Readers' letters: Should schools pay for mobile phone ban?

Most schools in Scotland already operate “off and away” policies aimed at minimising disruption. Parents – who typically provide phones in the first place – think these inadequate, though few imagine their own child as the problem. Yet even if every school banned phones tomorrow, independent research suggests many of the key harms – sleep disruption, social media pressure and algorithm-driven engagement – occur largely beyond the school gates.

Should CEC decide upon physically restricting phones – through lock pouches or storage systems – who should pay? Education budgets are already stretched. Money spent on restrictions – estimated by the council at just below £500,000 – is not money spent on teaching. Not all parents can, or will, pay.

A more honest approach would hold the industry responsible for the social costs it generates, particularly platforms built on attention-driven business models. This is not unreasonable. Alcohol duty can exceed 20-25 per cent before VAT – and Scotland imposes its own levy. The UK Digital Services Tax, by contrast, sits at just two per cent – and only applies if revenue exceeds £25 million. An enhanced levy could fund independent research on the impact of digital services, digital literacy programmes, and practical measures schools require.

Ultimately this debate is not really about devices. It is about how societies respond when technologies reshape behaviour faster than institutions can adapt. At present, that burden falls heavily on schools – the one institution least able to control the system creating the problems.

Crerar Christie, Edinburgh

Pips squeaking

In the 1960s and 70s, Britain taxed its highest earners at up to 98 per cent. That meant anyone at the very top – business leaders, actors, athletes and musicians like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones – could end up handing 19 pence out of every 20 to the state.

And Britain wasn’t alone. The United States once taxed its richest citizens at rates approaching 80–90 per cent. No one pretended the wealthy were suffering; they were still rich. But the principle was clear: the more you gained from society, the more you paid back into it.

Fast-forward to today and the system looks very different. Top rates are far lower, wealth can move offshore in seconds, and some billionaires end up paying little more than symbolic tax.

We constantly hear that taxing the ultra-rich properly is “radical”. History suggests the opposite. For much of the last century, it was simply normal.

Alan T Kelly, Castlewarden, Ireland

Oil’s well?

It is interesting that opponents to the Rosebank and Jackdaw projects claim that “there is hardly any gas left In the North Sea basin” . Why, then, is half the gas that Great Britain imports is sent by pipeline from the Norwegian sector of the North Sea?

Do opponents of the two projects think that Scotland cannot produce engineers to match the skill-set of Norway?

Ian Moir, Castle Douglas, Dumfries & Galloway

Lost generation

A recent Scottish Government review of support for those with additional support needs (ASN) in our schools has highlighted a “growing gap” between the support children who have ASN should receive and what is happening in practice (13th March).

Undertaken by former chief inspector of education Janie McManus, the report highlights growing pressures on teachers and wide variations in access to services between council areas, as numbers of those with ASN soar to just under 300,000 individuals, more than two in five of the pupil population.

In addition to this significant increase in the number of children and young people requiring support, there has also been an increase in complexity of needs, with too many teachers and support staff not having the necessary skills and resources to support them.

The call in the report for timely access to specialist services across education, health and social care, and early intervention is to be welcomed, but there needs to be adequate resourcing and staffing in place to turn this vision into a reality.

However, across the last decade, spending per pupil on supporting ASN has declined by almost a third, and there have been cuts in the like of specialist ASN teacher numbers, which have been slashed by 240 over the same period.

We would urge the Scottish Government to prioritise the windfall that will come from proposed increased spending on those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in English schools, on those Scottish pupils with ASN, delivering genuine inclusion.

Without urgent action we are facing a lost generation of vulnerable children and young people who are not getting the care and support they so vitally need.

Patrick Gannon, Falkland House School Lynn Black, LOVE Care Kenny Graham, Spark of Genius Niall Kelly, Young Foundations

Crocodile tears

As the Scottish elections approach, what a stroke of luck for the SNP that Labour are doing poorly in the polls, and to cap it all have extended the Energy Profits Levy.

This enables the likes of Stephen Flynn, to cry crocodile tears over the loss of oil and gas jobs in the N.E. where he is standing for Hollyrood, and elsewhere in Scotland.

This conveniently distracts voters from the fact that the SNP and their previous partners the Greens, with their ‘presumption against’ new fossil fuel developments and the uncertainty over Scotland’s future in the UK had already put companies off fossil fuel investment.

I note that when he and the SNP decry Labour’s actions and call for solutions and more powers for Holyrood, they tend not to talk of oil and gas directly but of a ‘long term strategy for the energy industry’. A cynic would suggest that this choice of words is to allow them to revert to their original position after the election.

At the SNP campaign conference Flynn claimed that “When the world is so uncertain there can never be a better time to create our own future”.

Was this a joke to test the reasoning powers of the electorate? The last thing we need in uncertain times is to add to it the certainty of additional complexity and distraction of a referendum campaign. In the unlikely event of a result in favour of separation there would then be years of protracted difficult negotiations on everything from currency, defence, share of national debt, border control, trade, pensions, energy to name but a few. It would be Brexit negotiations on steroids, costing the taxpayer money and deterring private investment at the very time we most need it. Does anyone really want to impose this burden on our politicians and ourselves.

Mark Openshaw, Aberdeen

Defence of the realm

In saying “while there’s always money freely available for defence and war, far too often education has to feed from crumbs off the military table” (Letters, 17 March), Ian Petrie shows his ignorance of two things (at least).

First, the primary duty of government is the defence of the realm. Without that, we have nothing. Second, the current crises in Ukraine and the Middle East have revealed starkly the extent to which, over the last 30 years at least, the UK has run down its military forces and capability to levels that now look dangerously low. There is now a recognition, shared by our NATO allies, that we need to increase our military spending to meet the challenges of aggressive powers.

Spending on education comes from council budgets, and the devolved SNP regime has starved councils' funds over the years. Mr Petrie would be better employed considering the various failed projects that have cost Scotland dear, whether it be the cheap sell-off of licences for Scotwind or the Scottish sea bed, as well as the usual culprits such as defective ferries and expensive DEI officers.

Jill Stephenson, Edinburgh

Unfinished jobs

Suddenly, it seems, John Swinney is bouncing with energy and anxious to finish the “job we started”.

Perhaps he should have said jobs, plural. In any case, we have a wealth of unfinished - a few even un-started - promises to pick from. How about doing what he promised years ago, and abolishing council tax; the old chestnut of completing the dualling the A9; the new Barlinnie. This is a tiny sample of Mr Swinney and his party's promises. On and on they go. They all have one thing in common - none, not one, were completed.

Anyone voting for the SNP after being convinced by a promise made by Mr Swinney or his cohorts, really does need professional help. Perhaps the FM could promise a ''broken promises'' department.

Alexander McKay, Edinburgh

Time to vaccinate

As meningitis B cases soar, vaccinations provide a first line of defence to curb the spread of infectious diseases. Universal vaccinations help in achieving herd immunity that is mandatory in any effort to eradicate ruinous diseases, protect millions of children and adults from the physical, psychological and economic ravages of infections, mitigate healthcare costs, ameliorate productivity and school attendance, promote health equity and offer immense social benefits. This is the best time to launch a committed and resolute campaign to promote the virtues of vaccinations and defeat vaccine misinformation across all levels of society.

Dr Munjed Farid Al Qutob, London

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