Commenting on the Scottish Government’s consultation “Safeguarding Rural Schools”, Liberal Democrat Shadow Education Secretary Jeremy Purvis MSP said:

“I note that the Scottish Government has dropped the policy of a legislative presumption against rural school closures and is adopting the Liberal Democrat proposal to involve HMIE in such decisions.

“It is right that local authorities take the decision about the future of schools in their areas. There have, however, been concerns that some local authorities have not followed best practice guidelines when deciding to close schools. This is why the Liberal Democrats suggested using the powers of the Scottish Schools (Parental Involvement) Act to enable parent councils to ask HMIE to review the decision-making process of the local authority.

“I am pleased that the Scottish Government has dumped its manifesto promise to introduce a “legislative presumption” against closing rural schools and instead adopted the Liberal Democrat proposal.

“The SNP never defined how their legislative presumption would operate and now seem to be proposing a pragmatic and constructive way forward to protect the interests of communities.”