record View says the report card is clear – the SNP government is failing to narrow the attainment gap according to a timescale it set out itself.
A week is said to be a long time in politics, which makes a decade seem like an eternity.
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Party leaders of all persuasions would prefer if the public couldn't recall the big promises they made around election times. But some policy pledges are so massive they can't just be quietly ignored when events render them redundant.
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Flush from another Holyrood election victory in 2016, Nicola Sturgeon's SNP government told Scots that narrowing the poverty attainment gap would become a key ambition. It would take years but we would ­eventually see children from the poorest backgrounds doing just as well in their exams as those from the richest.
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The 10-year anniversary of that historic commitment is now less than 12 months away, but the poverty ­attainment gap stubbornly persists. The tiny amount of progress made this year is nowhere near good enough.
When it comes to National 5s and Highers, the richest kids still do better. The attainment gap remains around 17 per cent, just as it was last year. This is not to ignore the very successes achieved by pupils across the country. More youngsters are finding their way to universities. That's a positive.
But when governments ask voters to judge them on their education record – as Sturgeon famously did – they must be judged accordingly.
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And the report card is clear – the SNP government is failing to narrow the attainment gap according to a timescale it set out itself. Promises cost nothing. But voters don't forget when they are not met.
Firefighter fears
A firefighter is a public servant that people living in Scotland should hope they never have to rely on.
These heroes are first to respond when a blaze is ripping through a family home or a business. They are also first on the scene during horrific road traffic accidents.
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But cuts to this vital service have seen response times rise over the course of a decade. And now the trade union representing firefighters has warned median response times may jump to 10 minutes.
Such a rise would be a disaster because a fire can do untold damage in a short space of time. The union believes a rise is likely due to cuts to fire stations under ­consultation by the single fire service.
They believe these cuts pose a huge threat to public safety. SNP ministers must intervene to ensure any savings do not trigger a rise in emergency response times.