DUNDEE WEST SNP MSP Joe FitzPatrick hit back last night at claims made by Dundee West Labour MP Jim McGovern that the Scottish Government has “taken a decision to exclude Scottish schoolchildren from education visits to Auschwitz.”

Mr McGovern made the comment after the SNP and Tories voted down an amendment by Labour MSP Ken Macintosh that would have secured the money for such trips.

In February, London minister Ed Balls announced £4.65 million to pay for Auschwitz trips over the next three years, and under the Barnett Formula Scotland receives a share of this money—£152,000 annually.

However, as education is a devolved matter Holyrood has decided to divide the funds among local authorities and allow them to allocate it.

Yesterday Mr McGovern said, “I am very disappointed that the SNP and Tories—working together in the Scottish Parliament—have taken this decision to deny Scottish children such a life changing experience, purely in order to score political points.

“I have spoken very highly of the school trips to Auschwitz in the House of Commons on several occasions.”

He added, “I, and many others, would say using the extra £152,000 allocated through the Barnett Formula to allow children to go and experience Auschwitz would be a fitting start.

“I will be strongly urging the Scottish Executive to rethink this astonishing decision.”

Mr FitzPatrick, last night said the claim Scottish children were being excluded was simply not true, because the money was there for the local authorities.

He said, “As Mr McGovern knows perfectly well, decisions about these visits are taken by the education committees of individual local authorities, and the funding for them comes out of their existing education budgets.”

He added, “The motion in the Scottish Parliament by a Labour MSP to which he refers was incompetent as the parliament is unable to intervene in the spending decisions of local authority councils—indeed, this spending flexibility has been widely welcomed by Labour councillors.

“The previous Scottish administration did not provide funding to schools for visits to Auschwitz- Birkenau.

“The specific funding announcement in February, to pay for two pupils from schools in England to visit Auschwitz, came from the department’s general budget —it therefore did not generate additional funding for Scotland at that time.

“However, the SNP Government has provided record funding and freed up local authority budgets so that they have the freedom to consider the contribution that study opportunities such as visits to Auschwitz might contribute to meeting agreed national outcomes, and make them available to pupils within their funding allocations.

“The Scottish Government fully recognises the significance of helping our young people understand the Holocaust so that it will never be forgotten—indeed, that is why we propose funding to support the establishment of a Holocaust Memorial Museum in Scotland, which would be of immense value to the educational experience in Scotland of all our citizens.”

Discussions with the Holocaust Educational Trust to decide how to provide participation in the project for school students and teachers across Scotland are continuing, Mr FitzPatrick said.

The Holocaust Educational Trust confirmed it will continue to work with the Scottish Government to allow children from every school in the country to take part in the educational visits.

“The Holocaust Educational Trust has been running the Lessons From Auschwitz Project for sixth-form students and teachers for 10 years, and we have included a great number of Scottish students over the years,” a spokeswoman said.

“While the original Treasury funding included all UK schools, the announcement of renewed funding earlier this year from the Department of Children, Schools and Families only caters for English schools.

“We continue our discussions with the Scottish Government to ensure that the Holocaust Educational Trust is able to provide participation in the project for school students and teachers across Scotland.”