Dunlop: No excuse for schools going uninspected as SNP oversee Scottish education’s decline

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesperson and MSP for South Scotland Duncan Dunlop has condemned the Scottish government’s failure to ensure all schools are being inspected, with new data showing that some have gone without an inspection for more than a decade.

Figures obtained by the Scottish Liberal Democrats via Freedom of Information requests reveal that hundreds of schools across Scotland have gone without an inspection for more than 5 years – and in some cases, more than 15 years.

Among the key figures from across Scotland’s council areas:

• 552 Scottish schools have not been inspected for more than 5 years
• 449 have not been inspected for more than 10 years
• 46 have not been inspected for more than 15 years
• The longest gaps found were at:
  • Leverhulme Memorial Primary School (Eilean Siar): 17 years
  • Catterline School (Aberdeenshire): 16 years
  • Isla Primary School (Angus): 16 years
  • Inver Primary School (Highland): 16 years
  • Shawhead Primary School (North Lanarkshire): 16 years
  • Minishant Primary School (South Ayrshire): 16 years

Responding to the figures, Duncan Dunlop said:

“This year’s PISA results showed that after two decades of SNP government, Scottish children are falling behind their peers in England and elsewhere. Now it turns out that some of our schools have gone uninspected for longer than their pupils have been alive, and for almost the same length of time the SNP have been in power.

“There is no excuse for the government crossing its fingers and hoping schools are doing well without checking – not when we can see the results of managed decline in black and white. Our teachers, parents and pupils want more support and constructive guidance on how to make progress. 

“From falling test scores to spiralling classroom violence to the exam marking fiasco, the SNP have let our schoolchildren down time and again for two decades. It is fundamental for the future of Scotland that they do better. 

“Scottish Liberal Democrats will always prioritise educational standards and rightly hold the SNP to account for ignoring the needs of this sector and for overseeing avoidable decline. 

"Wherever we can, we will use our influence at Holyrood and in local government to turn things around.”