Fife MSP claims schools can’t afford photocopying because of PPE ’drain’ on resources

He said it meant provisions such as photo-copying have had to stop in some schools.

Mr Rowley said: “This means already tight budgets that are meant to be used to support children’s education are being diverted into buying PPE and Sanitiser, and this is not acceptable.

“Fife Council needs to get its act together. This may be a blip – but it’s a blip that is affecting and impacting our young people.

“The current situation is tough enough for schools, and the council should have a coordinated approach to making these safety materials available, and not just telling schools they must use local budgets meant for supporting teaching and learning.”

The Scottish Government recently announced that there will be a national total of £50m funding for PPE and other Covid-19 related costs.

However, the distribution to local authorities is still to be determined.

Carrie Lindsay executive director for education and children’s services for Fife Council said: “We are required to maintain tight financial control of the additional costs related to Covid-19.

“For all council services, including schools,  additional costs are charged to the relevant establishment, and tagged with an identifier to indicate that the spend is Covid-19 related.

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“Whilst services have been required to take steps to incur spend, including the provision of PPE, in relation to its response to COVID 19 the funding for these  is still being established, and will be allocated in due course.”

She added: “Not all of the COVID 19 national  funding is finalised or distributed, so we are incurring costs  at school level and across council services.

“We are monitoring spend pending the distribution of the funding and would hope to allocate available funds to schools and services in due course.”

Mr Rowley noted that the government’s delay in finalising and delivering funding is ‘unacceptable.’

He added:  “The response confirms that as yet funding for PPE and sanitiser is not going to schools. This is unacceptable and must be addressed.”

SNP Cllr Fay Sinclair, convener of education and children’s services said: “All schools have access to vital resources for learning and teaching and Fife Council is closely monitoring all spend to ensure this remains the case.

“Whilst Council services including schools have incurred Covid-19 related spend, including the provision of PPE, these are tagged with an identifier so that they can be reimbursed as quickly as possible.”