DEREK Mackay has been accused of “passing the buck” after advising private schools to lobby local government to get a rates discount he is axing at a national level.
The SNP Finance Secretary was criticised after it emerged he sent advice to Kilgraston School in Perthshire to ask their local council for a reduced bill.
Mr Mackay has announced he will scrap £5m of business rates relief for independent schools from 2020, in line with the recent Barclay review of the system.
Charity relief to private schools currently cuts their rates bill by 80 per cent, funded by central government, and councils can top this up to 100 per cent relief.
The end of the relief, which is designed to put private and state schools on an equal footing with respect to rates, has angered the private schools sector.
The Scotsman reported Education Secretary John Swinney wrote to Mr Mackay about Kilgraston in his capacity as the local MSP for Perthshire North.
Mr Swinney had been contacted by constituent Thomas Steuart Fotheringham, a governor of the all-girls boarding school in Bridge of Earn, which charges up to £10,000 a term.
In reply, Mr Mackay said the school could ask Perth & Kinross Council, run by a coalition of Tories, LibDems and Independents, for rates relief under a 2015 law.
He said he appreciated Mr Swinney would want to “keep a close eye” on the subject “given your dual role as a constituency MSP as well as Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills”.
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Mr Mackay went on: “In 2014, I created a new power to allow councils the ability to offer bespoke local business rate relief schemes.
“Under section 140 of the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015 each local council has wide-ranging powers to create rates reliefs to reflect local needs.
“This may apply to a sole business, sector or area and, for example, could be utilised to support independent schools where the council believes the local economic benefit is sufficient to merit such an intervention.
“Mr Steuart Fotheringham may wish to approach the council to request that they explore all avenues open to them to support his arguments and I emphasise that it is incumbent on the council to give any such request proper and full consideration.”
Tory Education spokeswoman Liz Smith said: “There now appears to be total confusion in SNP ranks about the party’s proposal to end business rates relief for independent schools.
“On the one hand, Derek Mackay claims the Scottish Government will use legislation to end business rates relief for independent schools but then, when pressed on the matter by his own colleagues, he says it will be up to councils to decide whether or not to apply the policy.
“In other words, some councils might choose to end rates relief but others would not. Such a situation would be seen to be highly divisive.
“As things stand, Derek Mackay’s policy is as clear as mud and is certain to be challenged.”
Labour Education spokesperson Iain Gray added: “People across Scotland will be bemused that John Swinney, the Finance Secretary who hammered budgets for local schools, is now lobbying for tax breaks for private schools as Education Secretary.
"Local councils have seen £1.5bn of cuts under the SNP - they need help to fund local schools properly, not for the government to suggest they fund tax breaks for private schools.
"The hypocrisy of this will anger parents and teachers across the country.
“This looks like another error of judgment form John Swinney, who was supposed to be a safe pair of hands at education but has repeatedly dropped the ball.”
Dorothy MacGinty, the headteacher at Kilgraston, also criticised Mr Swinney.
She said: “Mr Mackay has pointed out to John Swinney that actually there is still a route for independent schools still to get the 80 per cent rates rebate through the council.
“It is almost as if they are passing the buck. They are going to make this headline statement which garners great favour among the general population who don’t send their children to independent schools. But at the same time they are saying actually we’ll just pass it on to the local council and let them deal with it when they are already putting them under pressure.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We are certainly not passing the buck to local authorities and have in fact given them greater powers over rate reliefs to allow flexibility to local needs. We accepted the independent Barclay review recommendation that reduced or zero rate bills relief for independent schools across Scotland was unfair on state schools and should be removed.”
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