Children with parents in the armed forces in Scotland are being failed because of a lack of targeted funding, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have said.
Willie Rennie, the party’s education spokesperson, wants an armed services pupil premium to be introduced in Scotland, similar to the policy introduced in England in 2011.
It would provide just over £300 per child of service personnel and would be paid to schools, to address the disruption the children face to their education and the potential mental health concerns of having a parent in the army.
There are approximately 2,500 children of service personnel in Scotland.
Mr Rennie said the Scottish government’s education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville is “failing children” by rejecting the proposals.
In a response to Mr Rennie’s parliamentary question, Ms Somerville said additional support is available for all children who need it, including those with parents or carers in the armed forces.
Mr Rennie said: “The SNP have failed forces families for a decade.
“Many young people with parents in the armed forces are forced to chop and change between schools as they move around for their parents’ work. That can be very disruptive to their studies.
“Likewise, the worry of having a parent away in a dangerous place for a long time means they often need extra support.”
He added: “We all owe the members of our army, navy and RAF a huge debt. An armed forces pupil premium would help ensure their children get the support they need.”
Ms Somerville said: “We continue to support children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing through the provision of counselling through schools.
“This is now in place across secondary schools in Scotland. We have also introduced new guidance to support whole-school approaches to mental health and wellbeing, complementing the work that education authorities and schools already do to support children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing.
“Children of service personnel in Scotland will have their needs met by the supports outlined above and, as such, there are no plans to introduce a Service Pupil Premium.”
In April 2011, the Department for Education introduced the pupil premium - which targets low-income families by giving schools additional funding for every child on free school meals - and it also introduced the Services Pupil Premium in recognition of the specific challenges children from service families face.
In 2017, the Scottish government launched its own version of the pupil premium, the Pupil Equity Fund. However, PEF only provides additional funding for pupils receiving free meals and does not target forces families.
Earlier this year, Tes Scotland revealed that old data was being used to determine PEF allocations and that this was likely to underestimate disadvantage.
