Parliamentary Bureau Motion: S2M-1111

29/03/2004 - Motions and Amendements

S2M-1111 Fiona Hyslop: Presumption Against Closure of Rural Schools - Code of Guidance - That the Parliament notes the continuing anxiety of rural communities across Scotland faced with rural school closures; notes the work of, and reports to, the Education, Culture and Sport Committee in Session 1 on rural school closures and its recommendation of 4 July 2000 that national guidelines be revised; regrets that COSLA abandoned its earlier agreement to draw up such a revised code of practice in 2001 by proposing a review of legislation by the Scottish Executive instead, and is of the view that the Executive, having acknowledged in March 2003 that COSLA was no longer carrying out this work, should itself, as a matter of priority, produce a revised code of guidance on rural school closures which should have as a central tenet the presumption against closure of rural schools.

Supported by: Brian Adam, Mr Kenny MacAskill, Bruce Crawford, Robin Harper, Mr Stewart Maxwell, Rob Gibson, Jim Mather, Mark Ballard, Richard Lochhead, Stewart Stevenson, Mr Bruce McFee, Christine Grahame, Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, Mr Adam Ingram, John Swinburne, Shiona Baird, Ms Rosemary Byrne, Eleanor Scott, Dr Jean Turner, Michael Matheson, Alex Neil. Linda Fabiani, Chris Ballance