Cosla seeks talks over teacher deal

The Scottish government says increasing teacher numbers is one of its priorities

The row between most of Scotland's councils and the Scottish government over cash has escalated.

Council leaders said they were not prepared to do individual deals with the government over funding and teachers.

The row centres on the government's threat to keep some cash from councils if teacher numbers fall.

Council body Cosla will now write to the government calling on them to enter into new talks.

In a separate move, Glasgow City Council, which is due to leave Cosla in April after a dispute with the council body, said it would maintain teacher numbers next year.

The council, which was not at Friday's Cosla meeting, is believed to be the first Labour council to offer such a commitment.

Cosla president David O'Neill said the organisation was prepared to enter negotiations on the number of teachers nationally but that it made no sense to say that no individual council could cut the number it employs.

He said: "Council leaders were adamant that only collective discussions at a national level can resolve the issue and that no council be sanctioned as a result of workforce planning issues."

Budget offer

The Cosla meeting in Edinburgh was attended by 27 of Scotland's 32 councils.

BBC Scotland understands that all the non-SNP councils at the meeting opposed the terms of the budget offer.

Nationally councils get around 80p of every pound they spend form the government. The remainder is mostly from the council tax.

The government plans to give the 32 councils nearly £11bn between them in the next year. It has also set out how much each one individually will receive.

The problem is over a small proportion of that money and the threat to withhold up to £10m from councils if the number of teachers drops.

Although some councils are angry about this, they have no realistic choice but to accept the money on offer from the government - otherwise their finances would fall into chaos.

Most councils are due to debate their local spending decisions next Thursday. Some have already passed their budgets for the coming financial year.

The row over teacher numbers is part of a far bigger debate over the role and power of local government.

'Generous offer'

Some councils believe the role and influence of local government has gradually been eroded in recent decades and saw what was, in effect, an order to maintain teacher numbers regardless of local circumstances in that context.

The Scottish government has yet to respond to Cosla's decision.

But on Thursday, Deputy First Minister John Swinney expressed his disappointment that Cosla had not agreed to what he considered to be a "fair and generous offer of government support to deliver a good outcome for our education".

Mr Swinney said the government had been "clear and consistent in our commitment to maintain teacher numbers in line with pupil numbers as a central part of our priority to raise attainment".

And he said it was councils who had told him an extra £10m was required to maintain teacher numbers.

Mr Swinney added: "I thought, being a reasonable man, if I offered to pay that £10m I might get an agreement of the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities which I was unable to get."

However, Scotland's largest council said it would maintain teacher numbers next year.

Labour-run Glasgow City Council said it wanted an urgent meeting with Finance Secretary John Swinney to ensure it gets what it considers to be a fair share of the government's cash.

It believes it should be entitled to £8.4m out of the £51m the government is making available to maintain teachers numbers nationally.

The council argues it has suffered unfair cuts to its government funding in recent years.