Scottish education budgets were in the spotlight this week after teachers submitted a pay claim of 6.5 per cent for 2024-25.

Already, however, some prominent local authority figures have been lowering expectations by insisting that the Scottish government has not provided the funding for such a pay rise.

Local authorities have proposed some drastic budget cuts recently, and have suggested that the protection often offered to education may no longer be viable - although that feels like a message that has been sent out for many years.

Of course education, including teachers’ salaries, accounts for the largest chunk of councils’ budgets, so, what do the figures show us about education spending relative to other local authority services over recent years?

Last week, the Accounts Commission’s financial bulletin for 2022-23 showed that, over the course of a decade, education spending rose while other key areas saw funding drop.

But for how much longer will this be the case, if the situation is as bad as councils paint it? Following the Accounts Commission report, the local authorities body Cosla highlighted “the perilous state of council finances”.

The answer to the critical question of whether education is now more vulnerable to cuts should become clearer as Scottish councils set their annual budgets over the next few months.