Exclusive:'Uncosted gimmick': Ministers warned key SNP school bag pledge is too 'expensive'
The Welcome To School Bag was a key SNP manifesto pledge - but internal government comms recommend the promise should be watered down
Ministers are set to defy civil servants’ advice over the prohibitive costs of a key SNP manifesto pledge.
First Minister John Swinney launched the Welcome To School Bag as a headline education promise during the Holyrood election campaign.
However, the scheme was uncosted - and will be too “expensive” to deliver in its promised form, internal documents show.
Instead, government staff suggest backpacks are swapped for tote bags to save taxpayers’ cash.
They say canvas bags should be used to provide “items that can fit inside a backpack" bought by parents.
The Welcome To School Bag is promised to every P1 child across Scotland - some 50,000 new pupils each year.
A Scottish government spokesman said backpacks will definitely be used when the scheme is rolled out, despite no set date for delivery.
But briefing notes released under freedom of information make clear there was no clear, costed plan to underpin the pledge.
Government staff are now working to devise a plan to roll out the bags. SNP election graphics and social media content universally showed a Welcome To School backpack.
First Minister John Swinney launched his party’s plans in April, saying it would build “on the success” of the Baby Box.
A press release clearly stated the pledge included “a school bag” containing a “starter pack filled with essential school items such as stationery, books, a water bottle and resources to help families encourage literacy and numeracy practice at home”.
But notes from a briefing document provided to education secretary Mairi McAllan show the minister being given a stark warning about costs.
The briefing states: “No commitment has been made with respect to the type of bag that will be offered, although an assumption is emerging among stakeholders that what is intended is a backpack.
“We would advise careful consideration is given to the type of bag.”
The internal document goes on to say a backpack would be “an expensive option” and “most likely to duplicate purchases families may potentially make anyway”.
This is despite the premise of the scheme being that starting school is a financial burden on families the SNP promised to alleviate.
Scottish Labour education spokeswoman Katherine Sangster said: “The SNP must come clean about whether it is already rewriting this election promise.
“This policy was designed to distract from the SNP’s poor record on education and threadbare policy offering, and now it looks like even this pledge could be watered down.”
Ms Sangster said the SNP is offering families an “uncosted gimmick” rather than “doing the hard work of improving our education system”.
"The SNP should be honest with parents about this policy and deliver a real plan to give their children the education they deserve,” she added.
Ms McAllan’s briefing note suggests a cheaper alternative would be to “provide a bag containing items that can fit inside a backpack, similar to the Book Bug bags i.e. a thin, canvas tote style bag”. It warns this might be seen to duplicate the existing Read, Write, Count and Book Bug bags.
To further save on costs, an alternative is suggested that would see the Welcome To School and Book Bug bags rolled into one.
This would “avoid incurring extra costs,” the notes read.
The SNP promised to launch a consultation within the first 100 days of government and has done so, canvassing various groups. There is no set date to roll out the scheme to the more than 50,000 pupils who start primary one each year.
Civil servants say funding could be given to local authorities to delivery bags on the first day of the school year but add that COSLA, the council umbrella body, has raised “concerns around the practicalities of this approach”.
It is also unclear when the scheme would launch with various dates given depending on which type of bag design is chosen.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Welcome to School bag will be a backpack with a selection of items to ensure every child is fully equipped with the essentials they need to take their first step into school. Scottish Government officials explored a variety of designs for the school bag, and further details will be set out by the Education Secretary before September.”
Scottish Conservative education and equalities spokeswoman, Meghan Gallacher MSP, called the scheme a “gimmick”.
She said: "This is a damning insight into how the SNP governs - making eye-catching election promises first and asking civil servants to work out the details later.
"We warned this was a 'goodie-bag gimmick', and these papers suggest that's exactly what it was. “They failed to deliver on their previous commitment of rolling out laptops and bikes to school pupils and this is just the latest broken promise.
"Instead of focusing on failing standards, classroom violence and the widening attainment gap, SNP ministers were chasing headlines with promises they hadn't properly costed or planned.”
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