Chamber and committees

Question reference: S6W-35751

Asked by: Miles Briggs, MSP for Lothian, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
Date lodged: 18 March 2025
Current status: Answered by Jenny Gilruth on 1 April 2025

Question

To ask the Scottish Government how many rural school closures have taken place in each year since 1999, also broken down by local authority.

Answer

In 2003 there were 1,025 publicly funded schools in Scotland classed as being in either an 'Accessible Rural Area' or 'Remote Rural Area'. In 2023 there were 853 publicly funded schools in Scotland with this classification.

Local Authority	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023
Aberdeen City	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	2	3	3	3	2	2	4
Aberdeenshire	128	127	125	125	123	122	121	121	121	121	120	120	119	120	119	116	115	117	114	113	113
Angus	37	36	35	36	33	31	31	29	29	29	29	29	29	28	27	28	28	28	28	28	28
Argyll & Bute	80	79	79	79	78	80	81	81	80	81	81	80	73	74	73	73	72	71	69	68	68
Clackmannanshire	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	4	3	3	3	3	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4
Dumfries & Galloway	84	83	81	81	80	79	78	76	75	75	74	74	74	72	72	73	72	72	72	72	69
Dundee City	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
East Ayrshire	21	21	19	21	22	22	21	20	20	18	20	20	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	21
East Dunbartonshire	5	5	5	6	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
East Lothian	17	17	17	18	19	19	19	19	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	18	18	19	19	20
East Renfrewshire	4	4	4	4	5	5	5	4	4	4	5	5	4	5	5	4	5	5	5	5	5
Edinburgh	4	4	4	4	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Falkirk	13	13	13	14	14	12	11	12	13	12	11	12	12	11	11	11	9	9	9	9	9
Fife	57	56	56	56	47	47	47	46	47	47	51	49	46	46	46	44	42	42	45	44	43
Glasgow City	2	2	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Highland	159	158	164	159	159	158	157	157	156	150	149	150	151	148	146	144	144	144	144	139	138
Inverclyde	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
Midlothian	16	15	13	13	13	9	9	9	8	9	8	8	7	8	9	8	7	7	7	6	6
Moray	31	31	32	31	31	31	31	31	30	30	30	30	30	30	29	29	29	29	29	29	28
Na h-Eileanan Siar	45	45	47	44	47	44	43	41	37	30	26	26	25	23	23	23	22	22	21	21	21
North Ayrshire	14	14	14	14	15	12	12	12	12	13	13	13	13	15	13	15	14	15	15	16	16
North Lanarkshire	20	20	20	20	19	14	15	15	16	16	16	16	19	18	18	18	18	18	18	19	19
Orkney Islands	24	24	24	24	24	24	24	23	22	22	22	22	22	22	21	21	21	21	23	23	23
Perth & Kinross	57	56	56	56	56	54	55	54	53	53	52	52	52	51	49	50	50	50	50	50	50
Renfrewshire	6	6	6	6	6	4	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	6
Scottish Borders	51	48	45	45	45	44	43	44	45	44	41	41	41	40	41	41	40	40	40	39	39
Shetland Islands	39	39	38	38	38	38	38	37	37	36	36	34	34	32	32	33	33	33	33	32	32
South Ayrshire	21	21	21	21	20	20	20	20	18	18	17	17	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16
South Lanarkshire	38	38	37	37	36	36	35	34	36	33	34	34	33	31	31	31	31	31	31	30	30
Stirling	30	30	28	28	29	27	27	26	25	25	25	26	26	25	25	24	23	23	23	23	23
West Dunbartonshire	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
West Lothian	15	15	16	16	14	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	9	10	10	10	10	13
All local authorities	1025	1014	1008	1005	989	958	954	945	934	916	910	907	894	882	874	868	859	861	861	852	853

Data is only available from 2003 onwards and is based on schools which were classed as either 'Accessible Rural Areas' or 'Remote Rural Areas' according to the Urban Rural Classification at the time. Note that an area's Urban Rural Classification may change over time, therefore a decrease in the number of schools classed as rural over the years could be due to this area being reclassified, rather than being due to school closures. The table shows how many rural schools were open in each local authority in each year since 2003.

More detailed information about school openings, closures, mergers and instances where a school has been mothballed can be found on the school contact details spreadsheet in the 'Schools opened or closed' tab: School contact details - gov.scot, but recording of this data is only available from 2007 onwards.

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