Robert Brown welcomes School Clothing review

12.00.00am GMT Mon 29th Oct 2007

Glasgow Liberal Democrat MSP Robert Brown has today welcomed the announcement that the Government are to review the school clothing grant system across Scotland.

Mr. Brown has campaigned for action to increase and standardise the School Clothing Grant available to parents across Scotland.

In South Lanarkshire, the grant is £50 per child, and Glasgow gives a grant of £47, but some local authorities provide up to £65 for the school uniform.

Robert Brown, who is a former Depute Minister for Education and Young People, said:

"Its high time the Scottish Government took action on this, and I'm delighted they are taking the issue seriously. The School Clothing Grant is a great help to low income parents at the start of the school year to help pay for school clothing

"As every parent knows, these costs can be considerable - and indeed quite crippling for parents on low incomes - a blazer alone can cost £50. And the pressure on parents with more than one child is very demanding.

"The amount of the grant is decided by the Local Authorities. Depending on where you live in Scotland, the grant you receive can vary from £30 to £65. It's just ridiculous - the price of a shirt, trousers and a jumper will not vary that much from place to place.

"The clothing grant needs to be brought up to a realistic level - it hasn't really gone up across the board for years. A survey done in 2005 found that the average clothing grant had not increased for 5 years - whilst inflation has eaten away at the value of the grant.

"A pair of school shoes alone can cost £50, and no account is taken of the need for warmer clothes in the winter. This is a particularly important issue in the West of Scotland with high numbers of children and families living in poverty."

Robert Brown lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament on the issue of the school clothing grant, and also quizzed Ministers about the clothing grant with a number of Parliamentary Questions on the issue.