"Climbdown" accusation as Swinney shelves Education Bill

The Scottish Government's flagship Education Bill has been dropped from the parliamentary timetable, Cabinet Secretary John Swinney confirmed yesterday.

In a statement to MSPs Mr Swinney said that although he was publishing a draft bill today, along with its accompanying documents and appropriate impact assessments, the bill would not be introduced "at this time". However he had reached a "collaborative" agreement with COSLA and other bodies to introduce plans for school "empowerment" through his proposed headteachers' charter without the need for legislation, which would "fast track" this reform.

However as respects the proposed replacement for the General Teaching Council for Scotland, he conceded: "I accept the strength of feeling among teachers about the body’s independence and its guardianship of professional standards."

Mr Swinney insisted that if sufficient progress was not made over the next 12 months, he would return to the Parliament and introduce an Education Bill, though he would prefer not to. But opposition MSPs declared themselves "astonished" at what Liz Smith for the Conservatives described as "this complete shambles of a U-turn", and Iain Gray for Labour as "the mother of all climbdowns". 

The bill was a centrepiece of the Scottish Government's programme for government published last September.