Parliament Workbench
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Official Report · Committee

New Petitions

Eco-friendly Schools (PE1184)

Tuesday 23 September 2008 Public Petitions Committee Petitions 8 contributions · 4 speakers

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The record

8 contributions
Frank McAveety Lab The Convener · Glasgow Shettleston
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PE1184, by Mrs L Albarracin, on behalf of the Bellahouston academy eco-committee, calls on the Parliament to urge the Government to make funding and other assistance available to schools to enable them to become environmentally friendly and achieve green flag status. Do members have any suggestions on how to deal with the petition? It strikes me that we should just raise the matter with the Government to see what actions lie within its remit and what discussions it has had with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on the issue. We should write to the Government and COSLA about what schools can do. The papers on the petition refer to a request for funding that could not be met, but the school would still like to address the issues.

Nigel Don SNP North East Scotland
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I agree. We should do exactly what the petitioners ask and find out what people think they are doing and what can be done. I am sure that the historic concordat will be mentioned somewhere in the response. That is inevitable.

Frank McAveety Lab The Convener · Glasgow Shettleston
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It is all right—it has been binned.

Nigel Don SNP North East Scotland
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Perhaps it is completely historic—it might even be prehistoric now. We just need to ask people what they are doing.

Frank McAveety Lab The Convener · Glasgow Shettleston
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Think of all the speeches that could be recycled.

Robin Harper Green Lothians
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Given that 93 per cent of primary schools are involved in the scheme, there cannot be many significant problems in the primary sector. The eco-schools programme has just started to raise the bar and get more secondary schools involved. Given that there might be perceived barriers in that sector, perhaps it would be a good idea to ask for a response about that issue.

John Wilson SNP Central Scotland
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One of the issues that has been brought to my attention in relation to eco-schools is the flying of the eco-flags. Although funding is available for schools to move towards and progress through the award system, there does not seem to be any funding in place to buy the flagpoles. I know that that is a bone of contention and that schools make appeals about their being able to display the flags prominently to show that they have won the awards. We might ask the Government, when it is looking at its funding streams, to find out whether there are particular problems with that, especially in deprived areas. If schools get the awards, how do they display the eco-flag? Some time ago, an appeal about that was made to me. The parent council was looking for £1,000 for that purpose. That might not seem a lot of money in the great scheme of things, but for some schools it is a substantial amount for the parent council to raise. We might be able to raise the issue with the Government so that we can find out whether schools can display the flags prominently and whether the costs of that can be met.

Frank McAveety Lab The Convener · Glasgow Shettleston
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Okay. Are members happy to pursue those matters?Members indicated agreement.

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