Last September Holyrood voted for sanctions against Israel due to the genocide in Gaza. This week the government was in England promoting arms dealers who sell products to Israel’s military.
The company that runs Scotland’s ageing nuclear power station wants to weaken safety standards to keep it running for at least four more years. But the nuclear safety watchdog has its doubts.
Posters appeared on social media purporting to be from the local authority, but they are fake.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Scottish Parliament and much has been written about the achievements of Holyrood since 1999.
In an interview with The Herald newspaper, Secretary of State for Scotland, David Mundell, suggested that the development of devolution had been held back by the Salmond and Sturgeon SNP governments as “constitution has ultimately dominated”.
[sc name=”FFS”]
He argued that education had been the major failure of these governments and made a claim about levels of attainment for school leavers in Scotland.
[aesop_quote type=”block” background=”#282828″ text=”#ffffff” align=”center” size=”1.5″ quote=”If, 20 years ago as we took our oath, people would have said after 20 years of this parliament there would be more young people leaving school without any qualifications at all, people would have been stunned.” cite=”David Mundell MP, Scotland secretary” parallax=”off” direction=”left” revealfx=”off”]
Ferret Fact Service looked at this claim and found it to be False.
Education is entirely devolved to Scotland and, as such, is under the full control of Nicola Sturgeon’s SNP government.
Her administration has been regularly criticised for its record on education, and Ferret Fact Service has checked a number of claims about schooling and education levels in Scotland.
Has the SNP overseen an increase in the education attainment gap?
David Mundell’s claim is based around those who leave school without any qualifications above the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) level 3. This is equivalent to the National 3 qualification which is usually taken by S4 aged children. The National 3 was introduced in 2013, and is approximately equivalent to a foundation level (5 or 6) Standard Grade, which was the qualification offered up to then.
The introduction of the Scottish Government’s Curriculum for Excellence means that the direct comparison between the National 3 and Foundation Standard Grade is not exact, but they are considered at the same level.
Scottish Government statistics use the SCQF level 3 as a measure of attainment. Anyone who leaves school without achieving this level can be broadly considered to have left without qualifications.
The latest statistics for Scotland cover the 2017-18 school year, and show that 2.2 per cent of school leavers did not achieve any grades at SCQF level 3 or higher.
There are figures available for 1999-00, the first year of the Scottish Parliament, which show that 5.8 per cent of school leavers did not achieve the level 3 qualification.
In raw numbers this equates to around 3,490 students. The latest statistics for 2017-18 show approximately 1,094 children leaving without the minimum qualifications.
[aesop_content color=”#ffffff” background=”#ffffff” width=”95%” component_width=”95%” columns=”1″ position=”none” imgrepeat=”no-repeat” disable_bgshading=”off” floaterposition=”center” floaterdirection=”up” revealfx=”off” overlay_revealfx=”off” aesop-generator-content=”<div class="flourish-embed" data-src="visualisation/389455"></div><script src="https://public.flourish.studio/resources/embed.js"></script>”]
[/aesop_content]
In response to a request from Ferret Fact Service the Scotland Office provided evidence to show that the percentage of those leaving without SCQF level 3 had risen in recent years. From a low of 1.5 per cent in 2012-13, the proportion of those leaving without such qualifications has increased by 0.7 points to the 2017-18 level of 2.2 per cent.
Taking a closer look at the statistics shows that since the parliament opened in 1999, there has been a broadly consistent decrease in the percentage of those leaving with no qualifications. This continues until 2012-13. Since then there has been an increase, with the latest percentage of 2.2 the highest since 2010-11.
A Scotland Office spokesperson said: “The number of students leaving school without any qualifications is at its highest level since 2010 and at its highest ever level comparing years with the same qualifications”.
While this is correct, Mundell’s claim was that “after 20 years of this parliament there would be more young people leaving school without any qualifications”, which suggests there are more people leaving without qualifications than in 1999. This is not the case, either by proportion or in total numbers.
David Mundell’s claim on the attainment of Scottish pupils since the start of the Scottish Parliament is misleading. While there has been an increase in the proportion of students leaving without qualifications since 2010, the current percentage is still significantly lower that it was in 1999 when the parliament was convened.
False – The claim is incorrect, not accurate.
Ferret Fact Service (FFS) is a non-partisan fact checker, working to the International Fact-Checking Network fact-checkers’ code of principles. All the sources used in our checks are publicly available and the FFS fact-checking methodology can be viewed here. Want to suggest a fact check? Email us at factcheck@theferret.scot or join our Facebook group.
Academics are raising concerns that an increasing percentage of young people, unable to cope with school, are withdrawing into their bedrooms, while families claim support is “woefully inadequate”.
Tensions are high in Glasgow following a series of protests over alleged sex crimes by migrants. Police and anti-racism groups fear extremists could inflame the situation.
The Scottish Government changed key parts of the official record of Angus Robertson’s controversial Israel meeting after a backlash, raising questions about government secrecy.
Concerns have been raised after a Reform UK campaigner claimed he knew in advance that migrants in Belfast would be targeted following the heinous attack on Stephen Ogilvie. Reform UK said it has “repeatedly and unequivocally condemned violence, intimidation and criminal damage”.
