Question reference: S5W-36129
- Asked by: Beatrice Wishart, MSP for Shetland Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats
- Date lodged: 11 March 2021
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Current status: Answered by John Swinney on 18 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government what the ratio of pupils to school support staff has been in each year since 2007-08, broken down by local authority.
Answer
The Scottish Government collects data on 30 categories of school support staff ranging from Pupil Support Assistants to Swimming Pool Manager/Operators. The Scottish Government does not hold data on other staff that may be employed in schools, for example, janitors, catering staff and playground assistants.
The data provided here is based on one category of school support staff – Pupil Support Assistants. This category represents around 65% of the total (next largest being admin and clerical at around 20%) and represents staff whose role predominantly involves working directly with pupils.
There has been a lack of consistency over time and between local authorities in the number of hours that determine a full time role and in the allocation of staff to categories. This means that valid comparisons cannot be made between local authorities, and comparison over time can only be made between the 2018 and 2019 data.
Furthermore, as the Pupil Support Assistant category captures a range of roles targeted at different types of pupils, caution should be exercised when interpreting this data.
The following tables below show the ratio of pupils to Pupil Support Assistants for all local authorities for 2007 to 2012 and for 2013 to 2019.
2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |
Aberdeen City | 41 | 40 | 44 | 46 | 53 | 52 |
Aberdeenshire | 49 | 46 | 48 | 46 | 48 | 48 |
Angus | 72 | 68 | 68 | 65 | 69 | 65 |
Argyll & Bute | 62 | 66 | 50 | 48 | 44 | 34 |
City of Edinburgh | 65 | 75 | 75 | 70 | 70 | 74 |
Clackmannanshire | 37 | 45 | 52 | 48 | 48 | 52 |
Dumfries & Galloway | 64 | 60 | 69 | 72 | 69 | 65 |
Dundee City | 91 | 80 | 75 | 77 | 59 | 79 |
East Ayrshire | 58 | 74 | 66 | 67 | 65 | 68 |
East Dunbartonshire | 38 | 46 | 47 | 49 | 54 | 51 |
East Lothian | 107 | 112 | 104 | 94 | 79 | 74 |
East Renfrewshire | 49 | 82 | 78 | 82 | 80 | 62 |
Falkirk | 46 | 42 | 43 | 45 | 47 | 47 |
Fife | 68 | 65 | 71 | 62 | 60 | 63 |
Glasgow City | 40 | 48 | 51 | 57 | 58 | 38 |
Highland | 63 | 60 | 52 | 44 | 49 | 48 |
Inverclyde | 41 | 43 | 46 | 47 | 45 | 44 |
Midlothian | 60 | 70 | 65 | 63 | 59 | 58 |
Moray | 39 | 39 | 41 | 44 | 41 | 28 |
Na h-Eileanan Siar | 36 | 35 | 34 | 42 | 38 | 40 |
North Ayrshire | 60 | 55 | 55 | 58 | 63 | 61 |
North Lanarkshire | 53 | 54 | 53 | 56 | 56 | 58 |
Orkney Islands | 68 | 77 | 72 | 45 | 44 | 41 |
Perth & Kinross | 71 | 73 | 54 | 62 | 58 | 59 |
Renfrewshire | 59 | 62 | 67 | 71 | 80 | 84 |
Scottish Borders | 80 | 78 | 70 | 72 | 67 | 69 |
Shetland Islands | 33 | 32 | 33 | 30 | 29 | 28 |
South Ayrshire | 59 | 58 | 65 | 60 | 60 | 61 |
South Lanarkshire | 81 | 92 | 95 | 92 | 80 | 85 |
Stirling | 88 | 64 | 64 | 63 | 38 | 39 |
West Dunbartonshire | 47 | 46 | 47 | 49 | 47 | 45 |
West Lothian | 79 | 62 | 63 | 70 | 79 | 78 |
All Local Authorities | 56 | 58 | 59 | 59 | 58 | 55 |
2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
Aberdeen City | 51 | 50 | 52 | 45 | 44 | 45 | 42 |
Aberdeenshire | 50 | 53 | 52 | 53 | 51 | 49 | 50 |
Angus | 64 | 65 | 62 | 62 | 60 | 57 | 56 |
Argyll & Bute | 45 | 37 | 39 | 39 | 40 | 26 | 27 |
City of Edinburgh | 68 | 63 | 73 | 65 | 58 | 59 | 57 |
Clackmannanshire | 45 | 58 | 48 | 49 | 45 | 45 | 40 |
Dumfries & Galloway | 62 | 61 | 61 | 66 | 64 | 41 | 41 |
Dundee City | 41 | 101 | 75 | 67 | 68 | 63 | 61 |
East Ayrshire | 65 | 61 | 61 | 60 | 58 | 50 | 49 |
East Dunbartonshire | 53 | 56 | 58 | 58 | 58 | 56 | 54 |
East Lothian | 75 | 77 | 71 | 68 | 69 | 66 | 72 |
East Renfrewshire | 75 | 87 | 81 | 84 | 84 | 84 | 107 |
Falkirk | 49 | 50 | 53 | 60 | 58 | 54 | 55 |
Fife | 62 | 62 | 69 | 68 | 58 | 59 | 57 |
Glasgow City | 54 | 50 | 47 | 48 | 45 | 43 | 48 |
Highland | 46 | 47 | 46 | 47 | 45 | 32 | 35 |
Inverclyde | 46 | 44 | 44 | 42 | 38 | 31 | 32 |
Midlothian | 65 | 62 | 55 | 51 | 55 | 52 | 50 |
Moray | 23 | 22 | 46 | 48 | 46 | 44 | 47 |
Na h-Eileanan Siar | 37 | 39 | 41 | 42 | 31 | 40 | 38 |
North Ayrshire | 61 | 58 | 53 | 52 | 63 | 53 | 51 |
North Lanarkshire | 57 | 54 | 56 | 50 | 60 | 55 | 53 |
Orkney Islands | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 56 | 60 | 49 |
Perth & Kinross | 52 | 54 | 58 | 54 | 56 | 55 | 54 |
Renfrewshire | 76 | 79 | 86 | 75 | 70 | 74 | 72 |
Scottish Borders | 71 | 81 | 76 | 86 | 81 | 54 | 43 |
Shetland Islands | 32 | 33 | 33 | 31 | 31 | 29 | 25 |
South Ayrshire | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 51 | 51 | 53 |
South Lanarkshire | 82 | 78 | 77 | 75 | 67 | 63 | 60 |
Stirling | 65 | 62 | 69 | 74 | 61 | 67 | 62 |
West Dunbartonshire | 51 | 51 | 46 | 46 | 47 | 46 | 42 |
West Lothian | 71 | 70 | 63 | 60 | 37 | 44 | 46 |
All Local Authorities | 56 | 57 | 58 | 57 | 54 | 50 | 50 |